This defied what I had previously understood. I thought I knew what being a Christian meant. I thought I knew who Jesus was. I thought I knew the Bible pretty well. That was the catch; I thought I knew. I knew things with my head. God doesn't want us to know Him with just our head, though, and I was getting a wake-up call.
If this happened to anyone else, I would probably deny it. I'd never heard of a precedent for this; it seemed illogical; it defied what I grew up learning. I could think of two or three verses that might indicate a falsehood in this.
Except this didn't happen to someone else. This happened to me. My mind could not deny what every fiber of my entire being felt. I was seated in my chair, in the back of a popular coffee shop, with my eyes shut, but I could still see Him. Before me stood Jesus. He was there with all of His power, glory, love, peace, joy, honor, and strength.
This is a written collection of several significant events and lessons I learned in the days, weeks, months, and years that followed. These events were several things that were mentioned in church and Sunday school, but no one seemed able to explain them. Now I have lived through them, and continue to do so. I desire to pass on my experience, however small it is, to encourage and strengthen some of you. To others, I want to introduce the possibility of something I didn't quite understand: a relationship with the living and awesome God.