I wake in a haze at 5:45AM on a weekday as my wife gets out
of bed and heads to the bathroom to prepare for her day. Drifting in and out of
sleep, my inclination is to sleep-in since I work from a home office and I’m
just a little lazy but something, a presence in the room, brings me to full
alertness. Someone is standing beside my bed! Is this a dream or is it real? I
open my eyes. It’s real!
It’s Jesus! He’s standing beside my bed looking down on me –
a slightly amused grin is on His face. His eyes widen.
He doesn’t speak but His warm smile projects a calming
message and assurance that all is well and that I am His beloved. Beloved! I
rise from bed just as my wife enters the room dressed in her “scrubs” (she works
in health care). She’s at first startled by His presence but immediately
processes the situation and declares, “It’s You - Jesus!” He nods yes. They
share words and thoughts - like old friends. I don’t hear everything but there
is a detailed conversation going on. The conversation is intimate and I am
deeply gratified by it. I had no idea …
Somehow time goes by and Jesus sets my wife on her way
without much ceremony – and she’s gone – to work. I am there alone with Jesus.
He tells me that He is here to spend the day with me. I don’t know how to act.
He assures me to just do what I would normally do and that he will just come
along for the ride.
I shave and shower (all the while wondering whether or not He's poking around and what He's discovering while I'm getting ready) and then go downstairs to make some coffee. He's standing in the living room in front of my book cases looking at the volumes there. I grab a cup and offer Him one as I return to Him in the living room and my reading
chair where I normally do a brief morning devotional. Jesus settles in the
other chair in the room (my wife’s reading chair) and just gazes at me. I’m a
little self-conscious. I pick up my Bible and open it to the book of James and
begin to read but cannot help looking up at Him as He watches me with an
approving smile. I feel like a little boy under the watchful eye of a loving
and supportive teacher. I feel “right”. My mind drifts to prayer and
somehow I feel Jesus’ thoughts flooding me with supplications for others I know
in my life. The needs are extraordinary and deep and burdensome – I had no idea
how others struggled compared to me. I begin to realize just how Jesus has
cared for me and interceded for me in ways that I could never imagine praying
for. I resolve to pray less for my needs, more for the needs of others and rest in thankfulness for His care and wisdom
because He knows far better what I need and what to protect me from.
I have a coffee appointment with a Truth at Work ® contact so Jesus and I leave the house and head out. At the café where I regularly meet people, I get my coffee and grab a quiet table for my appointment. Jesus lingers at the counter talking to the women from whom I normally get my coffee and scone. They are entranced as He speaks to them about peace and love. He is so natural and relaxed and so genuinely interested in them. They are naturally drawn to Him. I wonder why it can seem so hard for me to project my faith to these people I regularly encounter and who know me. After a while He comes and sits with me just as my appointment, David, arrives.
David is a little confused at first when he sees my
companion, so I introduce Jesus and David responds a little guardedly. David
doesn’t recognize Jesus and I’m a little surprised since I thought David would
be excited to meet Jesus face to face. The meeting starts to fall flat and
David fumbles around a bit for an excuse that he has another meeting to attend.
I’m a little embarrassed but Jesus keeps looking
alternatively at David and then me reaching out with His hand and touching
David’s arm gently while urging him to stay a little longer. I can feel His
love flow toward David and I can actually see David’s posture change from tense
and restless to relaxed and restful right there in his chair. Then Jesus
plainly says to David that He loves him and David begins to weep softly. I am
overwhelmed as I realize that right then and there Jesus is drawing David to
Himself and David is releasing his life to Jesus. Everything that is going on
around us in that café seems to melt away. The next thing I know we’re outside
the café with David. We’re saying our farewells and embracing with the promise
of meeting again soon. David looks remarkably different.
We walk down the busy street past people going about their
business and I turn a corner toward my parked car. It isn’t long before I
realize that Jesus is no longer with me. I backtrack and find him stooped down
having a conversation with an old man sitting at the doorway of a building. The
man is unkempt and weathered. Jesus looks up at me and asks, “May I have the
eight dollars of cash in your pocket?” I check and that’s exactly what I have. After
a moment of hesitation (now I’ll have no cash) I hand it over. Jesus places the
money in the man’s hand and places his other hand over the money as he whispers
a blessing on the man and says that He loves him and to remember what He said.
The man genuinely appreciates the needed gift and nods, gently folding the money and putting it in his pocket. I don’t
know what Jesus said to that man but it was obviously very personal and
convicting. The man keeps looking at Jesus as we leave.
Then we are in my car headed to a meeting with one of my
clients. We arrive in the lobby of the old building and the receptionist behind
the glass panel recognizes me immediately but looks a little puzzled at my
companion. I sign us in on the visitor log; Names: “Bill Girrier / Jesus Christ”,
Company: (I pause - then write) “The Kingdom”. I’ve been calling on this account
for two years and it occurs to me that I’ve never really told or indicated to
the receptionist that I am a Christian. Then an expression of recognition
crosses her face and she lifts from her chair, slides the glass panel open and,
looking right past me and directly toward Jesus, her face explodes with joy as
she exclaims, “You’re Jesus!”. “Yes I am Debbie”, He responds, “How are you and
how is your daughter?” Debbie disappears
for a split second as she darts to the door that separates us from her small
office. In an instant Debbie is with us in the waiting area and throws herself
into Jesus’ arms. She’s crying and telling Jesus how her daughter is struggling
but that she knows there is a plan and that no matter what the outcome that God
knows best. I’m dumbfounded. Then I notice the picture of Jesus and the rosary
beads hanging on the wall in Debbie’s small office. I remember seeing them and
thinking that her religion was not as authentic as mine and writing off all
chance of ever sharing my faith with her on account of that judgment.
Somehow, Jesus and I disengage from Debbie and we meet with
the owner of the company, my client, in his office. I sort of awkwardly
introduce my client to Jesus and I’m a little ashamed at how I’m almost
apologizing for His presence with me. Jesus’ expression does not change but I
feel a pang of regret for having let Him down. It occurs to me that Jesus has
always been with me every time before only that He was invisible. Was His
significance to me as invisible? Jesus has a way of putting my client at ease
and the conversation takes off. I find my client asking Jesus many questions
about life and business and decisions that I would have loved for my client to
ask me. Jesus doesn’t answer every question that my client asks directly but
His responses are thought provoking and ooze with wisdom and discernment. I
marvel at how well He handles my client and how much my client appreciates what
he imparts – even if it’s not a direct answer - but more a way, an approach or
an attitude toward dealing with things. As we leave my client says something
about how Jesus really impacted his heart on the matters that were important to
him. His heart!
I take Jesus to lunch and the whole affair is one
opportunity after another to express love, offer a kindness or express
compassion and friendship toward the people we encounter. And we encounter SO
MANY people. I just sit back and let Him lead. I experience no fear or self
consciousness and it’s so easy with Jesus along.
I decide to finish the day by taking Jesus to my favorite
beach and to a specific spot where I have spent many hours over the years alone
contemplating and praying to Him. He knows the place very well and we walk
together picking up beach glass of the most extraordinary colors, shapes and
lusters. We look out over the water and I experience a fullness of the creation
that blows my mind. I can actually see the wind and see the subtle temperatures
of the water and fish below the surface. I can see for miles and miles with extraordinary
clarity and I can see planets and stars and galaxies in the sky in broad
daylight! It’s too much and I have to close my eyes. But then my ears pick up
on so much that I have to beg Jesus to close them – and He does. And He puts
His arm around me and whispers “my beloved” - and I am undone.
I ask Him what He thinks about the political, social and
economic issues that have me and many others I know wondering about the path of
the world. He gives me a knowing half-smile and shakes His head a little. With
that I experience a surge of consciousness that He drew me to Himself and when
I had surrendered to His irresistible attraction that He gave me a new heart
and that I was no longer OF this world and not to concern myself so much with the
superficial matters but simply to be anxious for nothing and follow Him led by my new heart. Then all
those things swirling around about me came into perspective with a whisper –
“love one another as I have loved you”.
That night at dinner I marvel at the animated discussion
Jesus is having with my wife. Our dog has taken a position at His feet, curled
up, eyes closed tight and peaceful and he has not moved a molecule since taking
his station there. I say a grace over our meal that is the grace of my life and
it goes on and on and I don’t want to stop. My wife and I must have eaten but I
don’t remember it, only that Jesus told us stories that I could have listened
to for eternity.
The time passes and then Jesus gets up and says that He will
be going. I experience a surge of grief, but only for a passing moment. His
smile reassures me that He is not really leaving but merely passing from my
sight and physical consciousness. Then He is gone.
My wife and I retire to our bedroom silent in our thoughts.
As I get ready for bed I check the pockets of my pants for those dazzling pieces of beach
glass that Jesus and I had found but they are not there except for one small, fairly plain and common
looking artifact. It’s nothing that anyone would remark about and maybe it was
already in my pocket from a previous trip to the beach. It doesn’t matter.
Laying back in bed I kiss my wife who is absolutely glowing, then turn and melt into
the mattress slipping off into a deep, carefree, effortless sleep. Tomorrow is
going to be different.
All the best!
Bill
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