See you on the other side...

As part of a team building exercise our whole staff went "Zip Lining" yesterday.
If you have never been on a "Zip Line" it provides lots of entertainment as well as building your own sense of trust into equipment and people as you "zip" through the air suspended about 45 feet above the ground on a very thin cable.
As we were getting ready to go on one of the zip lines our guide led the way and as she embarked she shouted, "See you on the other side."

My iWitness...

Not two hours after completing the Zip Line experience I received a text message from a good friend of mine who was fifteen minutes outside of Dubuque "just passing through."
My friend is home from deployment. He's been on three deployments in the last five years. He is a fighter pilot and serving our country with great pride and expertise.
We met at church in Klamath Falls. He was learning how to fly the F-15 Eagle fighter jet. He loves the Lord.
He is a tall, chiseled hunk of a man and when he pulled up on his brand new "blacked out" Harley Davidson motorcycle with his four day growth beard and his bandana on his head, I have to say my heart was just a little bit envious.
His quick smile and warm embrace was met with the same and even though we hadn't seen each other in four years, it was as if we had never been apart.
We drove over to the University of Dubuque campus and grabbed a waffle cone of Rocky Road ice cream at Mike and Betty's Ice Cream shop.
We quickly found ourselves sitting under the Bell Tower on the quad enjoying the summer breeze.

My friend is hurting... grieving the loss of his marriage of 5.5 years...
Feeling "burned"... "distrustful"..."at a loss of how to begin anew"...

I know those feelings.
I have been through those firsthand.
He's crawling down a road that I have paved with my hands and knees as well.

We talked...
We shared...
I shared with him the verse that changed my life when I went through my divorce...
"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29. 11)
We were vulnerable...
We laughed...
We prayed...
We hugged...
We took pictures...
He started up the Harley, made a sharp left turn out of the parking lot and roared off...

One thing that I told him with incredible confidence, trust and experience was this...
"Josh... there's life on the other side of divorce."

He looked at me...
I looked at him...
I'm on the other side...
He's not.... yet...

"Hey Josh! See you on the other side!"

And that's my iWitness...Laugh often and Fear not!
David!