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Picture of Grace I have just come off a weekend known as the “Great Banquet”. This is a 72-hour experience in which 70+ men gather together with a common desire to experience the very presence of God. For this weekend, I was honored and privileged to serve as an assistant table leader and speaker. It was my 11th such weekend including my own weekend as a guest in March of 2001. Regardless of how many of these I have done, this experience is powerful and I feel compelled to share with you a picture of grace that was so abundantly clear for me (again) this weekend. How is it that we so miss the mark in our every day lives concerning what is important and what is less important? I mean most times we are not even close. Even as Christians and devoted followers of Christ, it is so easy to lose ourselves in this world. The allure and the seduction of the world can, and does, draw us in so deeply at times that we cannot sense the presence or the reality of the very Creator. The God that has made all things becomes nearly invisible. How is that so? I am guilty of this. I am as guilty as anyone of this. I wish it weren’t so but it is. And then I am invited by God to spend 72 hours with Him. What an amazing gift this is. As I drove to work this morning it struck me that the world looked different. It looked a bit strange to me. Everything seems a bit out of focus as if I were looking at it through a lens --- making it appear a bit surreal. Then I remembered this passage of scripture from 1 Peter 2:11, “Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.” (NLT) And I recall that I have just spent 72 hours in the presence of God --- in a place that is as like my “real” home as any I will experience on earth. Without violating the privacy and experience of any others let me describe this place as much as possible with words… I am so in love with this place because in it we are all real. We are men in the way we were created to be. We are free (“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Galatians 5:1 NIV) to be who we are in Christ Jesus! What an amazing experience this was. It was SO unlike the world we live in every day. It was a place where men open their hearts for others to get a look inside them --- all for the purpose of demonstrating how amazing the grace, power, authority, and forgiveness of God really is. It was a place where I saw men comfort one another without fear of being ostracized and labeled. It was a place where one man could be broken-hearted before the God of the Universe and another man (or many) would quietly but quickly come alongside him to place a hand of support on his shoulder. Or he would place a hand on his back and quietly or even silently lift his brother before the throne of grace. It was a place where one man could admit a need in his life and ask another or a group of others to pray with him right now. It was a place where two men who were brought together by their common bond in Jesus Christ; could embrace for longer than 2 seconds without fear of criticism or accusation. It was a place where people that may have minor disagreements about the fine details of faith decided that what REALLY matters is that Jesus IS Lord and He is everything we need to be reconciled before God! It was a place where men could share a bond that is indescribable with words --- a bond that has absolutely nothing to do with the perverse, twisted, vulgar, and temporal things that the world uses to bring men together. It was a place where a man could open himself up to his brothers without fear of a judgmental glance or word. Without fear of being talked about. Without fear of being ignored. It was a place where one could watch the manifestation of the Holy Spirit unfold before his very eyes as a man’s heart was broken by repentance and then quickly sewn back together by the Hand of God. It was a place where even the most hard-hearted man could see that this God that is talked about is very real. It was a place that can bring a man back to the Father that he has ignored or even been disobedient to for many months or years. It was a place where a man might meet this God for the very first time. It was a place that made a man sit back in wonderment about the fact that the things we have chased after day after day after day --- whether it be the next dollar; the next promotion; the next house; the next big deal signed; the next drink; the next woman; the next moment of recognition; the next sexual encounter; the next business contact --- is so very meaningless. Especially when we sit back and watch the man before us release a burden of guilt he has carried around for so many years because he finally realizes truly that he is forgiven by God. Especially when he sees many other men gather around this man to pray for him, to lift him up, to encourage and affirm him. Especially when we hear one man stand before a group of 70+ others and admit that he does in fact need to let go of control and follow after God through His Son Jesus Christ. This is the stuff of value; of meaning; of significance one realizes. It was a place for all of this. It was a place where men were free to be men. It was a place where the nearness of God was so real that one could practically see, taste, feel, and touch Him. It was this way because the one desire of every man there was simply to know God better and to experience His presence. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7, NIV) It was this scriptural truth coming alive before our very eyes. God is always true to His promises. It was a place where all of this happened during the course of this 72 hours. It was all these things and more. It was, quite simply, Heaven. No wonder then that this morning I felt like a stranger, a foreigner, and an alien in this world we live in. It is nothing like the reality I experienced this weekend --- and yet we are surrounded by it every day. My prayer for me and for all of the men of KGB 56 is that a week from now; a month from now; and even a year from now --- we will still feel as strangers, foreigners, and aliens in the world. Hang on men. Hang on. De Colores! |
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