LOOKING INTO THE FACE OF JESUS

A friend of mine invited me to participate in a quarterly Sing at his church tonight. I was privileged to have the opportunity to sing, “It Is Well with My Soul.”


And since the focus in this particular story relates to a miracle, it is relevant to tell you that I got my own miracle tonight; separate and distinct from the larger story I am about to tell you.


As Kathie L. accompanied me on the piano, and I sang a song which I have sung as a ‘special’ in my church many times, I realized that I was expending virtually no effort on the notes which were meant to be held for a lengthy amount of time; whether I had taken a sufficient breath, or not.


For instance, on the chorus,


“It is well”… (long and expansive ‘well’) “with my soul”… (long and expansive “soul”).


I had just never had an experience exactly like this before. 


At any rate, we will now rejoin our major story line.


A couple of people chose to recite poems or testify, rather than sing. One lady named, ‘Doris’ told a story unlike any other I have ever heard in my seven decades on this planet. 


After the Sing concluded, I walked up to the young woman, introduced myself, asked her for her email address, and told her I would forward a couple of blogs to her, and the web address to my blogsite.


Followed is the text of my email:


“Doris, I was captivated by your story. I have never met anyone who has literally met Jesus face to face; (though I had my own encounter with an angel). As a mentor, I speak about Jesus' incarnation, and how that when He ascended into heaven, He wore a body that He never took off again.


“Of course, we will look on the scars in his forehead, and hands, feet and side. My implication is that when you saw our Lord face to face that day... that was the only place He was at the time. He limited Himself to a body to identify with, and die for His creation.”


But I’m getting ahead of myself. Allow me to share Doris’ story with you. (While I cannot give you a verbatim account, I think I can provide you a pretty decent paraphrase).


Pt. 2


Doris walked to the front of the auditorium, stepped onto the stage, and began.


“Hello all. I almost want to apologize, but I won’t. I’m barefoot, but I hardly ever wear shoes in church. It’s one of those ‘holy ground’ kinda things with me.


“I’m not up here to sing. I just want to tell you a story. It’s a good story. It’s an amazing story. You see, my husband and I were in _____________ , (I missed the name of the city), and I noticed a man park his bicycle outside of a particular mall, and began chaining it up. He was evidently a homeless man, and I have always had a heart for the homeless, and have often given them money.


“At any rate, ‘John’ and I walked around the mall for a few minutes, and then went back out to our car, and drove to another mall several miles away.


“Well, oddly enough, as we pulled up to the second mall, I noticed the same man doing the same thing I had seen him do at the first mall. He was chaining his bicycle up, as if he was preparing to go into the building. 


“And then it occurred to me. There was no way this man could have peddled from the first mall to the second mall in the amount of time it took our car to get there. We had just driven to this place, and it required perhaps twenty minutes to get there.


“About this time, I looked at John and said, ‘Here. I want to do something for that homeless man. Take this $5 bill, and walk over and give it to him.’


“Well now, I regret to tell you that my husband wasn’t real cooperative, and he basically told me to, ‘Do it yourself.’


“Well, I took him up on his challenge, and I found myself walking over to the homeless man. I was perhaps 15-20 feet away when the man spoke.


‘You don’t need to give me anything.’


“His words seemed a little odd to me, but I continued walking up to him. As I arrived next to the fella, he was just standing up from chaining his bicycle to a lamppost.


“Suddenly, I found myself looking into the face of someone very familiar, and I can tell you, I was absolutely mesmerized. For you see, I found myself…looking into the eyes of Jesus!


“I was absolutely overwhelmed, and could not move nor speak. I cannot tell you what I did next. I may have handed him the $5 dollar bill. Eventually, I apparently offered some excuse, and walked dizzily back to my waiting husband.”


Afterward


Doris included the final encouragement to the members of her church, as her story came to an end.


“My friends, we are surrounded by angels. Not only that, but Jesus is still walking around on this earth! He is not done with us yet. He is not aloof from His creation. He is still present in our midst.”

By William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending

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