Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”

Genesis 28:16

For Meditation

I did not know what hit me then.

There I was, sitting at the breakfast table, eyes soaked and surrounded by strangers, except my dear wife and the host couple. The food had been great until he got up to speak. I found myself strangely drawn into his narrative. How could he switch moods that sharply? A minute ago, his countenance was cloudy as he related his sordid past in his testimony. His abortion clinic had become a hit. Clients carried his name to everyone who sought after the best in the industry.

Money, women, drinking, revelry! He was soaring high on the clouds of success. Have you ever thought you were having fun when you were the most miserable of all jerks? And now, as he talked about it before many people he hardly knew, the cloud did not lift from his face. Pain and regret were on display. It was as if the spirits of the countless number of children he had slaughtered before they could take in their first breath were tormenting him.

I felt something boiling in me. Like I was sitting before a big screen, with my life story played back to me. The tightness in the face of the young medical doctor showed in mine. My stomach tightened, and a feeling of nausea swept over me.

But wait, the hinge of the story had turned!

He spoke about how the Carpenter from Nazareth walked into his life. Something new embraced him. He experienced a joy he had never experienced before—an inner joy deep from his heart. Like a newborn, he felt clean. Suddenly, he could smile again. The shame, gone. The guilt also lifted. He was free, and he could sing for the first time—his youth choir voice rediscovered.

So why wouldn’t his face glow before us? Like Moses coming down from Sinai, his countenance was radiant—at least, that is what I saw. His joy was welcoming. I could not resist anymore. 

“That is what I have been looking for,” I said to myself, almost aloud.

As if on cue, the altar call came through the speakers, and I sprinted to the front where he stood. I could have beaten Usain Bolt for the world record on that Saturday morning in Accra.

So, here I am, thirty-one years into my journey with the Son of the Most High God, my gracious Savior, and Lord—Jesus Christ. He is the joy of my life, and I will never trade the priceless Pearl I have found in Him, for which I have sold everything to possess.

I do not remember the number of times I had walked away from God before then. Salvation was not in my Bible until that day. The Spirit of God flipped it open to me, and it saved me, the eternal song of redemption ringing in my heart. 

“For God so loved the world” (John 3:16). 

As Jacob said at Bethel, “Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Gen. 28:16).

Maybe you have walked away from Him many times too, and you did not know.

But today, the Savior is where you are now, and for the same reason, He came to me in the Hotel Conference Room thirty-one years ago. He desires to embrace you with grace to welcome you into His family, if only you will throw yourself on Him (Acts 4:12; Jn.1:12-13; Rm. 10:9-10).