Yesterday I started a series on the ‘Marker Moments’ of our lives. Click here for part 1.
Today I want to tell you about a very important marker in my own life. It’s actually a tree.
This tree to be exact.
Looks small in the picture, doesn’t it? Actually, it would take 4 or 5 men to wrap their arms around it! And it didn’t seem a whole lot smaller 25 plus years ago when I prayed at the foot of the tree for God to make Himself clear to me. You see, I was struggling at home, feeling inadequate in every way, and unsure of whether God really cared.
Just keeping it real. He knew anyway.
Let me back up a bit…
I was still in high school—16 years old and coming to the end of a summer working at Word of Life. You can click the link to check it out.
Anyhow, toward the end of the summer I drew closer and closer to God, but also more and more concerned about what life would be like once I returned home to the real world. Would everything seem like a dream? Would I forget God? Would I walk away? Would it be like nothing ever happened? I was seriously terrified of that happening. God was too good and everything in my life paled in comparison. Going back to the same old same old was not an option. I needed to hear from God, so I fell to my knees at that tree (around 10:00 pm) and began to pray.
15 mins…
30…
45…
Nothing.
Again, just keeping it real. But now I had another problem. You see, my summer job wasn’t at WOL island. It was at WOL Ranch…9 miles and a boat ferry away! And though the ferry off the island ran every half hour, 11:00 pm was the last boat out of Dodge! And, unless I wanted to get in serious trouble, I needed to be on it!
I pointed all this out to God as well.
Nothing.
Then I did something a little desperate. I told God that I wasn’t budging until He showed up.
Period.
I remember even giving God a play by play regarding the boat in case the whole, ‘last boat off the island’ scenario had gone unnoticed.
Still nothing.
Then I began to weep. “I can’t live without you, Lord! I don’t want to go back to the way things were. I want you to be the most important person in my life from this day forward. I want to serve you, live for you, do whatever you ask of me.
No matter what the cost.”
Then He showed Himself. Powerfully. The Holy Spirit came upon me and I was filled with an unspeakable joy!! Everything became clear in an instant, and I knew I was loved unconditionally by God! Even more so, I felt Him say to my heart, “I accept your offer. You will be for Me, a living sacrifice all of your days.
God was calling me into ministry right then and there—11:20 pm on WOL island!
And even though I had to make a special call to the mainland and someone had to bring another boat over to get me (and yes, I got in a heap of trouble). It was worth it. So worth it!
This summer, after more than 25 years, I returned to that island and that tree. And you know what?
God was right there waiting.