My 4 th Day by Jeff Davenport
If I had realized that printing a 4 th Day talk was part of the “unofficial requirements” for being part of the Emmaus Board, I may have reconsidered when I received the call to serve a couple of years ago. Only kidding…please consider serving on the Board if you receive that call this fall.
You know how the State of the Union speech always erupts with applause when the President traditionally, but not this year, says “the State of the Union is good.” Well, my 4 th Day is good! My 4 th Day has been wonderful. One of the most striking things about my 4 th Day has been watching the continuation of three personal revelations I had during my Walk to Emmaus in March 2006.
First, I am daily amazed at the importance and the beauty of the body of Christ that has surrounded me. We all remember the Priesthood of All Believers and Christian Action talks. To me, those two talks are reflected daily by those around me. For example, the love and comfort I feel around my church and Emmaus community as the Body of Christ is the only reason I am able to put this together. Public speaking/writing is not my favorite thing to do. My stomach gets filled with butterflies. I didn’t eat any dinner the night I gave this talk. I spent all day worried about being up here in front of everyone. However, in the end, the love and compassion that is shown by you all, the Body of Christ, made the sense of urgency go away.
The next way that I see Christ’s community impacting me is void I feel when I am not surrounded by the Body of Christ. For example, it has been really challenging to have church snowed out a few times in the past couple of months. I truly miss being in fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Sure, sleeping later on Sunday morning is nice, but it doesn’t outweigh the joy I feel being with Christ’s community. At the point in time when our reunion group is in exile, that void presents itself again. I just feel out of balance. In the end, my life is dependent upon the community of Christ for support, celebration, and accountability.
Most specifically, my family and I have been surrounded by the Body of Christ in a most tangible way. As many of you know, in April 2005, Jen, Blair, and I were stricken with grief when our daughter, Erin Grace Davenport, passed away. Jen and I had gone to the hospital with the great sense of expectation (and discomfort) that is felt when a woman is experiencing contractions while 37.5 weeks pregnant. Alas, our world was brought to a screeching halt when we discovered at the hospital that our infant daughter had joined God’s eternal kingdom before we even had a chance to know her. Instantly, however, we were surrounded by Christ’s community. A former Emmaus Spiritual Director, Steve Hundley, was at our bedside within minutes. Many people from Heritage (and this community) flooded us with the love and support of Christ’s people. I vividly remember George McConnell waiting on the front porch of my house as Jen and I returned home for the first time without our bundle of joy. During those days, the people who surrounded us and provided the most profound words of encouragement were those from Christ’s community. We are forever dependent upon and grateful for the way His community impacts our lives. In our biggest time of need, the compassion of Christ’s people was the prevailing presence in our lives.
The second thing that continues to amaze me during my 4 th Day the way that people uniquely and authentically respond to the Holy Spirit working in them. Entering my Walk and during the early stages of my Walk, I struggled to understand how the Holy Spirit touched everyone differently. Same Holy Spirit, same Walk to Emmaus, same response, right??? I saw people responding to the Holy Spirit in ways that wore unfamiliar to me. It was dramatic, emotional, but authentic. Perhaps more than anything, I was unsure if I was “feeling” the Holy Spirit if I didn’t react the same way that others were reacting. In the end, I realized that God gives us gifts and molds our personalities. Our response to the Holy Spirit’s touch is based, in part, on those gifts and personalities. My response was going to be different than others. As the weekend progressed, my response was essentially an inability to avoid hugging everyone and smiling constantly. It wasn’t as dramatic and emotional as others, but it was authentically me. I often think that people are scared by the church because when they don’t respond the same way as everyone else can be intimidating. In the end, however, God’s beauty is that He creates us all to response differently.
He creates us all with different gifts. I would love to be someone who is able to really express praise to God in wonderful music. But, unfortunately, my gifts didn’t arrive in the music area. In fact, my lovely wife requests that I lip sync in church. I would love to have the gift to quote scripture, but that is not my strength. I continue to try to discover my gifts and how God wants me to use them to impact others, but I am now more confident in the way I respond to the Holy Spirit is unique to me based on the personality that God has molded in my heart. And, I have a continued admiration for those gifts that others have been blessed with and are amazed to see how they show those gifts.
Lastly, I have spent my 4 th Day putting more trust in God, His plan, His Kingdom, and His Eternity. I have always had a faith in God, but not always let him be in complete control. On the Walk, I tried to give my need to be in control of situations over to Him. My Type-A personality leads me to want everything to be orderly and planned. However, I have come to understand that my definition of orderly and planned doesn’t always agree with His. So, my 4 th Day has involved better recognition of his control and plan. I have experienced that it definitely can alleviate a lot of stress when you rely on God’s control and plan for the answers. For example, when I am at work and struggling with a difficult situation or customer, I always receive great comfort to reflect briefly on the fact that God’s plan for me will work out and I need to be a representative of Him, regardless of the challenges at work. More importantly, God’s love for me will not be impacted by my relative earthly success with this customer or any customer at all. Those thoughts bring me great relief to the stressors at work. Those types of stressors can also show up in meetings (like PPR and Emmaus Board) and other controversies. However, if everyone focuses on God’s plan, things shouldn’t be stressful.
In addition, Jen and I did our best to put tremendous faith in God’s plan after losing Erin . We waited about 6 months, spent time in prayer, and decided to try again to expand our family. While it was filled with stress about whether Erin’s death would repeat itself, our reliance that God had a plan for our family helped drive us through the difficult moments of our third pregnancy and, ultimately, Brady’s arrival here on Earth with us. You probably have seen him running around at the gatherings. He joins Blair, our oldest daughter, and they are a true blessing to our family. He has a plan for our family and we try our best to put our faith in that.
In summary, my 4 th Day has been great. I am constantly awed by His power and grace. While I have plenty of challenges and infinite shortcomings, I have found that relying on the fellowship with Christ’s community here on Earth, being more confident in the way the Holy Spirit is working in and through me, and putting complete trust in His plan will result more and more wonderful 4 th Days. I hope you will continue to enjoy those wonderful 4 th Days as well.
DeColores!
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