I am writing this on Thursday, simply because Wednesday was way too full to post.
Yesterday was another amazing day. I left the base in the early afternoon, so it doesn’t really count as a full ‘day’ but it was full nonetheless. My morning started out with reading the Bible and prayer, but then I got to my guitar and decided to play some worship. I played through songs as I randomly flipped through my music book. I was having a pretty good time in worship.
I used to worship like that on my own quite often, especially after I got back from my first missionary tour. I would sing and play through songs that I knew, and suddenly as I hit upon some random song that struck me, the Holy Spirit of God would just kind of pour over me. My friend Harold says “The Spirit gushes out like a fountain.” I guess that is the best way to describe it.
As I was worshiping on Wednesday morning I hit on an old hymn, “How Great Thou Art.” I have never had hymns mean all that much to me, really. I didn’t grow up with them all that much. The third stanza says,
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
I couldn’t finish that last line. I was on my knees, tears streaming down my cheeks, suddenly hit with the power of God’s Spirit, and the fact that God would go to the cross for me, for what I’ve done, for all my rebellion. It isn’t fair. As God sprang out of me like a fountain, I wept out of joy, out of sorrow, out of repentance, out of thankfulness, all at once. I hadn’t felt that in quite a while.
After all of that, I remembered Harold, and that he had called me a few weeks ago, and asked me to call a friend of his who had been doing inner-city missions work. So, I decided to call him. We talked for quite a while. He told me that he and his wife had met Harold because Harold had opened a door for them, and they struck up a conversation. He was from the Seattle area. Harold had made it a point to keep in touch and to regularly pray for he and his wife.
He told me that recently he had been out in Idaho at a parade for some special occasion (maybe it was Thanksgiving) and he looked at the guy next to him, and unbelievably it happened to be Harold! He then paused and said, “You know, out of all of the men who have ever been anything like a mentor to me in my life, Harold has got to be in the top 5.”
All because he happened to be caught in Harold’s tractor beam as he opened a door.
I want to be like Harold some day when I grow up. Harold is in his 80’s. Harold should by all accounts be kickin’ it at some Sun City somewhere. Instead, he takes every day and every meeting as a chance to really make a difference in someone’s life. I think Harold is in my top 5 too. He is my hero.
I spent time saying goodbyes to the Thorstads, and looking around the YWAM base one last time. I’ll be back here, I prophesied.
I hope that no one misunderstands my purpose in writing this. It could seem like I’m being really self-indulgent here, writing everything about myself and my week, like some Twittiot (my word) telling the world about his mid-afternoon snack. That really isn’t my heart here at all. I knew I would have some incredible experiences this week, and I want to chronicle it all for me, if no one else. But maybe my experiences will find some way of blessing someone else. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul mentions that God has chosen the weak and fooling things/people of this world in order that we could not boast in ourselves, but in God alone. I have written this short blog series as a point to say, “I am one of those weak and foolish people.” It is Jesus who this series is about. It is He who made my week noteworthy. My attempts to even describe it are largely in vain, but I would shame Him if I didn’t try my best.
And a little fun from Tuesday: