When God Became Real at the Ritz, Part 3

What do you do if a man is interested in you, and you in him?  You go on dates and get to know one another better.  But what if that man is God?  You go to church of course!

I don't really think I understood everything that was happening.  I was relating to others differently, experiencing a new kind of friendship through Julia, and wondering if there was something more I wasn't looking at. 

The year or two before God started to reveal Himself, I was apt to try whatever I needed to to find inner peace.  I read tons of books, mostly self-help with the occasional metaphysical sprinkling of anything from DeePak Chopra to The Celestine Prophecy.  I took Tai Chi, dabbled in meditation, and even joined a drumming circle.  None of it took.  Whatever I was looking for, I wasn't finding it there.  It just felt empty in the end and like a bunch of people looking for something, claiming they had found "it" whatever "it" is. 

The last time I had gone to church at that time may have been in Virginia in the Catholic Church near where I grew up.  The service was rich in liturgy, and I understood none of it.  My only other experience before that, was at the same church where Mom and I went a few times.  I remember a young woman playing "Day by Day" on the guitar which I thought was kind of cool, but other than that, I remembered nothing else - except the donuts. 

I knew Julia went to church, and if memory served she probably said I could go with her anytime.  I took her up on it, and I remember she looked quite surprised and pleased by my request.  I think part of my decision to go had to do with a mental bucket-list, with one of the points being that I wanted to read the bible... I had heard it was a good book and I was always up for a good story, and I knew in church I would get a dose of what that book meant.  This sounds all very cerebral I know, but it was just as much in my heart as well.  Again, I just knew I HAD to do this.

Now the next part I tell with a bit of trepidation.  I really don't want to cheapen the experience with words.  I say this because there are some experiences in life that you go through and no matter how hard you try to find the right words there are none.  Yet this experience may be one of the most moving of my life, and I would be remiss if I left it out so I'll just trust Him with this, despite my desire to want to control the way you may respond to the story.

The Sunday morning came when we decided to visit church, so Julia and I met at a coffee shop called Dietrich's.  We met, ordered an iced mocha, bagel with cream cheese (this was before I was thirty so I could get away with ordering such a high caloric breakfast) and went on our way.  As we arrived I noticed a couple of things.  First there was no cross or steeple on the building.  The building had no particularly unique characteristics.  Only one floor, it was medium-sized, mostly brick, and the entry doors were all glass.  Immediately upon entering, besides being greeted and given a brochure, I saw a bookstore on the left and made a mental note to visit after church was done.  We walked a handful of steps more, and took a quick left into what I guess was the sanctuary.

The best way to describe it was a very large, high ceiling type auditorium, dimly lit.  People were everywhere, talking laughing, very casually dressed, and the chairs formed several sections semi-circled around the stage.  It looked almost like a business seminar, except that the stage had all kinds of musical instruments, including an enclosed drum set.  So far, so good.  I liked how it felt, what I saw, and I was pretty comfortable in the space.  The music eventually started, the band and singers were great, and the audience all joined in singing along with the words on the screen.  After a few songs, a casually dressed man, plaid type design on his shirt, and wearing blue jeans went on stage as the band exited.  He opened us up in prayer, and I finally figured out he was the pastor.  Let's just say I kept getting pleasantly surprised each step of the way during the service.  Besides it being like no other church service I had been to before, the message was very applicable to today even though it came straight out of the bible. I think the pastor even held up a newspaper at one point to talk about application even further.  The best way to describe it is that I felt completely and utterly at home.  Not just feeling at home, but I felt I WAS home.  Who I was, what I thought, the 'voice' I was hearing through the music and preaching was a home with such complete satisfaction and joy, I never wanted to leave.  And then it got even better.

A singer by the name of Chris Falson, not very well-known even today despite a very well-known worship song he wrote, was at the service with his team leading the music.  The closing song took my already content state to a point of incomprehensible awe with a particular song called "I See the Lord".  Now mind you, I was not (and still am not) a very religious person, so I really couldn't say I liked using the word "Lord" let alone singing a song about the "Lord", but this song was different for me.  I heard what you will hear on the video, and maybe it won't move you as it did me, but this song simply softened my heart to such a degree, that I started crying after I heard it.  But the crying was deep, and healing.  After I heard this song, I was changed even more than after Julia shared her friendship I described before.  It was a continuation of that same softening that occurred with her, but deeper.  It cut, it hurt, but there was also a release.  It was an experience that forever changed me.  I figured if there was a heaven, and I was going to be there, that what this song described was it.  Later when I started reading scripture much more, I realized the song did come from scripture, almost word for word, and described, you guessed it, a vision of heaven that one of the prophets was given.  My first date with God was a success, and I decided to keep going out with Him.  If ever there was a time I know the Lord was speaking to me it was during this song.  I had found the place where I would start my "dating" relationship with the one true God who would eventually lead me into the best relationship ever!