But now, through his Holy Spirit, I live in the living reality of his presence every second of every hour of every day of my life. Do I value the days I spent with him in the flesh? More than life itself. Would I trade what I have now for what I had then? Never! There are no deep secrets to my walk with the King. The walk began with his words, “Follow me!” The walk now continues on exactly the same basis.
I began this account by reminding you of my words to you in my second open letter to the churches: you have received a faith of the same kind as ours. I hope now you can understand why I made that statement. Each true child of God lives in the reality of the presence of Christ in exactly the same way as I do. And each of us shares his same simple calling to “Follow me!” He will not lead you where he has led me, but he will lead you just the same, in the path that fits perfectly with his life within you and his purposes for you.
Though I saw the Master one more time, on the day of his departure, that day on the beach was my final personal audience with the King. It was an audience carefully designed by him to provide me with everything I needed to know most about the road that lay ahead.
Epilogue
I did not expect them to come for me so quickly. Even now I can hear the sound of their boots outside my cell. There is so much more I wanted to tell you about him and about my life in his love since his departure. But it is clear my King knows I have said enough. What you need to understand of the weeks and months following my encounter with the Master on that beach you can easily learn from Dr. Luke’s excellent account now circulating among the churches.
It is best this way. I doubt I could find the words to explain it to you. If you already know him, then you too know what it is to live each day, each moment in his presence. If you have not yet met him, then I think you would not believe me anyway.
There have been those within the church who have sought to elevate me to some high and lofty status. I suppose there will always be some who will seek to do so. When I have seen this in the attitudes of those around me, I have known they simply do not understand. I am in no way unique. I am just a man, like any other man. I brought nothing to my walk with the Master that in any way qualified me for his life within me or for the work he has chosen to do through me. He sought me out when I thought I wanted nothing to do with him. He drew me to himself when I fought with all my strength to get away. He called me into his love and then held me close to himself in the almighty grip of that love, held me through all my fear, and all my failures, and all my ignorance, and all my arrogant pride.
If you can hear only one thing through all of these words, I pray it will be this: what my Lord has done for me he eagerly seeks to do for you as well. You see, as I look back over my brief time upon this earth, I see now with absolute clarity that from the very beginning there has really been only one thing he has done, one thing from which everything else has flowed—he loved me. And if you ever again think of me after my release from this body, do not credit to me those things he chose to do through me. That was his doing, his choice, his decisions, all of it. If you credit me with anything, let it be this—that in the end I chose to let him love me and then chose to trust that love. If there is any difference between me and any other man, it is certainly not that he loved me more than any other. Perfect love has no degree. If there is any difference, it is only in this—that in the end I chose to receive the love he offered. I urge you, my friend, to do the same.
The key is now in the lock. The time of my coronation is at hand. This day will not end before I once again see my Master, my Lord, my King, my God, and my Friend face-to-face. And even now, at the end, I have been highly honored. I will depart this world in the same way as did my Lord Jesus Christ. And, as if that were not enough, my final request has also been granted. My cross will not stand upright as did his. Mine will stand upside down so that no one will ever confuse me and my King.
The grace and love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you always. To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Larry Huntsperger and his wife, Sandee, live in Soldotna, Alaska, where he writes and pastors at Peninsula Bible Fellowship. He is a graduate of Seattle Pacific University and studied with Francis A. Schaeffer at the L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. Huntsperger is the author of the nonfiction book The Grace Exchange. Contact him at [email protected].
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