Can You Feel It?

I have been driving the fork lift and reach truck at work now for several months. I remember the day when my boss was first teaching me to drive them. I was so terrified. Now, I take any opportunity I can to drive them. When I was learning, I remember my boss saying that he doesn't have to look back anymore when he is backing up in an aisle. He said that he can just "feel" where stuff is behind him. Wow!! I thought that must be so cool. I wondered how in the world could he do that. How do you feel an object? Sounds a little skeptical to me.

Last week I understood and came to believe what he said. I have been driving the lift equipment quite regularly at work lately as I try to help pick up the slack in areas of the store that are missing a lot of staff. Much of my work has been outside where there is lots of room, but quite a bit has been inside as well. I work in aisles that are about 8 feet wide. Some of the products on the shelves are very breakable like floor tiles, or mirrors. I have to maneuver a large square pallet full of product in these aisles and put them up on shelves 16 feet up. In some cases I have to take down the product. Eight feet may seem like a lot, but when on a reach truck or fork lift, it really isn't. There is a lot of back and forth to get the right angle, and make it smooth. I am not sure how long I have been doing this, but one day last week, I suddenly realized that I wasn't looking behind to see how close I was to product on the shelves. I simply could "feel" where the product was and how close I was to it. It was so totally cool. I was awe struck that what my boss had told me months earlier was actually true. You could feel things that you could not see. This is important because when you have a pallet 16 feet in the air and are trying to put it into a small tight area on the overhead, you like to keep your eyes on it. I even tested myself on this feeling thing. I would back up until I could feel that it was enough, and then look behind me to see how close I was to the shelves behind me. I was always about and inch or two away. Wow!

Of course my martial arts brain puts this into the area of fighting. Flashbacks of 'The Last Samaria' come flooding my mind. (I love that movie). Sometimes in the movies we see fighting scenes where the person fighting can feel the presence of an opponent. I always thought that to be foney baloney. Not anymore. I would bet that with a serious amount of faithful continual, hard training, a person would be able to acquire the talent of "feeling" what they cannot see. Imagine the benefits of this in a combative situation. Especially with more than one opponent. Oh, the possibilities!

I still marvel at this and the thought comes to my mind several times a day. Feeling what you cannot see. It's impossible to describe such a feeling, other than to say that there is just some kind of presence close by that wasn't there before. I wonder if this feeling is similar for people that devote their lives to God. They always feel Him close by, even though they cannot see Him. They feel his presence, as if He was physically close by. Very cool.