Dark as my path may seem to others, I carry a magic light in my heart. Faith, the spiritual strong searchlight, illumines the way, and although sinister doubts lurk in the shadow, I walk unafraid toward the enchanted wood where the foliage is always green, where joy abides, where nightingales nest and sing, and where life and death are one in the presence of the Lord.
~Helen Adams Keller (1880-1968)
~Helen Adams Keller (1880-1968)
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
~ 2 Corinthians 5:6-10
~ 2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.
~Helen Adams Keller (1880-1968)
Those gentle readers who frequent this blog know this writer is naught but lapis-blue-skied mystic. But, the beauty of the mystic’s world, is that the spiritual experience pours over into the practical. As He teaches us to listen, the pragmatic effects can be profound. Could it be that we really could flow through our entire day literally in conversation with the G_d of the universe? Could it be that He might actually manifest His presence through us among those with whom we have contact? His Word presents this truth as something so self-evident as to be beyond debate.
The following is a true story…
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How in the world are we going to find this kid? She had taken off in her grandma’s car and left grandma hanging. No direct cell phone connection available. Just text, and that doesn’t seem to be working (or the prodigal doesn’t want it to work). We are just sitting there at the dining room table. What to do next?
“Pray for wisdom.”
Hey guys, i say, let’s pray. And we do.
Now what?
“Go take a short nap.”
What? i say.
“Go. Rest for a minute. Get quiet. Pray.”
Ok.
And i go do exactly that. i go and do some devotions and read out of John’s Gospel, start praying for this kid and drift quickly off to sleep. This is a wonderful gift G_d has given me on the other side of surrender. Pretty much, you get me horizontal, and i can be asleep in a minute. Oh, what a joy to know He is in control… Just allow the brain to shift over to theta-wave processing and away one goes…
Just a few minutes later, He re-engages my conscious facilities.
“Rise and eat. Go and sit with them. Just listen to them and encourage them.”
i go out and just hang out with my mom and the grandma. My hands reach out and gently touch this precious older woman, who just hurts after the years of pain and loss in her family. He gently touches her shoulder and ruffles her hair a little with my hands. Then i sit down and just listen. A plan has started to form. Lot’s of opinion, and emotion spilling out over the disjointed communications with various parties on the cellphones. Still, nobody yet knows what to do. The kid finally calls. And they setup a location to meet in a parking lot at a grocery store.
“Ask them if they would like you to go along.”
“Well, ok, yeah sure,” they say. And away we go to the parking lot a mile away. We get there and wait. Nothing. The grandma and i talk for a minute about trusting G_d in tough situations. She is a beautiful saint, but one who has struggled with the idea of absolute surrender. She sees that peace and freedom from worry is possible, but is not sure whether it is really what she wants (sounds like most of us). “i just feel like god is not (rightly) dealing with me.” i ask whether she really believes if that is the way it should work. She says, “no, not really, I guess I’ve got it a little backwards…” and we smile.
Then the texts start again. The prodigal kid is lost and not making a lot of sense. We are not quite sure where she is in this big city. We get a clue from a single street name, but no cross-street.
“Tell them it’s time to saddle-up. Time to go.”
“Saddle up,” i say. “We should go.” They have texted the girl and asked her to sit still. That we will drive and find her. So, away we go in the general direction that seems to make sense. We drive for some miles and take one “wrong” turn along the way. The driver is a prayer warrior too, so this “wrong” turn surely is only wrong in the temporal sense. We go through an intersection and get a text with something about the name of some potential cross-street. Interesting that it is the next major street after this intersection… must just be a coincidence…
Suddenly, things are getting weird. The prodigal is acting frightened and skittish. Kind of like she might scatter from where she has stopped. Kind of like she doesn’t want us to find her.
“Ask the grandma if you may text this child.”
“May i try to contact her?” Permission is granted, and grandma gives me the number.
my text: “Hi. I am driving with your grandma. Where are you on (street name)? What cross street?”
Reply: “Who is this?”
“Ask the child to help us find her.”
my text: “Please help us. This is Makala. Where are you? What mall?
Another text comes in to the grandma’s phone… something about the cross-street.
“Ask her where she is now.”
my text: “(cross street)? What store?”
Prodigal kid responds with just the original street name.
It feels like this kid is just about to scatter, we’ve just looped back to the beginning of the whole conversation…
“Tell her to be at peace. Tell her not to worry.”
my text: “Peace, No worries.”
Reply: “at (store name)”
And we are literally less than a minute from that store. So, we pull up, turn in, and there is the girl. She is actually a little surprised that we showed up so quickly. She is not the only one.
The grandma is so frustrated, that she actually leaves the scene and tells me to talk to this 17 year old rebel for a minute. i just wait for a moment.
“Tell her I love her. Tell her she will not find the peace she is looking for apart from me. Tell her that I won’t let her go. She was baptized into me, I don’t let these children go.”
So, i do. The conversation starts out a little weird, but quickly evolves into a moment where this kid is rocked back in her spirit. She softens, and her eyes go little wide. She is hearing Jesus calling her back into a right relationship with Himself. He is right there in the parking lot of the corner drug store expressing His inexpressible Love for her through some mystic she has never met.
The situation has a long way to go before being resolved. But, one thing is for sure. For the price of a nap, a snack, a little listening, an unexpected car ride, a little courage, and a little obedience, one grandmother saint was lovingly encouraged to expand the frontier of trust and surrender to her Savior. And one prodigal believer was given the message that it is OK to come home.
Call me crazy, but i wouldn’t trade nights like this for the world.
