A Journey Into God’s Heart

(circa 1971)

Summer arrived and it was time to go on a long-awaited vacation. We bought a 1963 Ford van that had been converted into a camper, complete with a stove, sink, ice box, bed and a pop-up top. It was perfect for us and our two dogs. The only problem is that it was a little slow going uphill. Ignorant of the Spanish language, we unwittingly named our van “El Poco” (meaning to us: ”slow”).

One day as we were beginning to get ready for our two-week trip to the Pacific Northwest, I came home from work. I drove into the driveway, and there, to my shock was our red van covered with big yellow polka dots! (As I’ve mentioned before, Bill has a slightly odd – ummm, I mean unique? – sense of humor.) He had gotten the big yellow dots from work and decided to stick them all over our van. And so “El Poco” was re-christened “El Poco Dot”. To complete the display, we bought an “ooga horn” and mounted it on the driver’s side door. Driving up the coast we made quite a spectacle but enjoyed the curious stares and ensuing friendly waves from other travelers.

We knew this trip was going to be special, having prayed that God would show us something. But we had no idea how life-changing it would be. We were standing on the brink of something big and were excited to discover what it was going to be. God was speaking and we were listening.

A PROFOUND DREAM

And so we settled in for our first night in a campsite on the beautiful California coastline. Snuggled in our cozy sleeping bag, we fell asleep to the music of wind in the trees and waves crashing on the beach. The next morning when we woke up, Bill described a dream that he had. Most dreams are filled with random, weird nonsensical scenes, leaving you to wonder where on earth they came from. This dream, however, we knew was a profound message from God.

In the dream Bill saw a person, fully clothed and standing erect. But eventually the clothing collapsed onto the floor, the person having vanished. The clothing was then wadded into a ball and thrown away. Bill was certain that God told him the meaning of the dream that night. The clothing signified the academic theology so venerated by our current pastor, yet woefully devoid of life. The “clothing”, without a person to fill it, is worth very little. Theology, although useful, is a hollow void without the living, breathing person of Jesus to fill it.

We left our campsite that morning sobered and in awe that God would speak to us in such a way.

A FOREST OF LIFE

Our trip continued into the majestic redwood forests of Northern California, one of the most beautiful places on the earth. Just walking through a redwood forest can take your breath away with its splendor. The trees reach hundreds of feet into the air, their tops brushing the sky as they sway in the breeze. Sunlight filters through their branches like rays of light streaming through the windows of a cathedral. The forest floor is covered with emerald green moss, clover, flowers and delicate ferns. Huge fallen redwood trees transform into gardens as they decay. In their sacrifice, they become the source of life to a lush array of foliage.

We pulled off the road, stopped the van and spread a blanket on the soft, spongy forest floor and enjoyed a picnic lunch. After lunch, we laid on the ground and looked straight up through those towering trees into the blue sky and watched them sway in the wind. Then I turned over, eye-level to the forest floor. As far as I could see, it was covered with clover. Each sprig of clover grew on the top of a delicate stem, about 6 inches high. As I looked across the field of clover, I realized that they were all the same height. No one sprout stood out among the others and when a breeze came along, they all, in unison, bowed together, yielding to the wind’s gentle urging.

And yes, God spoke again.

He told me that he is a giant tree and I am one of those ferns. He sacrificed himself so that I could take root in him and sprout and grow. He is now cradling me in his loving branches and is nurturing me so that I can mature and even propagate.

The field of clover is his church. Each sprout is very special, yet not one sprout is more important than any other. And when he speaks, they all, in unity, bow together in sweet surrender. I had seen so much disunity and discord in the church, it broke my heart. So God gave me this vision as a sweet gift and in response, from the depths of my being, rose a heartfelt prayer: “Lord, may it be so.”

And we drove away from that picnic spot, realizing that we had been on holy ground.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE GOAL

Our trip continued further up the coast, through the Olympic Rain Forest and the Olympic Peninsula to the town of Port Angeles, Washington, at the base of the majestic Mount Olympus. What a beautiful, snow-covered mountain! We discovered that there was a road that would take us to a visitor center where there was a spectacular view of the top of the mountain.

And so we started driving up that road. As we drove up the steep, winding road, we saw beautiful trees and rocks and streams tumbling down the incline. But after a while we realized that we could no longer see the top of the mountain. Our view was blocked by those other things. Beautiful as they were, they were in the way. Finally as we rounded the last curve, the summit appeared. We parked the van, got out and gazed in awe at the view. The scene spread out before us was breathtaking! Not only was there a magnificent vista of the top of the mountain above us but also of Port Angeles, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island far below us.

And God spoke yet again.

He told us that he is the mountain and we need to get to the top to see him. But so many things had gotten in the way of that goal. They were good things – even beautiful things, but they were blocking our vision. All of our working for God, all of the committees we were on, all of the work we were doing, was blocking our view of the goal.

And to this day, whenever I get too busy working for God, those words echo in my heart: Don’t let anything block your vision of the Lord. That is my benchmark.

Our trip continued as we drove our van onto a ferry that took us to beautiful Vancouver Island. At the end of our voyage, as we were driving off the ferry, we approached the Canadian border guard. He had obviously never seen a red van with big yellow polka dots before and was clearly getting a big kick out of it. He told us that he would let us into his country if we would let him blow our ooga horn. And so our entry into Canada was accompanied by the honking of an ooga horn and sidesplitting laughter.

KEEP YOUR FIRE BURNING

After visiting beautiful Vancouver Island, we took the ferry to the mainland, drove through the city of Vancouver and on to the majestic Canadian Rockies. Our homebound route went south, through Idaho, where we set up camp in a beautiful little campground next to a small lake in the middle of a forest.

As the blue sky transformed into a pink and orange sunset reflecting on the lake, we gathered wood and began to build a campfire in the fire pit. The tiny fire began with some kindling and a match and as it grew, we added larger and larger logs until we had a blazing fire warming our cold feet. The fire gradually transformed into coals that were perfect for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. We sat, mesmerized by the dancing flames and glowing coals. After a while, however, we noticed that one of the logs had fallen off the fire and over to the edge of the fire pit. As it laid there its fire began to get weaker and weaker and it got colder and colder until its fire eventually went out. And there it lay: dark, alone and cold.

And God spoke again.

“The Christian life was never meant to be lived by yourself. You are in love with me right now but if you don’t share life with other Christians who have my love burning in their hearts, you will fall off to the side of the fire and your fire will go out. You will lie there, dark, alone and cold. You need other believers who are burning in their spirit, loving me. Together, you will all burn brightly, igniting all those who get close to you.”

A NEW CHURCH

Our trip, sadly, was coming to an end. We spent our last night in San Francisco, with Bill’s sister and brother-in-law (Linda & Wayne). They had moved there a few months before and we were excited to see them and their 3 children again.

Here, I need to share a little background with you: In 1967 Bill’s parents had left our Baptist church in Burbank to get involved with the “Church in Los Angeles”. They came to visit us when we were in Texas and were very excited about their new church. They tried to tell us about it but we were so far from seeking anything more from God, we just rolled our eyes, thought they were weird and blew them off. While they were visiting us, they took us to a meeting of the “Church in Waco”. The church was very, very small and met in a house. The people were very nice, but they were really weird. They loved Jesus just a little too much. They invited us to stay for lunch and when the ordeal was finally over, we were very glad to leave. Bill’s parents, thankfully, went back to California and we figured that was that. In the meantime, Linda & Wayne had gotten involved with the “Church in Los Angeles” and eventually moved to be involved with the “Church in San Francisco”.

And so on our trip, by the time we got to San Francisco, we were ready and hungry to hear more about this church. The time was right.

Not wanting to admit to Bill’s parents that we were hungry for more, we peppered Linda & Wayne with questions, soaking up the words of life that they shared with us. Our time with them was like a huge, refreshing drink of ice cold water on a hot summer day.

READY FOR MORE…

The next day, after reluctantly leaving Linda & Wayne, we drove over the mountainous Highway 99 “Ridge Route” and gazed down at the thick layer of smog covering the San Fernando Valley. We would soon be driving down into this, the place where we lived. The fresh air of the sea and forest and mountains quickly became a dim memory as we held our breath and descended. Rather than bemoan our fate, however, our hearts were filled with anticipation. We knew that God was up to something big and our life was going to experience a dramatic transformation.