How do you capture lightning in a bottle? And yet here I am trying to do that with something more fragile – elusive words that seem to hold little of the substance filling my soul right now.
Sometimes life is like that … bringing you moments that weigh so much, and as soon as you try to grab ahold of it, you find the moment has passed and you’re left graspoing for words.
But in essence, it never slips away. The impacts linger and the ripple effects can go through generations.
Lightning in a bottle.
The story starts 30 years ago. As a sophomore at Wheaton College – with my major sorted out and my plans in place – I spent a summer in Amsterdam, and encountered God in a whole new way.
I knew I would never be the same … I had seen and tasted a life spent communicating the beauty of walking with Jesus to those who were seeking… and I knew this was what God had created me for. I couldn’t go back to the person I had been just a month before, and somehow my major and plans didn’t make much sense anymore… when I returned to campus that fall, I felt a bit lost in it all.
“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” Deuteronomy 31:8
Do you believe the promises in Scripture, my friend? Do you believe that they hold the power of life or death? Sometimes a moment in time shows you how undeniably real these promises are…
But I get ahead of myself.
That year … returning to school and feeling a bit lost … I wandered into a class on C.S. Lewis. I thought it might be an interesting way to earn a few credits. That was the year I walked into Dr. Jerry Root’s classroom – and this part of my story begins.
- I learned about the F ring of Saturn – about it happens to be braided. I have never lost the wonder of that fact … and I have never stopped wanting to learn more about my God who scatters the stars in the universe, braids the rings around planets, and calls me by name.
- I heard stories – stories of vulnerable intersections of humanity. Stories of relentlessly holding the Hope of Jesus out to all – boldly and selflessly. And the moments that may have felt like failures are the ones I carried with me all these years, because I learned that there is no “perfect” or “right” formula – that I’m just one beggar showing another where to find Bread. I needed these stories … and I still do.
- I learned to love the world captured inside of a book. Not just to read it for information, but to enter into the wonder of what that particular book held for me. And to read it again and again simply to live in that world for another minute of time. My imagination was validated and enriched – and it has widened the borders of my world ever since.
- I learned to wander through life with a sense of wonder, seeking God’s grandeur in the simple and to “look along” the beams of His glory to find His fingerprints in the world all around me.1
How do you capture with words the sum of a new perspective on life? You can only try.
How do you capture lightning in a bottle? You can’t.
But you can stand by with awe as you watch it strike again. Awe – and maybe a few tears.
Last week, after 30 years, Jerry Root walked into my life, again. “But as for God, His way is perfect” (Ps 18:30) We may know that, say it as if we believe it, but sometimes we need lightning to strike the same spot again. And that is what happened last week.
Sometimes life crowds out the wonder. Sometimes we forget to hear the bird singing its worship in the morning and we rush past all the glory blossoming in brilliant red and yellow and purple around us. Sometimes doing things for God stand in the way of us seeing God. Sometimes our hearts grow weary and our spirits grow heavy and the weight of glory becomes more than we can carry well.
So lightning strikes again … and reminds us.
I keep asking myself why my eyes grow wet whenever I think of that week. Jerry Root is a great man – a man who doesn’t brag about being one of the world’s leading experts on C.S. Lewis, rather he simply speaks as a man who walks with God, with conviction and humility. But this is not why my eyes grow misty whenever I look at these pictures.
30 years ago, I walked into a classroom, not knowing my life would be changed.
Last week, he walked into my classroom … and helped me remember. And once again left me changed. Re-stoking longings to see God in clarity and wonder. To listen to His promptings and immerse myself in His story. To pick up those books that I keep putting off. In the beautiful symmetry of time, I got to see other’s hearts awaken to the wonders that impacted me 30 years ago, to see my own children grow excited about learning, to have my 15 year old ask me to take him to the used bookstore in town … When lightning strikes again, we pay attention.
And God has my attention.
I wonder – how is He getting your attention? Where is the lightning striking in your life right now? Pay attention, my friend. Sometimes He speaks in a still, small voice, and sometimes He speaks through the thunder and lightning. (Ex. 19)
Pause for a minute. Lean in and really listen. How is He speaking to you right now? In the silence, in the chaos, in the lightning – do you hear Him? “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” (Jeremiah 33:3)
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him…” – (Revelation 3:20)
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1“All of God’s creation becomes a beam to be “looked along” or a sound to be “heard along” or a fragrance to be “smelled along” or a flavor to be “tasted along” or a touch to be “felt along”. All our senses become partners with the eyes of the heart in perceiving the glory of God through the physical world” – John Piper
Our God is a consuming fire 