Ever since I was a teenager colporteuring in the streets of Kansas City, I have imagined what it would be like to be part of a real wildfire revival. Once I had a woman chase me down the street to buy a book from me. Once. But that one experience of seeing a woman so focused on buying a Bible that she sprinted in her bathrobe two city blocks planted in me the holy question, what will it be like when people everywhere are hungering and thirsting for the word of God? (See Amos 8:11-13.)

Yesterday, I was eating a kale salad in a deli with two flooring contractors. We were talking about how to multiply disciples and how we could increase our effectiveness in sharing the gospel. I hadn’t realized it, but a man who was using the microwave behind us was listening carefully to what we said. Then when the microwave beeped and he didn’t even move, I realized he was absorbed in our conversation. After another minute of talking about discipleship, I turned to him with a smile and said, “We are three guys who have found a lot of hope and joy in Jesus. Have you had any encounters with Him?”

The man was likely about 30 and sported a goatee and a warmhearted smile. He started out strong, “I really liked what you guys were talking about.” Then he began stammering as if unsure whether to keep talking. “I have sort of turned to Buddhism to help even me out. It just helps me clear my mind.” His name, we learned, was Peter. He had been a successful carpenter doing contracts for the state. Then he got into drugs, and it totally devastated him. He told us, “I love Jesus. When I am meditating in my Buddhist groups, I just meditate on Jesus.” He went on to say that when he was a boy he was spiritually abused by his mother who was mentally unstable. He didn’t speak with bitterness, only pain. “I know what my mom did wasn’t right,” he said, “but I believe it helped me in some way.” Peter was clearly intelligent, yet emotionally broken and riddled with self-doubt.

We talked more of Jesus, and then he said softly with pleading eyes, “You guys have a special energy. If you get together somewhere, I wouldn’t mind meeting with you again.” Like a flash, I saw that woman chasing me down the street 30 years earlier.

Jesus said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.” The lifted Christ is the “energy” of revival. There is no magnetic draw in idle talk about hobbies, theologies, politics, innovations, conspiracies or doctrinal curiosities. But when we speak of Jesus, we will see miracles. His name and the truth of His death and life have the power to literally heal lives. We are living in an artificial age among broken people thirsting for reality. Let them find it in you.

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