40 years ago...
Trapped and drowning in a car turned upside down in a ditch. No hope. I'm going to die! Fear. No air left. No strength to try to get out anymore. I pass into the unknown. I am ushered into the presence of God. You know. The one I cursed and ignored. The one I didn't believe even existed. The one when others mentioned Him, I would laugh to scorn. The brunt of my jokes is now my judge. I have no lawyer. I am not allowed to speak. Every breath I have taken. Every thought, every motivation. Every secret wrong I have done. All played out in living color. I cannot hide. I realize I am a condemned man and there is no hope. There is no escape from the truth. It is utterly terrifying.
Suddenly there is great indescribable power displayed. I am whisked from certain death to life. I have a new breath of air. My body passes through a space that only a few minutes before I couldn't even get my arm through. All within less than a split second. My two passengers are sitting on a rock above the water. Their backs turned to the wreck. They are sad. The tow truck driver arrives. He looks shocked when I pop up to the surface. I didn't tell a single soul for years. I had no words to describe. I know now it is called, "The Mercy of God..."
I had a back injury from the accident so no one would hire me so I went up to Alaska to work. I tried to clean up my life but I kept falling on my face in the mud. No matter how I tried I knew that it wasn't enough to please God. I finally gave up but I was so empty. Came back home. Played in a band in the hotels. On the surface everything was great but inside I had no life in me and had to deal with constant back pain.
One night we had a 45 minute break and I went outside in the garden between two hotels and I stood there alone, empty, wondering if there was even any real meaning to life. Suddenly everything around me was filled with the presence of Jesus. Yes there was a certain fear but I was numb to it now. I knew I was a condemned man. I had nothing to look forward to in that way. But His presence was so beautiful, so loving and life was pouring out of Him towards me. I was awestruck. Then He said to me,
"Come into My Kingdom..."
and those words were so full of life and forgiveness that all I managed to say was, "YES!" as I stood there basking in His presence. Then as I was standing there, the same power that had ushered me out of that car and out from the water that night went through me like a bolt of lightning and my back was instantly and permanently healed and my life was turned upside down in a wonderful way.
I was thinking today how sad it is that this generation seems to have turned it's back on God but then can we really blame them? Have they ever seen even one miracle (in "church" or out on the street) Have they heard the Gospel go out in power where man stands out of the way and let's Jesus run the show? (He is very good at it!). I think God is hearing a heart cry inside this generation. One that by and large we are ignoring. They want the real thing. They want evidence.
For decades now, by and large people have been hearing the Gospel of 2000 years of defiled churchianity but soon they will hear the Gospel of the Kingdom of God preached in power. Power to save. Power to turn people's lives around. Power to heal and all that will be found in God's power to forgive and cleanse from sin. That is one purchase that has already been made for us and it was Jesus that paid the price to make it possible. People cannot see that because often we are obscuring their view. But that is all about to change...
Jesus is saying something but with all the noise we are not hearing Him.
"Come into My Kingdom or get out of My way!. There isn't much time left and I am not willing that even one perish..."
