"It"

(picking up the ideas started in Lenten Times A Comin' and Going Camping)

I used to think my reason for coming here was clear. It was predestined I knew. But I had assumed it was for my benefit. God sent me here to save my soul. I was walking in the shadows and He sent me a great light to rescue me.

Isn’t it great how He works? He makes small things large, weak things mighty, broken things whole. He works often time in reverse of what we assume is the best, most straight away rout to go.

God taught me, the teacher, through my kids. I had always assumed that whoever would “show me the way” would be a sagely man, probably with a long white beard (like Gandalf) and he would definitely sit cross-legged and speak in backwards riddles like Yoda. This was my vision of how the Lord would rescue me from my days of wandering, lost in the world like the prodigal son.

But no. Alas Christ is revealed in my life by a group of teenage boys.

I knew that there was something different about HERE when I first arrived. The youth were HAPPY- good kids. I couldn’t put my finger on “it” but they had a mystical, almost Mayberry quality to them.

There was this group of senior boys, Chris, Jake, Cody, Jordan… I loved them to death. They were fun to have around… and we were SO connected. We loved the same things: video games, Star Wars, cheap fantasy novels, comic books. The closer I got, the clearer I could see the glow of optimism about them. But in my ignorance- lost in the shadows- I could not for the life of me figure out what “IT” was that made them this way.

Then It happened, Easter 2001. Chris Williams invited me to something called a Luther League Easter Walk on Good Friday evening. I had never heard of a Luther League before… and the only things I knew for sure about Lutheranism was it had something to do with Martin Luther King! ;-)

So because of their persistent invitation, I found myself on the way to the big beautiful brick church on the hill… totally unprepared for what I was about to see. And there “it” was… the Gospel of Jesus Christ laid out before me… plainly, eloquently, passionately… told to me by my own students. Jake was a moneychanger scooping up coins and ranting about Jesus’ tirade in the temple. Chris was a disciple at the Last Supper telling me of the Lord’s promise. And then… later Cody was a guard hauling Jesus from the cross and sealing him into the tomb. Never had the story ever touched me so. Jesus turns things upside-down… my students preaching to me, teaching me about the remedy and the rescue. So that was “it”… that was why they were so happy. They had Jesus- not religion- Jesus living inside of them.

I remember crying- a kind of cry I was unaware of at the time (but that I savor now). It was like stepping out of total pitch-blackness that was my cell and seeing a light on the horizon- coming my way to save me. It took a long road to get me there… but God has much more patience than I do. And His plan is awesome and right.

So it was that I started back to church and started seeking Him again. I was lead back by my students and so I thought was the reason God guided me hear so far from home. But now more than ever I sense my whole purpose has nothing to do with my own eternal salvation- maybe its something bigger. Perhaps I am here to point others to Christ. My mission is priority one in my life now. Perhaps I am here to effect a certain youth or handful of youth that are divinely ordained souls who will move out from this Mayberry-like nest and spread “IT” to more than I could ever imagine.

God has blessed me with great influence of greater youth. They are truly like stars in a dark sky. They love to serve and serve to love. If I might be like a launching pad to prepare them for great journeys, then my mission will be complete.

Thank you, God, for upside-down plans, Easter Walks and working through video games. Your plan is awesome and right. Amen.