During our family trip to Yellowstone a couple summers ago, I noticed several cars stopped on the side of the road. Figuring some animal must be visible, I pulled off to take a look.
But this time it wasn’t “just” prairie dogs or elk.
There, on a stump about 100 yards away, perched an enormous bird with white head and hooked beak. It was unmistakable: a bald eagle.
Even our kids, who had not been impressed by the geysers (“too smelly”) or canyons (“what’s next?”) were wowed by the magnificent bird of prey.
“Let me use the binoculars!”
“Can I take another picture?”
We stayed, sharing binoculars, and saying, “Wow,” repeatedly until the eagle eventually spread its wings, took flight, and disappeared over the trees.
Sure, we’d seen eagles soaring on television, and we’d seen closeups in magazines and recognized the famous profile from the U.S. Postal Service logo.
What was it that made this experience so exciting?
This was a real eagle in real life.
There’s something about seeing an eagle in the wild that’s different and better than reading about them or even watching one on TV.
For days afterward, we were praising its wingspan, size, power, and majesty. And the surprise of seeing it by the road.
Just as we were energized by encountering an eagle in the wild, the source of energy and joy for Christians is encountering God “in the wild.”
Many Christians have read books and heard sermons about God, but an unexpected encounter with the living God is an experience of a different magnitude.
We may encounter God anywhere: in tragedy, in triumph, in receiving undeserved forgiveness, in gaining strength we can’t explain, in providential circumstances, in the unique people God places in our churches, in the still, small voice that speaks to our soul.
As church leaders, we cannot determine where anyone—ourselves or someone in our congregation—may encounter God. He shows up where he wants.
But we can keep our eyes trained. We can keep our congregations alert for his movement. And we can study his patterns.
As pale as magazine photos of eagles are to the real thing, we would never have recognized our genuine sighting without them. The images of eagles on TV and postage stamps and on the backs of dollar bills helped us recognize the great bird in the wild.
We probably wouldn’t have fully appreciated our face-to-face encounter without the stories of the national emblem and the videos of eagles plucking salmon from Alaskan rivers.
Likewise, as ministers of the gospel, we describe God in ways that prepare people for the day when they encounter him face to face—and they assuredly will—so that their joy might be full.
We can’t guarantee that reading Leadership articles on “Energy and Joy” will re-energize you or fill you with joy. Only an encounter with God “in the wild” can do that.
But we can guarantee that these articles will help you know where to look, and help you fully benefit from both the search and the sighting.
With this issue, we welcome Eric Reed as associate editor. For the past seven years, Eric served as pastor of Gentilly Baptist Church in New Orleans, and prior to that worked in the news departments of television and radio stations in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi. You will enjoy Eric’s contributions to future issues of Leadership.
Marshall Shelley is editor of Leadership
1998 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or contact us
