How Did I Get Here…

… so far from where I’m supposed to be?

There are moments in our lives when events occur and we are certain that God is real! This is the story of one of those moments.

A couple of Sunday’s ago I was visiting my home church in Washington, DC, Metropolitan Baptist Church, where my father has pastored for 37 years. A man came to visit the church from New Jersey that Sunday. I noticed him when he walked up – seeming a little out of place, but oddly right at home. A white man at a black church, with jeans on and an untucked denim shirt, and a worn bible in his hand.

This visitor chose to sit right down front and asked to give a testimony towards the beginning of service. As a PK (preacher’s kid), I’ve seen this move many times before – and it always makes me nervous. Experience tells me that the unexpected speaker is more likely to say something off base, off color or unintelligible than they are to bring a word that is inspirational, motivational or profound.

In this case, it’s a good thing that I’m not a betting man. Our guest, Mr. Appel, rose and shared one of the most moving stories that I think I’ve ever heard.

Mr. Appel’s tale began in 2008, when he was sentenced to prison for a federal crime. As he did his time, he passed the day reading the Bible – from Genesis to Revelations and back to the beginning again. One cold winter evening he found himself walking in circles around a nearly deserted yard. As he trudged in solitude, he repeated a phrase that became his most persistent question:

“How did I get here, so far from where I’m supposed to be?”

“How did I get here, so far from where I’m supposed to be?”

“How did I get here, so far from where I’m supposed to be?”

“How did I get here, so far from where I’m supposed to be?”

Hundreds of times he repeated the phrase – perplexed and desperate for an answer.

At 9:30 pm the siren blared, signaling the time to return to the cell block. As our guest returned, he picked up his bible and turned to the marked page where he’d left off. Then, in the Men’s Devotional Bible, he found an essay called from “Wilderness to Mountain,” that was written by H. Beecher Hicks, Jr., my dad.

In that treatise, Dad reminds us that men will ask and demand answers of himself to a couple of basic questions: Who am I? and What am I living for? But once a certain amount of life has been lived, joy and pains have been experienced, and ups and downs have been endured; man will also ask: “How did I get here, so far from where I’m supposed to be?”

In the book of 1st Kings we learn of Elijah’s wilderness experience, and of how God has a plan to take us from the wilderness to the mountain. Mr. Appel found hope in his most hopeless hour from that story and from that devotional. And since his release in 2010 he’s sought to follow a more divine plan for his life.

You can see him tell the story here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYKgSpgogrk  Amazing!

But that’s not where the story ends. Mr. Appel had no way of appreciating the full measure of the poignancy of his story.

Mr. Appel had no way of knowing that as he entered prison in 2008, Metropolitan and my father were also unknowingly entering their own wilderness experience. It was at that time that Metropolitan sold their historic property in the District of Columbia and moved to a temporary location for worship while their new suburban Maryland sanctuary was under construction.

No one had a clue at that time that our country was on the brink of financial disaster that would destroy jobs, decimate bank accounts and bring construction projects, including Metropolitan’s, to a screeching halt.

Mr. Appel also had no way of knowing that on this Sunday in the winter of 2014 – four years following his release from prison – when he made his way to a church 200 or more miles away from his home – that this was the Sunday that my father would announce his intention to retire and his belief that a new permanent location had been identified for the church. Metropolitan too is on its way out of the wilderness and up the mountain.

This kind of circumstance is more than just coincidence. This intersection of strangers can only represent a pre-ordained appointment scheduled by the almighty. This represents the manifestation of supernatural power and divine communication.

My dad is fond of saying that all of us are either coming out of the wilderness, going through the wilderness or heading into the wilderness. In those times when you are wondering “How did I get here, so far from where I’m supposed to be?” it is important to remember that whether your situation resembles Elijah’s, Mr. Appel’s, Metropolitan’s, or H. Beecher Hicks’, Gods has a plan to take you “From Wilderness to Mountain!”