"The Journey" by Don Clark
This was from one of our Influencers in Bakersfield, CA as he embarked on his Journey. Very poignant!
THE JOURNEY
This evening, Tuesday, August 21st, at 6 p.m., I begin a nine-month commitment to an experience called “The Journey.” I do so with roughly 800 other guys in Bakersfield who meet at other times and thousands more across the nation.
What is “The Journey?” Let me explain it this way.
Jesus was on his last journey to Jerusalem. He was approaching the ancient city of Jericho. A huge crowd was moving along with him.
As Jesus entered Jericho, the city’s most hated man wanted to get a glimpse of him. His name was Zacchaeus. The most important thing in this man’s life was money. We know that because he was willing to betray his own people and be part of Rome’s hated oppression of his nation by collecting Rome’s despised taxes on the people, thus greatly enriching himself.
Zacchaeus undoubtedly had heard a lot about Jesus, the most famous man of his day---about his miracles, his teachings, his claims about himself. He wanted to see this man with his own eyes. However, being short, he couldn’t see Jesus over the heads of the swirling crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a tree to get a clear, unobstructed view of the man who was stirring such a commotion.
Zacchaeus must have been astonished when Jesus looked straight up at him, a man he’d never met, called him by name, and singled him out personally from the whole crowd.
“Zacchaeus, climb down,” Jesus said, “I want to be your guest today.”
Much to the disgust, disapproval, and disappointment of the critical crowd, Jesus interrupted his entire journey to enter into the privacy of Zacchaeus’s home and share a meal, one on one, with Jericho’s most infamous citizen.
For the universally detested Zacchaeus, the sheer impact of coming face to face with Jesus in a setting of intimate friendship was beyond description. To discover that Jesus already knew everything about him, yet loved him, caused Zacchaeus instantaneously to make radical changes about the very thing that dominated his life---money, riches, and wealth, no matter what it took to get it.
The changes Zacchaeus made were so dramatic that Jesus declared, “Today, God’s salvation has come to this house.”
That encounter between Zacchaeus and Jesus is exactly what “The Journey” is all about.
It’s not about church. It’s not about Bible study. It’s not about theology, conservative or liberal. It’s about Jesus.
Like Zacchaeus, most of us have heard about Jesus. Perhaps in countless sermons at church. Perhaps in constant messages on television and radio. Perhaps in little choruses like, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Maybe even on bumper stickers or words painted on the sides of barns that say, “Jesus Saves,” or “Jesus is Lord,” or “Jesus is the Answer.”
Like Zacchaeus, we’ve seen how excited crowds can get about him---singing, shouting, clapping, lifting their hands, waving their arms, with faces turned glowing upward. Or bowed down in large groups at some altar with penitent and lowly hearts, humbly seeking God’s mercy.
But for countless men today, “The Journey” is what that tree in the middle of Jericho was for Zacchaeus. It’s a safe sacred space for a man to clearly see Jesus for himself. Not about what others say or think or preach and teach about Jesus, but what a man can experience about Jesus for himself in the sincere company of fellow seekers.
The miracles happening in men’s lives throughout Bakersfield and across the nation come when a man discovers, at last, perhaps for the first time, even after going to church for years, that Jesus already intimately knows him, deeply loves him, eagerly wants to spend personal time with him, and has a fulfilling work in this world uniquely designed for him in partnership with the Holy Spirit.
The Journey is a space where a man can finally be brutally honest with himself, totally transparent with others, and unsparingly honest about himself with a loving Father.
And like Zacchaeus, the result of these encounters with Christ is radical, permanent, astonishing changes in every part of a man’s life.
Can’t wait to renew this journey for myself.
---Don Clark
THE JOURNEY
This evening, Tuesday, August 21st, at 6 p.m., I begin a nine-month commitment to an experience called “The Journey.” I do so with roughly 800 other guys in Bakersfield who meet at other times and thousands more across the nation.
What is “The Journey?” Let me explain it this way.
Jesus was on his last journey to Jerusalem. He was approaching the ancient city of Jericho. A huge crowd was moving along with him.
As Jesus entered Jericho, the city’s most hated man wanted to get a glimpse of him. His name was Zacchaeus. The most important thing in this man’s life was money. We know that because he was willing to betray his own people and be part of Rome’s hated oppression of his nation by collecting Rome’s despised taxes on the people, thus greatly enriching himself.
Zacchaeus undoubtedly had heard a lot about Jesus, the most famous man of his day---about his miracles, his teachings, his claims about himself. He wanted to see this man with his own eyes. However, being short, he couldn’t see Jesus over the heads of the swirling crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a tree to get a clear, unobstructed view of the man who was stirring such a commotion.
Zacchaeus must have been astonished when Jesus looked straight up at him, a man he’d never met, called him by name, and singled him out personally from the whole crowd.
“Zacchaeus, climb down,” Jesus said, “I want to be your guest today.”
Much to the disgust, disapproval, and disappointment of the critical crowd, Jesus interrupted his entire journey to enter into the privacy of Zacchaeus’s home and share a meal, one on one, with Jericho’s most infamous citizen.
For the universally detested Zacchaeus, the sheer impact of coming face to face with Jesus in a setting of intimate friendship was beyond description. To discover that Jesus already knew everything about him, yet loved him, caused Zacchaeus instantaneously to make radical changes about the very thing that dominated his life---money, riches, and wealth, no matter what it took to get it.
The changes Zacchaeus made were so dramatic that Jesus declared, “Today, God’s salvation has come to this house.”
That encounter between Zacchaeus and Jesus is exactly what “The Journey” is all about.
It’s not about church. It’s not about Bible study. It’s not about theology, conservative or liberal. It’s about Jesus.
Like Zacchaeus, most of us have heard about Jesus. Perhaps in countless sermons at church. Perhaps in constant messages on television and radio. Perhaps in little choruses like, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Maybe even on bumper stickers or words painted on the sides of barns that say, “Jesus Saves,” or “Jesus is Lord,” or “Jesus is the Answer.”
Like Zacchaeus, we’ve seen how excited crowds can get about him---singing, shouting, clapping, lifting their hands, waving their arms, with faces turned glowing upward. Or bowed down in large groups at some altar with penitent and lowly hearts, humbly seeking God’s mercy.
But for countless men today, “The Journey” is what that tree in the middle of Jericho was for Zacchaeus. It’s a safe sacred space for a man to clearly see Jesus for himself. Not about what others say or think or preach and teach about Jesus, but what a man can experience about Jesus for himself in the sincere company of fellow seekers.
The miracles happening in men’s lives throughout Bakersfield and across the nation come when a man discovers, at last, perhaps for the first time, even after going to church for years, that Jesus already intimately knows him, deeply loves him, eagerly wants to spend personal time with him, and has a fulfilling work in this world uniquely designed for him in partnership with the Holy Spirit.
The Journey is a space where a man can finally be brutally honest with himself, totally transparent with others, and unsparingly honest about himself with a loving Father.
And like Zacchaeus, the result of these encounters with Christ is radical, permanent, astonishing changes in every part of a man’s life.
Can’t wait to renew this journey for myself.
---Don Clark