Love: Delivered.

I am an individual of frequent revelations. The revelations are frequent only because I have a habit of forgetting them and re-revelationizing, which is why my most recent discovery is one that, while it may be profound, is not in the least a shocking realization.

I have been convicted (again) that the greatest thing that I can or should or will ever aspire to is to love people. To love them for who they are, regardless of what they do, no matter what they deserve. To share in their sorrows, delight in their joys – to hear their hearts.
It was only two days after this revelation that I received grave, terrible news. Over the course of a week, four dear friends lost very dear loved ones. And, in my renewed fervor to love others, these friends included, I was discouraged and at a loss of how to love, and to express love, in their great sorrow.

I found myself in a car on a sloppy wet Friday morning, traveling west around the southern tip of a Lake, with no idea of what I would do when I reached the memorial chapel 200 miles later. It wasn't until I walked inside that I realized how important this delivery of a personal, face-to-face, full contact embrace was. It was nothing I could box up and seal for shipping; it was nothing I could write or speak or record; it was, I think, Love: delivered.


He found Himself on a road called the Way of Pain on a dreary Friday morning, traveling toward an embankment and the place He knew would hold the final chapter of His mission. It was not until He cried out, "It is finished!" and blood & water poured from His side that we realized how imperative this moment was, how pivotal in the lives of mankind. It was nothing that could be sent by sea, land, air, or even heavenly courier; it was not enough to be stated in scrolls passed down through centuries; it was, I know – praise Jesus, I know – it was

Love: delivered.

We love because He first loved us... (I John 4:19)