Calamity would be a good word to describe what is going on right now in the country of Egypt. And there are probably not many who would think anything "good" is coming of it. But I saw two very poignant photographs in a magazine recently that paints a little different picture. One was of a group of Christians forming a circle of protection around a group of Muslims so that they could pray in peace. The second was of a group of Muslims doing much the same thing, standing outside a Catholic church, making sure there was no trouble during Mass. And perhaps it took "calamity" to bring these two groups together in this way...to allow them to see past their religious labels and find common ground as human beings, or put another way, to feel their "I Am's" connecting. The "I Am" (Christ Spirit) within us is bigger than any human system of religion or government or anything else.

In Old Testament times, it was against the law to utter or even write the name of God. Many misunderstand and think this was because of the level of "holiness." Actually, God wanted it that way because He knew if we named Him it would limit our understanding of Him and He didn't want that. Man always looks for a label. At the burning bush, Moses said, "Tell me your name." God answered, "I Am that I Am." And we can expand that statement to, "I will be what I will be. I am too much to be expressed in one name." All assignations and designations of God are man-made.

That same story of Moses demonstrates exactly how God operates. He sends Moses to Pharaoh to tell him to let the people of Israel go. But then, He does an end run around Moses and hardens Pharaoh's heart so that He won't. God works in so many different ways that to label Him is to limit the ways in which you see or allow Him to work in your life. And what happens when what you think is supposed to be happening isn't happening like you want it to or think it should? If you only see God as "Jehovah Shalom" - the God of peace, then it's very difficult for you to see Him when He shows up as calamity. But sometimes, calamity is necessary to get us to see beyond the labels; to transcend our differences and connect to that which is holy in each of us.