Surrounded 2
My friend Jim Doman is man of the hour in California right now. He has organized pastors from all over the state through his group, Pastors United, to declare that Jesus transforms persons with gender problems in the face of AB 2943. I was honored that he featured the impact of Living Waters in a press conference he organized last week in Santa Ana.
Expectant, I was distressed to discover that I felt bad, really bad, as soon as I stepped on the plane. I later discovered I had walking pneumonia; all I knew then is that for some reason I could barely function.
Perfect conditions for the Kingdom of God! Without reserve, I shared my story and our fight for freedom of choice in California to an elegant-looking professional woman besides me. She quietly confessed that she had been in a 15-year relationship with a woman before she married her husband. We both agreed that the opposite gender keeps us sane, and it shouldn’t be a sin to say so.
After that, I could no longer sustain a clear thought. So I just let 40 years of worship music rise up from within and play. I was flooded with memories of all the churches throughout California we had served. It helped. My next flight was canceled, so I stalled out in the airport and feared I would not make it to Orange County.
Yet in truth I did not fear. It’s easy to trust God when you feel like dirt. I was docile and patient with cranky service people. And guess what? I kept getting texts from people like you who sent scriptures and encouragements from around the country. I meditated in the still of the night on the beauty of Christ’s body. When I arrived at the courthouse, just in the nick of time, I was greeted by a handful of old friends who came to support our fight for choice. We had served them at some point and they wanted to support our service. I was touched.
Doman had assembled a diverse group of pastors for the press conference: a variety of Latinos, Asians, and African–Americans who all testified beautifully to their transformation from ‘gay’ to Christ-centered. Everyone was in sync with each other. We needed unity because LGBT+ protesters were crass, invasive and heckled each speaker. An unseen Presence freed us to keep focus, stay loving, and speak soundly of the beauty of Jesus’ body in California.
The Church is beautiful here. That was my takeaway from the press conference. Whatever our trials, however far the pendulum swings in the direction of LGBT+ nonsense, Jesus remains clear and faithful in His members. AB 2943 goes up for vote soon in the senate and will most likely land on Gov. Brown’s desk by the end of the month. We pray, we wait, and we stay hopeful. We are surrounded. I limped back to the airport, as if sustained by a great cloud of witnesses. Heaven’s song flooded my heart til I could no longer hear the din of hecklers.
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