Was talking with Sarah, one of our Kalamazoo House of Prayer staff, on Thursday about the manifest presence of the Lord (one of my all time favorite subjects!). I was telling her the story of the moment I encountered His thick, tangible presence in a building. It was Jan. 1, 1996 and I was 21. I was with a small group of young adults and a few "older" adults (like my dad) and we were visiting the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship for the first time - during the height of the outpouring up there. I walked through the front doors of the church (which used to be an airport hangar) and I stopped. I raised my hands and began slicing through the air, as if I were cutting a piece of bread, and commented out loud, "Do you feel that?" I did not know that the Lord could dwell in a physical location like that.....it was like walking into a living river that went way over my head. That week [in Him] marked me for life. My eyes were forever opened to the fact that He is way more awesome than I had imagined, He is fun, He heals, He can call you out of a crowd when He wants to, the devil can't stand His presence or pure worship, and God can flow through me....not just use me, but His Spirit can actually flow through me.

Although I have since learned to cultivate my personal relationship with Him in secret and realized I can encounter Him in beautiful and profound ways when it's just me and Him....there is still something to be said for the magnificent corporate enouncter with our beautiful Savior. What would it feel like to walk into KHOP and walk into a literal cloud of His glory. What does it look like when He blankets a city like that? What does it look like when He envelopes an entire region in His glory? I don't know. But I'm looking forward to finding out.