41 years ago today—June 21, 1958—my wife and I were married. Six years later, my wife and I attended our first meeting with the church in Los Angeles. We both had the same deep realization, “We are home!” Even the Lord within us echoed the same refrain. Our wandering days were over.
Six years of seeking—seeking more of God, more of His Word, more genuine fellowship with other believers, more understanding of why we were here on this earth, culminated in that one meeting. We had been to Bible School, had studied two years at a Lutheran Seminary, had checked out Campus Crusade for Christ, and had searched out anything that had a semblance of life and reality during our period of seeking. Our seeking began in earnest at Bible School after we had read The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee which was required reading in our study of Paul’s epistle to the Romans. We were very attracted by the Christ presented by Watchman Nee while at the same time somewhat perplexed by his description of the Body of Christ when he touched Romans chapter 12. Our feeling was that he knew something and was experiencing something that was completely foreign to us – and foreign not just because he was Chinese. He saw and experienced something in the Word of God that we knew nothing about but for which our hearts and spirits longed—namely, REALITY. And now here we were in our first meeting of the local church, among other seekers who desired only one thing, and that was to satisfy God’s heart’s desire to practically have and express the oneness which our Lord had so earnestly prayed for in John 17.
We can say with an honest heart and a clear conscience that the past 35 years have been the most wonderful years of our lives. They have not been easy years. Oneness comes at a price. The cross is always there to deal with our natural man. But the Spirit always follows the cross and with the Spirit comes the supply and the encouragement to press on toward the goal for the prize of more and more Christ in our experience, both individually and corporately.
Glorious church life! Feasting from such a rich store! Here where we’re dwelling in oneness, God commands life ever more! Every sentence must be punctuated with an exclamation mark because Christ is joy unspeakable and full of glory, and the half has never yet been told!
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for including us in Your great plan that we may be part of Your dwelling place, where we are living today and for eternity in the New Jerusalem into which we are being built.
Dick and Karen Bright