How will we encounter Him next?

Jesus never ceases to be surprising! How will we encounter Him next? I really don't want to write today. Not really feeling it. I'm sitting at my desk thinking about how to start writing and not be fake. And then as I'm thinking that thought and begin to write, I write that sentence...."How will we encounter Him next?"....and all of sudden, I'm intrigued with God. So intrigued that I have just changed the title of this post from "Save Me" to "How will we encounter Him next?"

The story that I have been thinking about this week is a story where Jesus walks on a lake out to a boat where His friends are. Even as I write it sounds so canned and stale. Jesus walked on water without sinking down into it. That's not something that we can do. The water was not only under His feet, but under His control. This was the surprising way that Jesus went out to His friends on the lake. And it shocked them! It was the middle of the dark night, there is a storm brewing, they aren't expecting Him, and they see someone or something walking on top of the water. Huh? Blurry night vision? Over worked, over hungry, over all the surprises? Whatever the case....as they see whatever or whoever it is, they are afraid. They think it's a ghost. It's the next way they are encountering Jesus. Walking on the water to them.

How have I (Damon) encountered Him today? On Wednesday, one of my joys is to prayer walk on the University of Tennessee campus. I have a particular route that I walk each Wednesday. It is really special to me. I enjoy it a lot. Most Wednesdays as I begin my walk, I simply say to God, "Who do you have for me today Lord? I'm open....". I intentionally walk at a specific time when there are literally thousands of students and people walking on the path that I take. As I prayed that beginning prayer of who God would allow me to intersect with on my walk today, I immediately thought of a student that I wanted to text when I got to a point of my walk where I sit and savor the space and time with God while I'm on my walk. The particular student is really growing in their relationship with Jesus and I wanted to ask them something about how God is meeting them in these days of growth and change. I kid you not, literally 20 seconds after I asked God who He had for me to encounter on my walk and thought of the name of this particular student that I wanted to contact....I hear a voice say out loud on the side walk, "Hey Pastor Damon"! It was that exact student now standing right in front of me. Thank you God.

Thank you for reminding us that there are so many ways that we encounter You. It may not seem like He was walking on top of the water towards me today, but in that mass of thousands of people, that my path crossed with the very person that I had just been thinking about....IT WAS AN ENCOUNTER. WITH HIM. I receive that gift today.

How will you encounter Him next? How have you encountered Him recently? I would love to hear your story. Tell it to me. If you don't sense that you are encountering Him at all, tell Him. He receives you.

There's more.