Airplane Epiphany

I’ll never forget the time that I was flying somewhere and was studying something for a church leadership school I was in.  I was going through the verses of the Bible that were in the lesson and it hit me.  I welled up with tears of joy.  I can’t quite put to words how I felt at that moment.  Thankfulness was pouring out of me.  At that minute I was just so grateful to have been brought up in the Lord.  Which basically means I was brought up knowing about Jesus from a young age.

I can’t tell you I am overcome like that every time I read the Bible.  I have read the Bible most of the days of my adult years (and even before then), yet rarely do I have a moment of revelation like that.  It is like numbness was taken away.  Apathy was gone from me.  My eyes were open to a glimpse of the unbelievable spiritually rich inheritance I had received and been living on.  To this day I can’t tell you where I was flying, what I was doing, or anything.  But I will never forget how overcome I was with gratefulness at that moment.  Had I had a bottle of perfume and Jesus sitting physically beside me I could have easily been the woman washing the feet of her Lord with her hair and perfume as Mary had.  This moment impacted me forever.

Why am I telling you this?  Not in anyway to rub something in your face that I think I have that you may not.  But I tell you because of the back story.  You see my parents had a time in their lives that was pretty dark.  Before they found Jesus they were into drugs and we-gee boards, had “spirit guides” etc.  They almost lost their marriage at one point.  They were desperate, empty, and searching for something to fill them up.  Then my mom enrolled my brother in a local christian preschool.  The teachers (bless those teachers!) reached out to her and invited her to church.  It was there she found Jesus and she was forever changed.  My father followed soon after.  This was all before I was born.  My parents weren’t perfect from that point on.  They had things in their lives they struggled with.  But they had Jesus.  They had my brother, and soon had me and were determined that we grew up always knowing this great peace that only Jesus can bring.  

No matter where you are at as a person or a parent.  There is hope.  No matter what you have come from your children can still recieve a rich inheritance and never have to deal with the things that you may think have branded your life as irrepairable.  All you have to do is bring your crap to his feet.  Give your life to Jesus and know that all the things in life that were done to you, all the things you did, all were nailed on the cross with him and you are made new.  Can you imagine having that to pass on to your children.  As a child of that same inheritance I can tell you that it is amazing.

I now sit here with my children.  I still have things that I really struggle, no war, with.  Its a journey not a destination.  But everyday (that I let him) God is growing me and refining me.  I hope to pass on to my children not the things that entangle me, but freedom, peace, grace, love, zeal,and every other perfect gift that comes only from Jesus.  I pray that I won’t pass on the things that trip me up.  I pray that I will deal with them at this generation so that it won’t go on to the next.  May their futures be written by God alone and not by my failings.  May they always have the peace and hope that I had that moment on the plane.  May they never know a moment without Jesus.

PS- If you have any questons about how to know Jesus please feel free to email me at eejackson (at) mac (dot) com.