EPIC Perspectives

On February 8, 1999, I was laying on a mat on the floor of Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. My wife Vicki was in her bed, battling the cancer that would eventually take her life four years later. As the following vision unfolded I shared it with her, and she recorded it – word for word – in her journal.

I was in the Spirit one day when I began to see a path begin unfolding before me … a path that gradually stretched out for miles. The pathway rested between two very steep mountains; these two unnamed mountains formed a “picture frame” for what I saw next.

About 100 feet in front of me a Person suddenly appeared. This Person was walking away from me, but when He glanced back over His shoulder I instantly recognized Him. It was Jesus!

Jesus stopped, turned toward me and smiled a warm, welcoming smile. Then, turning again to continue His walk, Jesus gestured to me to catch up, beckoning with His hand extended over His head. Jesus continued waving until I began to run toward Him.

As soon as I began to pick up some speed the path that had been clear and free from impediments suddenly disappeared! It just melted away, replaced with a 30-foot wide chasm. I skidded to a stop. I knew I couldn’t jump across the gorge. And when I peeked over its side, the chasm appeared to be bottomless. Certain death awaited anyone foolish enough to attempt the leap!

When I looked up I took note that the pathway continued on the other side of the chasm; it still stretched out to Jesus, and The Lord was still gesturing to catch up. What did all this mean?

Then, I noticed to my right, and just off the path, a pile of boards. Each board was sturdy and strong, and each was longer than the chasm was wide. Here was the answer to my dilemma! Instinctively I grabbed the board that rested on top of the pile and dropped it across the chasm. Perfect! It had no problem reaching the other side. Problem solved!

But when I attempted to walk across this one board, as sturdy as it appeared to be, it began to sag. With each step toward the middle of the board, the board’s ends would move closer and closer to the edges of the chasm. I froze! I thought, “With the next step I take I will surely fall into this ‘bottomless’ abyss and I will die!” I very cautiously retraced my steps and returned to my side of the chasm.

Then I heard a Voice thundering in my heart: “You, my son, must build a bridge. Your weight is too great from just one board, or even two or three boards. You must use all the boards. You must use ALL of the materials provided for this bridge’s construction. Jesus will wait for you … unless you try to shorten the process. That is, if you disobey this command, Jesus will move on.”

While I was concentrating on listening to the Voice, Jesus had turned around and walked back to the far edge of the chasm. He stood there so majestically for a moment, waiting for the Voice to finish, and then He spoke to me, saying, “My dear friend, you must build the bridge. And this bridge will be built because you have the heart for it.”

The Lord opened up my mind to understand that every person who had walked with Him in intimacy in the past had had to build a similar bridge. Jesus said to me, “Walking with Me is never based on a man’s talent. Walking in intimacy with Me can not be based on a person’s effort, or even sincere or passionate desire alone. You see, my friend, I have work for you to do, and the work I intend for you to do cannot be accomplished in your own strength. Your wisdom and your strength will never be enough, and you need to learn this truth now. Thus, you must build this bridge. Bend to the process. And cheer up! Remember, you have the heart for it.”

In true humility I asked, “Lord, may I know what work You have for me?” And with amazing grace Jesus replied, “God, my Father, created you to do wonderful things. Let us call your work, ‘signs, wonders and evangelism.’ These three elements are interlocked, interdependent, and are meant for ‘the last days.’ And signs, wonders, and evangelism will take place in and through your life, but that’s later, after we walk together for a time. As for today … build the bridge!”

After such encouragement I got to work. First I took note of the boards. Each had a name burned onto its surface. The first board I had impulsively dropped across the gorge was in its proper place, and on this board was burned the word “PRAYER.”

• The second board was named “WONDER & AWE.”
• The third board was “HUMILITY.”
• The fourth was “DISCIPLINE.”
• The fifth, “FASTING.”
• The sixth, “SUBMISSION.”
• The seventh, “TIME.”
• The eighth, “INTIMACY.”
• The ninth, “CHARACTER – INTEGRITY.”
• And the tenth and last board was named, “LOVE.”

And so the work began. Each board was dropped into place, each next to another, and each placed “in its proper time.”

After the ten boards were in place I noticed that hidden under the larger, long boards were shorter boards, and each shorter board had the same word written on it: “WORSHIP.” I laid the first “Worship” board across the width of my bridge, and the fit was perfect! Starting at my end and progressing toward the side where Jesus stood watching, I worked my way across the cavernous void, all the while on both knees and weeping. And as my tears fell they became silver nails that I pounded into my Worship boards. Beginning with the first board, silver tears for nails and on bended knees, I sang to my Lord.

As I finished my last Worship board, I stood and faced Jesus. I was within 10 feet of The Master, and within seconds I could have been at His side. But I noticed that Jesus was looking past me, toward what was now the far side of the bridge. So I turned and looked back over my work. My bridge was in place and solid. But something else caught my eye. On the far side another pile of “building materials” appeared out of nowhere … and I KNEW, these, too, must be added to the structure of the bridge … and my Lord would wait for me.

This is when my vision became very mysterious. Up to this moment I felt I understood the need and purpose of the bridge. I felt I had grasped the importance of building into my life each aforementioned element of the bridge as it appeared. But as I approached this newest pile of revelation I was truly puzzled. There was a canvas cloth, heavy and dense, long and wide enough to perfectly cover over the bridge. And then there was a smaller board with no name burned on it, sitting next to the canvas. I turned and faced Jesus … and I knew. Stretch the canvas cloth over the bridge. Cover the structure. Make the ten long boards and numerous Worship boards disappear so that only you and Jesus would know what it had taken to cross the deep chasm that would finally lead to intimacy.

As I went to work the name of the canvas cloth slowly revealed. “Brokenness, Sorrow and Loss.” Three haunting words. But I knew, this canvas is the reason the ‘Humility’ board was the hardest board to lay across the chasm. Fearfully but courageously I completed the task of stretching the canvas across my bridge.

When I returned once more to the beginning side of my bridge to retrieve the “final board” of the project, as I bent over to pick it up its name appeared. A stake that would serve to hold this little board appeared as well. The stake and small board would make a sign in the form of a cross. I pounded my cross-sign into the hard soil at the end of the bridge farthest from The Lord. “COST,” the sign read.

As soon as the “Cost” sign was erected I ran across my bridge and into the arms of My Friend, Jesus … the One who had witnessed and supervised the building of a bridge that would make intimacy with God a reality. My bridge had crossed a Chasm of Despair and led to a pathway of Joy.

Today I walk in step with the One who created me and Who had mapped out my destiny long before the path and the chasm had appeared in my mind … and in my life.

Every discerning follower of Jesus who longs for intimacy with God knows that they, too, will have to build a bridge and cross their own chasm of despair.  St. John of the Cross called his chasm “the dark night of the soul.”   But true believers will build their bridge for the sake of walking with Christ, for He said, “If any man would come after Me …”