I got back from the Dominican Republic on a Sunday morning. I had intended to go to church that morning. I hadn’t really missed it much but I usually go every Sunday. For some reason I couldn’t make myself do that. I just felt as if it would ruin the trip somehow.

I had brought my Bible along on the trip but I didn’t read it much until the last night when my son and I discussed Christianity. I didn’t do anything at all religious on the trip. In fact for most of the trip I was lounging around in a bikini, not because I wanted to be cute and sexy but because clothes were just unnecessary in the tropical heat.

I wondered why that I felt closer to God when I was in the Dominican Republic. I was at a greater level of peace and happiness than I have every obtained in the states. My son and I had some very deep discussions which I may have been a bit defensive about if I had had them at home. I did straighten him out on a few things but for the most part it was an equally based discourse of intriguing ideas.

I think of all the work my church goes to to have women’s conferences. I never go to them. Usually I can not afford them but even if I could, I wouldn’t go. My relationship with God is not about group settings. I do enjoy my Bible study group and I consider them my second family but the intimate times I have had with God have not had other people involved. It has just been Him and me.

I think another thing that contributed to the intimacy with God is that I had no electronics other than lights. I didn’t even have an AC in the house. I did have a bit of an internet connection but as far as anything else I was totally isolated with my wonderful son.

My company had been cool enough to clear my schedule of documentation that they could have demanded I do while on vacation. So I could actually relax without constantly checking my work email and fretting about getting things in on time.

As I was thinking about this over the past week I realized that I had been still. In the Bible it says to be still and know that God is God. I was still. I wasn’t rushing to and fro. I was just still. I think sometimes we get all caught up in acting like we are Christian by going to Church every time the doors open. I don’t think that impresses God much. That is what the Pharisees did and Jesus detested them.

I think churches have way too many things to go to and very few of them draw us closer to God. Sometimes you just need a house on a mountain, looking out at the ocean, to realize that God is everywhere and sometimes he just wants you to be still.