HIS Bridge of Life

I was on a bridge to nowhere. At least that’s how it would appear to someone looking at my life with human eyes. I looked up briefly to acknowledge the One who had died to give me vision far beyond human capability. “Seeing is believing,” my father’s words echoed in my mind. That was his mantra for denying the One my mother taught me to serve.

A blue bridge over blue water under a blue sky: that’s what the party I was leading saw. It was what my father would have seen before he too learned to see as I see.

What did I see? A reflection of my own heart: a red bridge, blood red, barely touching, almost kissing, a sea of clear gold, both illuminated by the purest light. As long as the bridge is red, and the sea is gold, and the sky is pure, I’m on the right path and I’m leading others on the right path. Where am I leading them? To the One my heart longs for. To the One my soul lives for. To the One my body dies daily for.

Here He comes! I stop walking, and there’s an immediate pile-up of people bumping into me and then one another, but I don’t mind. It just means they are staying close; following me as I follow Him. He’s all I talk about, and now, a hunger for Him burns in their hearts.

“Why did you stop?”

That was Ruth. Where I go, she goes. If she could walk beside me instead of behind me, she would. One day, she will lead her own group

“What’s going on?”

That was Mary. She was not far behind Ruth. Sometimes, I think she will surpass her.

I just stood there. Silence was one way He taught me to lead.

“They need to feel Me, experience Me, know Me for themselves.”

This was one of those times where my telling them what was about to happen would ruin the experience.

The pure light became wind and lifted the sea of gold into a liquid wall. I watched as the wall got higher and higher, at the same time moving closer and closer to us. I was excited! This was not the first time He visited us, but it was the first time some of the others would experience it with me. Those who walked close to me were in for the most memorable and pleasurable encounter of their lives thus far. Those toward the back of the group would think we were just stopping for a rest. The same thing would happen to them as was about to happen to us, but they wouldn’t know it; not this time anyway. At most, they would feel a light tingle all over their bodies. “Light tingle” couldn’t begin to describe what me and some of those closest to me were about to feel.

The wall was now directly in front of us. I lifted my head. The wall started to fall. I welcomed the crashing wave of gold and light and wind into my outstretched arms. He was in the wave ,the light, and the wind! I smelled Him. I tasted Him. Countless times this has happened, yet each time was new and more glorious than the last. I heard Ruth and Mary scream. I laughed. I understood. The next time, they would speak. I felt the language, His language, rising up in me. If something didn’t come out, I would die. Oh Yeah! I understood their screams. No being, human or otherwise, could hold back sound or movement of any kind if they were experiencing what we were experiencing at this moment. Praise! We had to praise Him. He understood their scream too. I heard Him laugh even as His language burst forth from my lips. Did I understand the words? No. But, I understood that they were bringing Him pleasure. That’s all that mattered.

I felt His arms envelope me and carry me away. This was new! Ruth and Mary’s screams faded away. Silence. We stopped moving.

“Open your eyes, Beloved.”

He spoke in His language. I understood! Eyes I did not know were closed, flew open. All the strength left my legs. From my knees, I spoke words from the Book He gave me when we first met: “Chief among ten thousand! How right we are to adore You! Dark am I!”

“Yet lovely,” was His response.

“Me?”

“Yes, and more.”

“Me? I’m More?”

“Yes, Beloved. You are terrible, as an army with banners!”

I remembered reading that in His book and not understanding. As He spoke, I understood. An army with banners was one that worked in the open. They were so confident in their God and in the victory He had already won for them that they did not hide their maneuverings. An army with banners declared, “here we come, out in the open, waving the banner of victory before we fight because we know you cannot beat us!” Their very boldness struck terror into the hearts of their enemies.

“Lord, I am nothing! How can I strike terror into anyone? How can I be so bold as to declare victory before the fight begins?”

“You are everything to me, Beloved, which means that you are more than a conqueror! I am sending you into the enemies camp, and you have already gotten the victory.”

Fear rose up in me, but before it could finish standing, I rose up behind it in faith, overshadowed it with His words of victory, making them my own. “You have not given me the spirit of fear. Dark am I, yet lovely. I am Your beloved who looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and striking terror into the enemy with my banner of victory pre-dated for tomorrow!”

I heard Him laugh, and I laughed with Him as I felt His arms wrap around me again. In the blink of an eye, I was back on the bridge. Ruth and Mary looked stunned but radiant. Those closest to them looked as if they had just enjoyed their favorite dessert cooked to perfection. As I looked further on down the line, the faces ranged from happiness to boredom to anger. Those that were happy experienced a little of what Ruth, Mary, and I did. The angry ones made me smile. They were so zealous to finish the work that they did not appreciate the journey. They needed to stop and smell the roses. The bored ones saddened me; they had a long way to go. I remember when I was like them.