“Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”         – John 2:10

What wonder, when a new man is saved. What glory, when a broken man tastes the light for the first time. What beauty, when the hollow husk of creation is filled. And then what… I refuse to believe that the best wine came first.

I find that so often we get caught up in the evangelism and conversions, we forget that Jesus calls us to life everlasting, not to one single day of enlightenment. As we have set forth here in South Africa (tomorrow will be our first day going into the prison), I must try to remind myself that Jesus arrived in South Africa long before we did and will stay long after we have left.

Of course I want to see conversions. Of course I want to see broken men get pieced back together. Of course I want to see the tears in the eyes of the children of God who have found real peace; But maybe I’m not pretentious for wanting more.

Thats what I mean when I say that the best wine cannot have come first. Our God is an anomaly, infinitely complex and wonderful. The more we pursue him, the more we follow his calling, the more vulnerable we make ourselves to the change he wants to bring to our lives, the better the wine will begin to taste. The first time you encounter Jesus, your life will be changed forever. The tenth time you encounter Jesus, the people around you will have their lives changed forever.

To infinity and beyond,

D.M.