River of Life

One of the biggest mistakes I make in my relationship with the Living God is thinking I can predict when and where He will show up. He truly is mysterious and a God of creative surprises!

This past week I traveled to Winfield, Kansas where I have ministered several times before. Crossroads Community Church in Winfield is a nondenominational church that is not well-known or famous and is actually located out in the country in an obscure, abandoned school building. But it has not been hidden from the Holy Spirit. He is alive and well there, and He visited us in power this past Saturday evening.

A local summer concert series named "River of Life Concerts" was being hosted by Crossroads this past weekend, and since I was already there to lead a women's retreat, they put me on the concert schedule to sing a few of my original songs. After teaching and leading worship all day Saturday I was pretty well spent, and I confess I went to the concert with little to no enthusiasm. I sat on the back row while the first two acts performed, and I prayed a small prayer that Father would get my heart right and remind me that I was there to give HIM my worship.

The first act was a rock 'n roll trio with a loud guitar and a few shouted lyrics. Again I wondered, "Lord, what am I doing here?" About 20 people had trickled into the sanctuary that seats over 200. When it was my turn I went up and sang my three songs, praying that someone would be blessed in my offering. At the end of the concert an unusually excellent folk/bluegrass trio came up and thrilled us all with their vocal harmonies and masterful guitar playing. Still, I wondered what this could be all about!

At the close of the concert the organizer came up on the stage and asked all the artists to come up and do a closing "jam session." Obediently I went forward, but I stayed near the back, not knowing what on earth we would all do to "jam" together since our music had been so totally diverse. We began with a couple of old country gospel favorites that everyone would know. And then it happened. It happened in this place and time and situation that I would have least expected it to happen! A man who is an incredibly gifted, powerful worship leader stepped up to the keyboard and began to play "Here I Am to Worship." The guitars were gently laid on the floor, and we all began to quietly sing to our King. Then the music flowed into the grand strains of "I Exalt Thee" and the Holy Spirit began to descend upon us in that heaviness that can only be described as the "weightiness - the kabod" of God.

The people on the stage as well as the people in the audience moved from praise into deep worship of the heart. Finally the kabod - the glory of God - got so heavy that I was no longer able to stand, and I fell to my knees, covering my head and face with a scarf in His Presence. When the song finished, nobody was able to move for a bit. We had truly been visited by the Presence of the Living God, and we were in awe.

When I laid my head on my pillow that night I asked the Lord to forgive me. How dare I make presuppositions about this small, seemingly insignificant "River of Life" concert out in the cornfield? He will cause HIS river of Life to flow wherever and whenever He chooses. And my heart is still bowed low before Him in awe and gratitude that He allowed me to be there when He came!

May we be a people who seek Him - and watch for Him - in even the most unlikely places! And may the places of worship in this nation soon be filled to overflowing with a people who want His Presence more than they want entertainment or sports or sleep...or their next breath.