Personal

Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.” John 4:10 (The Message)


I love this story about Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman. Read the whole story and let it really sink in.. I’m involved with a group of men who meet every Tuesday night to study the Word and hang out together. Awesome time spent with those fellow warriors, by the way! What I really love about hanging out with these guys is that we’re all searching, we’re all wondering how to make this life work and how our faith fits into it all. This is all very real and raw and wonderful and I dig it. So, Tuesday night, I shared with the guys how I’ve been getting my butt handed to me recently. It’s been a rough couple weeks, emotionally, spiritually, mentally. I have just had the crap kicked outta me. So, while I’ve been raging against this all and looking for some retribution for a recent betrayal, I’ve been wondering why I feel so tired all the time. So, I’m driving home from work Monday night and I was talking to my mother on the phone. I was bitching, pissin’ and moanin’ about the crap that’s going on. She says to me, “You know what this is right? You are under attack and satan is trying to distract you and get you mad so you lose focus.”A light bulb came on in my heart. Why is it that when we are under attack, we are so often lost in our own battle and we don’t see the bigger picture for what it is? So, God used my mom to kinda wake me up there. That’s when things got cool. Before going to bed Monday night, God and I spent some time together. I apologized for being distracted and allowing myself to fall back into some old patterns that have been counterproductive in the past…and clearly still are.Tuesday morning I’m driving to work. As I’ve said before, I’m a moments kinda guy. I have discovered that He uses these moments to speak to me, often by nature. I love fall. It is by far my favorite season. The leaves, the cooler weather…love it! So, the great liar was kicking me in the teeth again on Tuesday, saying nasty things to me; telling me that I am the problem, not those people who betrayed my confidence, those old patterns felt good to slip back in to, look how easy it was….yada yada yada.So, I’m driving up 126th Street and I’m feeling it all come back. I literally have this thought, a voice in my head that says ‘look left’. I turn my head to look at what I don’t know and there it is. I was passing a small house and, in the yard are two big trees. I have no idea what kind of trees they are and don’t care. The leaves were a brilliant, luminous yellow on one tree and blood red on the other. The sun was behind the trees, lighting up the leaves…it was breathtaking, beautiful. I could almost literally hear Him saying to me, “That is for you. Just wanted to tell you that I love you. Thanks for being my son.” I was staggered, stunned, done. Tears began to run down my cheeks. See, He knows me very well. He knows how the beauty and power of nature touch me and He knows how those moments move me. God took time to reach down, put His arm around me, touch my heart. He didn’t have to do that but He did. He met me where I needed Him in that moment in an intensely personal way.Rewind to this story in John about the Samaritan woman at the well. In that moment, Jesus took time to touch this woman in a deep, personal way. To speak into her heart and soul in a deeply intimate way that only she would understand. He didn’t condemn her for her clearly immoral lifestyle, He didn’t berate her. He simply spoke into her heart and shattered her preconceptions. He loved. Know this…He is a personal God who comes to where you are to meet your needs, touch your heart and speak to you. The whole Bible is the story of a God who cares, who comes to us, touches us, bleeds for us, loves us without precondition. He knows you and me personally and cares for us in an intensely personal way. He meets us where we are and says, “I just wanted to tell you that I love you. Thanks for being my child.”