Dear Friends,
I went on an unexpected adventure this spring. But I didn’t travel. It was an adventure of the mind and heart, where I received a fuller disclosure of the Father.
Accepting Christ into my life thirty years ago–allowing Him to heal areas I knew of, and especially areas I had no clue in–was where I first allowed God to meet me. I looked at Him and needed Him. He opened doors I never knew were there. To this day, He keeps opening doors, and we keep meeting.
In early May, Outpost re-launched a new season of CrossCurrent, an eight-week-long introduction to Living Waters. Upon deciding a launch date, my expectations began to mount with anticipation and excitement. And yet there was a sense of complacency. “I’ve taught the book, I’ve studied the material; what else do you want to teach me here, Father? I mean, really…”
The essence of the group was to have all facilitators and participants be on equal ground. We were all tasked with engaging ourselves, asking questions, and being present; He would do the rest. For me, each chapter became an intimate conversation personally with the Father as the Holy Spirit led the way.
The adventure I didn’t see coming was the unexpected weaving and bobbing of the Spirit. I thought, “Why I am doing this again? I’ve taught this several times!” Yet His voice whispered, “Keep coming, Dennis; I’ve got a surprise.”
Chapter 7, Loving Others, felt like a new dimension—unfamiliar, yet very simple. The still small voice whispered, “You are ready, My son, for another drink of water from the river.” Turns out, I was making my learned description of Love complicated.
For decades, loving others was a foreign thought. Even recently in church, love had become predictable conversations and expected acts of service. I had one foot in worldly ways and another in church-y ways. I defined love by what I had seen modeled, and it was all about me! I looked at outward appearance—comparing, judging, fitting in, adapting. From a very self-absorbed lens, this was what I had bought into. But that was not…Love.
In a breath, how to love others came over me like a coat draped over my shoulders. Instead of something I was expected to do, my loving others became a reflection of God’s love. In that moment, I had a new understanding of His Love. I started seeing others the way He sees them, feeling the way He feels for them, and receiving them the way He receives them as they are. God has ushered me into a depth of wisdom beyond my full understanding: there’s nothing I’m meant to do except to love others as He loves them. It is a solid ground I stand on due to His unmeasurable love for me. And to think, if I hadn’t said “yes” to His invitation, this drink may not have happened.
When you’re asked to take what seems like a familiar path, consider the possibility that the Lord is going to bring you on an unexpected adventure. With His guidance, may we all learn how wide, long, high, and deep His love is for us. His grace continues to catch me. I see how the CrossCurrent participants allowed Him to catch them. In the same way, may we all trust God to catch us and step with Him into the next adventure! Amen.
