HOW HE LOVES US!
Just wanted you to know that I returned from Haiti last Friday night safe and sound. Our journey was a wonderful one. It was so good to see dear friends, many of whom I had not seen for a couple of years. Our time of fellowship in song, testimony, prayer and from the Word was delightfully refreshing. Sitting on the third story of the Pastors’ retreat center at the Mission compound at night and seeing the glory of our solar system, is always an experience nearly beyond words. Truly, ‘ the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof’…
The words sung in the video clip above by Kim Walker became sort of a theme for me (and, I’m sure, others) as we trudged our way through one of the most spiritually dark places on earth. The cry of the song is “Oh, How He Loves Us”. As we moved from one place to another the Spirit of the Lord moved ahead of us. Each step we took and each loving word spoken was one more beam of light displacing the thick darkness. It seemed each time we coporately followed the pillar of cloud and fire of his will there were showers of His precious love flowing like a stream of living water.
As is His Way, our Lord was with us to lead, encourage, anoint and use us in ways beyond our fondest dreams. We had the
precious privilege of sharing the Gospel through the Christmas accounts in a dramatic way with one of us telling the account and most of the rest of our 24 pilgrims acting it out. We gave gifts to a few hundred children and many prayed to allow Christ to be the Lord of their lives. For most of the children the little package we gave them will be all they receive that whole year. The standard of living in Hait is so much below our poverty level that words cannot tell. Survival is the mode for so many. Six out of 10 Haitian children die before the age of 5 or 6, many because they cannot fight off a cold or the flu. To look into their eyes is to see the desire to hope but the inability to do so because they must be concerned about food for the day. As we prayed with a Haitian man a few years ago on top of a mountain…He cried out to the Lord for a day when he would be…“no more hungry”. However, in the midst of all the suffering are the sounds of children playing, churches holding services and singing with all their might, knowing that the Sovereign God has prepared a place for them and all of His children in a Kingdom which has no end.
One of the most significant issues in Christianity is the privilege of corporate fellowship. It is a marvelous thing to not only observe, but also of which to be a part. One’s personal relationship with Christ is to be intimate with Him, but the greater part of that intimacy is to carry it into the corporate meeting. It is there that it is shared with the brothers and sisters and becomes pregnant and delivers more of the knowledge of Christ than can be obtained in isolation. Our worship experiences on ‘the porch’ were just that. How marvelous to experience this yourself but then to see a brother or sister awakening to more of Christ is to enhance Christ within oneself. Together, we took a journey into a ‘room’ of his kingdom and while there we saw things together, which are difficult, if not impossible to express. However, in an ‘earthy’ sort of way an attempt is made through the song above:“He loves us” which says, “earth meets heaven like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently in my chest. I don’t have time to maintain these regrets, when I think about the way that He loves us…” Yes, it is rather earthy. Maybe too earthy. However, for people who are not well versed in theology and don’t have the vocabulary yet to express the high things of God in a more ‘acceptable manner’, I say, ‘Go for it’! It doesn’t take long to run out of words when trying to express the passion God has for us and the passion we are to have for Him. God doesn’t cringe nearly as fast as some of us, who can express ourselves in a ‘better’ way. Rather, I think he may even smile. Will He take us on and grant us the ability to tell the story in a more acceptabel manner? Will we eventually articulate our experience with Christ in a better way? Maybe. I do hope that when we get to the place where we can say it better that we don’t lose the passion and experience of it. It’s one thing to read about a love story. It is entirely different matter to live it. As I review in my heart of hearts the journey I experienced just days ago, I am left with a deeper passion for my Lord and a deeper desire to fellowship with those who KNOW HIM AND WANT TO MAKE HIM KNOWN.
Pogo was a character created by Walt Kelly and, as many cartoons, became a satire on the social, political and moral blunders of the day. Perhaps the most famous quotation which comes from the strip deals with the pollution of the planet. Pogo Possum and Porky Pine are gingerly walking through the forrest one day. The forrest is littered with cans, broken glass, garbage and trash of all sorts. Porky Pine trys to put the best spin on things saying, “Ah, Pogo, the beauty of the forrest primeval gets me in the heart.” Pogo Possum responds…“It gets me in the feet Porky Pine.” Suddenly, the truth of Pogo’s words come crashing in upon Porky Pine and he says, “This stuff is hard to walk on.” It is at this point that Pogo’s innocense and honesty catapault him into the role of a philosopher and he quotes the immortal words of Commandore Oliver Hazzard Perry to General William Henry Harrison…except with just a little twist. “We have met the enemy and he is…us.” With that statement we leave our little friends in the Okefenokee Swamp to contemplate the new revelation that sometimes the greatest problem I have is…me.
