WARNING.....THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG ONE
You know that question people ask you "If you could meet one person, who would it be?"
I think at one point in my life, my answer would have been Bon Jovi, maybe Oprah, or even Jesus (except I knew I'd meet Jesus in Heaven) Truth is, I'd say that in the past several years, my answer has been Rick Warren, the pastor of my church and author of "The Purpose Driven Life"...BUT, I never gave that answer, in fact, I never even said it out loud. I just did not answer. I guess I was confused on why I wanted to meet him because he is "just a man".
This is super personal...but worth it to me to share....
Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick and me finding "my purpose" have been in my heart, right next to GOD, my family & friends for the past several years...the years that I found great love and devastating loss, the years of tremendous growth and life altering mistakes. Throughout my journey, God, family, friends & Saddleback have been my source of support, have been with me on that rubber dingy with the broken oar, have been with me as I went through divorce, have been with me as I took a leap of faith and traveled around the globe in the name of paper and helped me to be able to appreciate & absorb the true sense of God as I witnessed the sunrise and the sunset in South Africa.
My life has changed for the better because of many many factors, including Pastor Rick...
But he is "just a man", so "wanting to meet him" felt like I was a groupie, waiting back stage...therefore, I never said anything....
Something has changed in the past year as I really started to identify with my Purpose. I started to answer that "Who would you meet..." question when asked, especially when I was around the people that I knew"knew him" I even said it out loud in our small group and my own husband said "he is just a man"..."duh...I know that " was my response, but I still was unsure "why" and could not defend my reasoning for wanting to meet him (as if I need a reason???) & I continued to share my wishes & thoughts with my small group and said that I did not think that God was going to make it possible for me to meet him because I was unsure of exactly "why"...
long story short....fast forward to today...
The morning got away from me, John was helping a neighbor, Ben was at a friends so I decided to stay in my jammies and watch church. During the message....Rick spoke about how we are jars of clay and more importantly that "God puts his glory in ordinary thingsand how God wants to be inside of us, so that he is exposed through us and Rick continued on by giving this example:
Rick : "I am just a man, but through me, people see God in me...and I see God in people because it comes out through their actions, through their gifts & through their purpose"
light bulb moment....He, Pastor Rick..."is just a man"
...Insert screeching breaks sound effect...
THAT'S IT.....
that is MY ANSWER.....
I know why....
because he is an ordinary man (Rick) and I do see GOD in him...
longer story shorter...
showered, got ready, Jack & I went to Church...
met up with some friends and look what happened...
I got my answer and I got my wish...
an amazing full circle moment for me...and guess what he said (not just to me, because I heard him say it to another...)
"Have you hugged your Pastor today???"and he gave me a big ol' bear hug.
if you are wondering what I said...I said "It is a pleasure to finally meet you"and he looked at me and said "God Bless You"
(and I did not even sneeze!!!)
such an amazing day.
