Faith.In.Life

Bethel

There is something poetic about Jacob’s dream about the stairway to heaven then naming the place where he encountered the Lord Bethel and my own time at Bethel University from 2004-2006.  Each marker is a unique time in both Jacob and my own life that offers both fond memories, but more importantly, a unique encounter with the Lord.  I am convinced that the Lord is looking for us to encounter him every moment of our lives were were are constantly in right relationship with him.  He even will show us different glimpses of himself (sometimes more clear than others), but we either miss what He is doing in our lives, or we fail to intentionally build a pillar to commemorate the event and then slowly, but surely, the memory fades away until it dissolves entirely.

As I reflect on Jacob’s experience, this is his first true encounter with God’s call spoken audibly to him.  Isaac has passed on the blessing, but Jacob himself had not had a true encounter of the Living God.  Jacob’s encounter is truly breathtaking.  As we ourselves consider art and trying to wrap our minds around Heaven where the MercyMe song pondered what Heaven might be like in “I Can Only Imagine,” or when Andrew Peterson wrote “Is He Worthy” based on the vision given to us in Revelation.  Then to hear God’s voice speak in an audible tone with all authority and honor one might be right to say that what God says to Jacob is through a booming, but very reassuring tone.  We are given a very quick snap shot of all of this through Jacob’s dream, but Jacob is so touched by the event that he hopes to never forget this encounter.

In a similar way, so much of my experience at Bethel University was a glimpse of Heaven.  As we look back at this experience, one can begin the formation of a young disciple having received his call to ministry without much of an idea of who God really was.  Sure, I had encountered glimpses of God through my time at church and serving with Campus Crusade for Christ, but much of what I had studied and done was pretty simplistic.  In fact, my desire for further theological study was due to the fact that what I was doing at church and with Cru was getting quite repetitive, and I wanted to dig deeper.  

However, what I could not have guessed is just how much of a step of faith Bethel would truly become.  So far in my life I had done what was relatively safe, having started college only two and half hours from my home town.  One year at the University of Northern CO when the going got tough, my mother was close enough to drive up to my dorm to check on me even to the point of offering to take me home.  When I left CO and went to Bethel whatever safety net once provided in the comfort zones I had created for myself were all but gone.  Sure, technology had advanced quite significantly and I could stay in touch with my family, but coming to visit would require much more planning - and certainly if life took a turn for the worse there was no longer a close by safety net.  So, as I packed up to go to Bethel and begin this new journey that God was asking me to go on, there was something akin to when Jesus commissions the twelve in Matthew 10:9-10;

9 “Don’t take any money in your money belts—no gold, silver, or even copper coins. 10 Don’t carry a traveler’s bag with a change of clothes and sandals or even a walking stick. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve to be fed. 

Some have pondered why Jesus tells the disciples to rely on the clothing on their back without having anywhere to stay and the risk that was inherent in the situation.  But when you look at God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants unto Jacob you see ongoing themes which include “What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go.”  In other words, when Jesus sends the twelve out with virtually nothing they are being forced to truly rely on God and to experience what Jesus says in what is known as the Great Commission:  “I am with you until the end of the age.”  I often reflect on my call to Bethel - that I pretty much through the few possessions I had in the car, which the only thing that had sizable value was the massive computer monitor we all were familiar with in the early 2000’s.  While other students my age would have had time to establish friends and community at one school, I arrive with no friends.   I didn’t know where anything was located in a time before GPS.  The tuition at a private school was twice as expensive as the previous state school.  And even though I had applied two months before the start of the oncoming school year, I did not know I was accepted and waited in anticipation until a week before classes started.  I then tossed what possessions I had in my car and drove north to a place I had visited only once before - but otherwise had never been.  

Yet, I knew one things - I knew God was calling me into ministry and that it was time I followed the stairway placed before me to experience what God had in mind for me.  Some might call this a blind faith and even courageous, which I suppose it was.  Others called me insane and told me I would never earn a worth while wage.  And yet, in the recesses of my mind Bethel became a memory pillar for it is where I sought the Lord and He guided me.  If I was in trouble, if I lacked the finances, if I worried about where my next meal might come from, or if I encountered hardships of any kind - the Lord comforted me, his rod and his staff they protected me.  And now I look back at Bethel realizing this was a place where the Lord in a sense forced me to find my entire life and meaning in Him and Him alone.  Now, whenever God might call me here or there - and I face some type of great unknown challenge that I am not sure how I might manage on my own, I look back to the memory pillar both figuratively and literally referred to as Bethel and I am reminded of my encounter with the Lord - so that I am empowered to know that the Lord is with me always, until the end of the age.