A Personal Encounter with Jesus and a Waterfall

Some of you know that I've been part of a class going through John Eldridge's "Beautiful Outlaw".  Since first picking the book up, I've been challenged repeatedly to change the way I look at (and for) Jesus.  One of the last chapters in the book talks about encounters people have had - and some very personal ones.

I've been going through a number of struggles lately, and the thoughts in that particular chapter really began to gnaw at my mind.  I was beginning to wonder why I hadn't had "my encounter" with Jesus and why life was so difficult at the moment.  I probably was even pouting just a bit.

We've had a fairly dry Summer (as have many) and to compound that the farmer that owns the field behind us was emptying his ponds at a pretty quick clip.  This is all part of how life happens, but what it means is that the waterfall in the picture above stops running.  I know it's a little thing, but I love to see it when we drive by on our way to church or my daily commute.  For me (and my wife) there is just something about a waterfall that draws us in.

August appears to be intent on catching up on rainfall.  In fact, the few hours we were gone last Sunday brought over three inches in our rain gauge.  So last week, when I went by the Moore's Pond waterfall, I saw it running again.  And in that small wonder of nature, Jesus gave me the encounter I thought I had been missing.  It put a smile on my face and I knew He really was there  with me all the time and had never left.

The Crooked Path rarely looks the same for me as it does for you, so why should I expect the encounters with Jesus to be any different?  The very God who made all we see did so for His own pleasure and for ours.  And He renews that creation continually as part of showing us who He is and so we can encounter Jesus ... even in a small waterfall that hadn't been running for a few months.

The New Covenant

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:19-20)

In my way of thinking (at least at times it goes this way), I have a tendency to view the "old covenant" as null and void.  Well, it dawned on me earlier this month that I was mistaken.  As communion was being served, I wrote down the following thoughts about the new and old covenants based on what the verse above and what God showed me that Sunday morning.

We have a "new covenant" because the old one was impossible for us to keep.  But God doesn't hold that against us because he gave Jesus who fulfilled it perfectly for us.  That doesn't make it void - it makes it complete.  So now Jesus brings the "new covenant" to us and he brings it via his own blood.

The travel on the Crooked Path is a forward trajectory based on the new covenant.  I don't leave the old one behind, but rather move forward in victory with a Savior who took care of it and now builds his home within me.

Four Kings - Only Two Pair

I happened to be listening to the “wisdom books” a while ago, and it dawned on me that Solomon wrote much of what we have as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes with the intention of educating his son as he prepared to take the throne of Israel.  It’s a good endeavor, to be sure, and a concept we would do well to emulate.  The legacy we leave to our children and those we may teach and mentor is important.  They will stand in the gaps we do and to take the job of preparing them seriously is a good thing.  But if all it consists of is “book learning”, then I’m afraid we will miss the mark.  Perhaps that’s what happened between Solomon, widely regarded as the wisest ruler of his day and his son Rehoboam - who was the last king of the divided nation and a pretty nasty guy from all accounts I read.

Fast forward a few generations and you find another record of a “good” king.  Hezekiah is ruling Judah and the records show “he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD”.  But the king got sick and God’s prophet came to tell him that he would not recover.  Hezekiah turned over in his bed and whined about it until God sent the prophet back to tell him that he would live another fifteen years.  Apparently, this fixed allotment of time made another king lacks in his fathering, because three years later, the next king was born and when Manasseh took the throne at the tender age of twelve, the records show his fifty-five year reign to be among the most wicked on record for the tiny kingdom of Judah.

So, it dawned on me that these two stories represented four kings.  And anybody who knows anything about playing cards can tell you that four kings is a very strong hand.  But rather than representing four-of-a-kind, these four kings amount to no more than two pair.  Two pair, in all the rules I read, is on the lower end of the pecking order.  So what should have been a show of strength, really wasn’t.  What should have been a legacy of lessons bathed in wisdom and the goodness of God instead resulted in two young kings with rebellious attitudes who took a nation and drove it to division, then drove it further into captivity.  Not a pretty picture when you look at it a few thousand years later.

The Crooked Path provides me an opportunity not only to learn from what I experience, but to pass that learning on to the next generation.  My daughters and others who I will influence have a huge task ahead of them.  This world isn’t getting any easier as the Story progresses toward its climax.  Evil doesn’t just go away on its own, and preparing myself and the next generation for the battle is a serious task.  Mere book learning just won’t cut it - it never did.

The Path of Life

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy;at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."(Psalm 16:11, ESV)

My wife uses a devotional titled "Jesus Calling". Another cyber-friend also does and posted an image of the entry for July 14 on a social network today. It kind of solidified some thinking I've been doing and prompted me to write this post. Summarizing it, the devotional says:

"Keep walking with Me along the path I have chosen for you ...Together we will forge a pathway up to the high mountain ... Someday you dance lightfooted on the high peaks; but for now, your walk is often plodding and heavy ... Stay on the path I have selected for you. It truly is the path of Life."

That's a powerful message to think about, especially when our journey seems to get bogged down by life's circumstances. And the impact of those circumstances is very real ... never let anyone try to convince you otherwise. Our world is a fallen, broken place - but it is our place for right now. The "trick" is to remember we do not have to endure it alone.

The Crooked Path will often take me through times and places that seem beyond dull or painful. My steps will be slow and sometimes painful to take. Still, I need to look around me for the little clues that ensure I know my Father watches out for me with each step. If I look beyond what I think I see, perhaps I can say with Job:

"And this is only the beginning, a mere whisper of his rule.
Whatever would we do if he really raised his voice!" (Job 26:14, The Message)

Beyond Wonderful!

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,

For darkness is as light to you.

(Psalm 139:1-12, NIV)

I have a lot of places on my bucket list.  I have no idea whether or not I’ll get to visit them.  I’d like to see the glaciers of Alaska along its coast.  I’d like to smell the rain forest in South America.  I’d like to see the sunset over the plain while sitting on Mount Kilimanjaro.  I’d love to see New Zealand in all its wild glory.  And I’m sure most of you have similar visions of places, events, or people that run through your mind.  It’s the wonder at seeing them - experiencing them first hand that draws us.  The sheer anticipation of being a witness to the vast world God signed his name to upon creating it just makes us giddy at times.

David may have had some wonderful sights in his mind when he penned the verses of this particular Psalm.  But I believe the biggest wonder he described was the immeasurable presence of God.  There is absolutely nothing outside of His knowing.  No person, idea, event, or “surprise” can escape God.  He knows it all instantly, fully, and perfectly … and he does so without any effort at all on His own part.  He even knows what might or could happen because He exists outside of the thing we call “time” and sees that as if sitting at the center of a circle while it all arcs around Him.  Yes, God’s knowledge is all-encompassing.

But God’s knowledge isn’t just at some ethereal level that is just “out there somewhere”.  His knowledge also focuses in on me like a laser.  He knows my every routine and quirk.  He is, as David notes, “familiar with all my ways.”  There is no place or situation so dark or desperate that God has somehow lost track of me and cannot find me.  I just cannot outrun or outfly Him.  And, even in knowing me this completely, He chooses to love and pursue me.

The Crooked Path will often wind through dark places.  It may be a deep valley where the sun cannot penetrate to the path.  It might be a dense copse of trees that blot out the sky.  It could even be an open area with cloud cover so thick you can almost feel it close in around you.  But I can rest in the promise David claims - God already knows about it and He is right there with me.  To me, that though is just beyond wonderful!

My Hand in His Hand

"But what do we mean when we talk of God helping us?  We man god putting into us a bit of Himself, so to speak.  He lends us a little of His reasoning powers and that is how we think: He puts a little of His love into us and that is how we love one another.  When you teach a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters: that is, it forms the letters because you are forming them.  We love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it."  (C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity)


I love reading C.S. Lewis in small bites.  I have a book beside my bed with excerpts from his writings done in a daily reading style.  The pages are often strung together in themes from a certain book for several days, providing more insight on a given topic over the course of up to a week.  Other than The Chronicles and Screwtape, I've not read an entire work of Lewis and, given the depth of his thoughts, that may be a good thing right now.  I fear if I read some of these books clear through that my head would explode.  His simple portrayal of the human interaction with the Almighty as in the passage above just causes me to think so much ... and it drives my thoughts to the wonder of just how much God loves me.


The very idea that God is, even right now, holding my hand and guiding me - letting me grow in my own creativity of spirit within the enormous depth and breadth of what He has provided - is an awesome thought.  So much of what I'm learning of late makes this ring especially true.  I've seen friends suffer under teaching that would make God out to be some Cosmic Taskmaster who is just waiting to smack us down at every turn.  I've known those who think this earthly realm can be made perfect right here and now in terms of money, government, and all that goes with that.  At the same time, I've looked into the face of a widow who I didn't know that just lost a husband younger than I and I've seen the same God that Lewis talks about so often.  It absolutely amazes me over and over again that we can know this God and so many miss Him or make Him out to be something of their own design.


God wraps His hand around mine for a reason.  He does so out of His Love and His desire to reflect His glory through me and what I do.  The Crooked Path is a means to an end - an end where God stands ready to greet me with arms open wide.  Until then, I can rest in His strength and know He is happy to see me learn and grow under His direction and guidance.

Still More to Come ...

Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you. As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. (2 Timothy 4:2-7, NLT)

It's out there somewhere for each of us. I'm talking about the finish line. Paul seems to have clearly caught sight of his and he's encouraging Timothy to believe that his is still to come. And he's challenging his protege to think about what is still to come and take action. He's asking Timothy to be faithful with the Gospel, even though many people won't want to hear it the way Timothy is going to lay it out there. They're searching for something new - something now that will take their minds off what they see as drudgery. So Paul is telling his friend how to proceed, to understand that it isn't over yet for Timothy even though the Apostle is nearing death himself.

So how can we apply this ourselves, especially those who aren't "called to full-time, professional service"? Frankly, I'm challenged to see that old saw as an attempt to cloud the real issue at hand. Nobody is called into Christianity as a "vocation" ... we're drawn to it as an avocation! We don't serve out of some warped sense of duty and dread (at least we shouldn't). We embrace the fact that we are imperfect creatures who God loved so much that He provided Jesus to redeem us. Frankly, I'd like to capitalize the third word in the passage I cited so it reads, "Preach the Word of God" because that's one of the names used to describe Jesus. And in the context of what Timothy is challenged to do (as are we), I think it is most appropriate.

The finish line to the Crooked Path will come soon enough. It may be right around the corner for some. But I'd wager that, for most of us, there is significantly "more to come" and we need to embrace that. Much of it will be boring, some will be exciting, and some will be outright difficult. There are those who will experience far more than "their share" of the difficult times. To all, the exhortation from one who has neared the finish and sees the face of the One for whom he ran rings true ... "Work at it, spread the Gospel, expect difficulty and rejection. In the end, you will find it really wasn't anything at all compared to what God has in store when you cross your finish line."