Thank God, You're Here.

I heard my first worship song when I was about 11 years old. I was in an enormous amphitheater. Somehow, when you're at that age, everything seems enormous. You begin measuring spaces in comparison to the size of your room, and you begin measuring grown-ups in comparison to the height of your parents. That height that always seemed so far out of reach, now, in retrospect -- seems unremarkable. The beauty of being a kid is that your sphere of knowledge is so limited, but you're unaware of your limitations. You know what you know, and it doesn't seem to matter that there's a big scary world out there, because you know you'll get there one day. I was one out of almost 1,000 in that amphitheater that night. I watched as the little dots on stage jumped around and sang to the lyrics projected on the screen and I let the simple words sink into my little 11-year-old heart:

Over the mountains and the sea,

Your river runs with love for me,

and I will open up my heart and let the Healer set me free.

I'm happy to be in the TRUTH,

and I will daily lift my hands,

for I will always sing of when Your love came down.

I could sing of Your love forever,

I could sing of Your love forever,

I could sing of Your love forever,

I could sing of Your love forever.

I didn't know whose love I could sing of forever. I didn't know why these people were smiling. I didn't even know why I was in that amphitheater. All I knew was that I wanted to know. Being raised in a traditional Asian (thereby, pseudo-Buddhist) household, I knew nothing of Jesus Christ. I knew nothing of His love, His promises, or His truth. Conversely, I also knew nothing of human hypocrisy, bloodshed, organized religion, or corruption. But as I sang, over and over, those last 4 lines, I didn't feel like one person out of a thousand in that giant room, I felt like God was speaking to me, and only me, personally. I felt a love that I had never experienced in 11 years. A kind of pure love, untainted by worldly perspective, jaded reality, and assumed hearsay. It was a kind of love that seemed to only speak to me, in that vast room -- God was inviting me to see a part of Himself that was so beautiful, so powerful, and it was something that even as a child, I could understand.

This is the kind of love that Jesus offers us. A love that is so new, so pure, that it is impossible to deny, once we experience it. And if you ever do deny it, you thirst for it. A personal love -- isn't that what we all so truly desire? We're surrounded by so many types of love in this world. We're obsessed with it, and we're obsessed with finding it. It's on the radio, it's on talk shows, it's on reality t.v., it's in our conversations. But these kinds of worldly loves are like poison to our starving souls, they're a temporary remedy for a permanent void -- like being stranded at sea without a drop to drink. Yet Jesus provides a love that is perfect and life-giving, and He calls YOU to experience it.

God, I've been empty for so long. . .believing that Your love was one-dimensional, that YOU were one-dimensional. That You were only found in other people's testimonies, You were only found in ancient dusty manuscripts, and You were a figment of my hopeful imagination. But You remind me, oh faithful shepherd, that Your love rains down like a flood -- and I fall to my knees in worship all over again.