You Have to Experience It (and Him) In Person

There are many iconic, must-see, bucket list places in America.... Niagara Falls, Yosemite, the Tetons, Great Smokey Mountains National Park, the Statue of Liberty and a host of others. But, no list of must-see/must-experience locations in the US would be complete if it didn't include the Grand Canyon.

My first time "seeing" the Grand Canyon was when the captain of the airplane on which I was traveling told us to look out of the right side windows as we flew over northern Arizona. Even from the cruising altitude we were flying, the extraordinary crevice in the earth's crust was clearly visible. I had my face pressed to the plastic window as long as it remained in our view. A few years later, our family vacationed in Arizona for about 10 days. Our base of operations was a condo in Flagstaff but, we spent one night in one of the lodges at the South Rim. We vacationed in Arizona a second time about 10 years later... and went back to the Grand Canyon again.

I obviously had seen dozens and dozens of photographs and videos of the Grand Canyon prior to going there. I had studied about how the canyon was formed by the Colorado River over millions of years. I knew all of the facts and figures about the Grand Canyon. People who had experienced it always said that all the photos and videos just did not do it justice. When folks would talk about their time there, you could just tell that they were trying to describe it accurately but it was usually with a bit of frustration... they almost didn't have the vocabulary to tell about their experience.

In 1990, I volunteered to go on a foreign mission trip to Panama with several folks from our church. I just woke up one morning and had an overwhelming sense of urgency... I needed to go on that trip. I really didn't understand why I was feeling this prodding. Prior to that morning, I had never considered going on a mission trip. It was an amazing week... our team was there to construct a church building so that the small church there no longer had to worship under a ragged tent. For about a week, our team laid row upon row of concrete block, mixed mortar with only a shovel (upon my return, Carol appreciated the transformation of my biceps,) and, most importantly, we interacted with the members of that church and small community. It was just a little after Christmas... it was the dry season, so the children were out of school and were always near us. The sweet people of the Santa Librada community loved on and blessed us as we labored with block and mortar and fell in love with our new friends. On Sunday we attended a worship service in the back yard of one of the members. The entire service was in Spanish and, except for a word here and there, the words were unknown to me. But something amazing happened. I knew exactly what God was saying to me that morning... as if He was sitting right next to me speaking in English. It was truly an encounter with God I had never previously known. I couldn't explain it then and I can't really explain it nearly 28 years later. I experienced something that I can only try to tell you about.

It's like our trips to the Grand Canyon. I can tell you all the things we did, the aroma of the desert and canyon, all of the sounds around us, the indescribable beauty and color of the canyon which we saw from the South Rim, from hiking down the trail, and from a helicopter flying from over the East Rim, up the Colorado River, over the North Rim, and back. But I would be describing my experience (at least as best I could) ... describing it through my eyes.

Today, I watched and heard (online streaming) my pastor from back in Georgia preach a sermon about Testifying... giving a Testimony. I immediately thought about the two experiences I have just written about above. As a Christian, by that very definition, I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That relationship has been, and continues to be, life changing for me. I can and do tell others about what my relationship with Jesus looks like, how it came to be, and what it means to me. That's my story... my testimony. Just like telling you about what happened to me in Panama... and my two trips at, over, and in the Grand Canyon. If you've never been to the Grand Canyon, it is good to read up about it, look at the photos and videos, read the brochures, and, maybe most importantly, listen to the people that have been there and have personal experience with it. But, to truly know it, you have to experience it yourself... in person.

If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, I can and will enthusiastically tell you about Jesus and what He has done in my life. How could I not share that with you? I can share the gospel story with you and I can also tell you my story.

But, you have to experience Him yourself..."in Person" if you will. My experience will not be your experience. My story will be different than your story. But I encourage you to see and experience Him for yourself. Then you can share your story. Testimony.