De Colores!

As I mentioned yesterday, Jeff the Methodist is a guest blogger today:

I’m honored to be a guest blogger on my favorite blog (sorry WabiSabi) while Kim is on an Emmaus Walk. On this weekend a year ago six women from our church were on their original Emmaus Walk in Ashland. Now Kim is back as one of the servant leaders. It seems fitting to say to Kim, to my wife M, and to B, S, D, J: “Happy Anniversary.”

What is it about the Emmaus Walk?

The past several years the movement has been growing within our church, and it has been gratifying to watch as God changes lives and the church. Two weeks ago four more men from our church took the pilgrimage, and I am witness to four more life-transformations. One said, “No one in the history of the Emmaus Walk ever had more reservations about going than I did…but this has meant everything to me…this was a conversion event.” Another said, “This experience changed me.”

They aren’t (or weren’t) religious fanatics. They are regular guys like me, who surrendered to something they felt called to, drawn to, and received blessings more than they could have ever anticipated.

How does it work?

I could explain the whole program here, but it wouldn’t seem evident to cause such a revolution. The secret to the success of the Emmaus Walk is, in my opinion, in three elements.

First, it is based in prayer, before, during, and after the weekend “walks.” Second, the participants surrender—they give in to something that is unknown, they trust, and they “don’t anticipate.” Third, the weekend is wrapped in agape love—sacrificial, unconditional, selfless love that drives home to the participants some idea of what God’s love is like.

This past year, I have observed tremendous spiritual growth in Kim as well. Already a committed servant of Christ, her Emmaus Walk intensified her desire and ability to serve. She is blessed to be a blessing. God has gifted her with discernment, wisdom, knowledge and voice…I never asked her directly, but I imagine this blog to be one of the fruits of Kim’s own conversion—a new medium to tell the story.

I know I speak for many others in our church and our community when I give thanks to God for Kim.

Images: (also from Jeff) One is "Oh, the colors on the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan." The other is the flag we (Jeff and M) traditionally fly at our house during Emmaus Walks. (The tradition is just starting now).