It’s possible to know a lot about Jesus without truly knowing Him. We can grow up in church. We can memorize Scripture, attend Bible studies, listen to sermons, and know all the right answers. But there comes a point when faith has to move beyond information and become personal.
For me, that happened through a series of encounters with Jesus, some joyful, some painful, and all deeply transformative.
My wife, Cindy, and I have been part of The Church at Bushland for about 15 years. After serving as an elder for several years, I joined the church staff in 2026. I believe TCAB is one of the healthiest churches we have ever been part of, and that health flows from the spiritual health of its leaders and congregation.
But my own spiritual journey began long before I ever joined the staff.
From Knowing About God to Knowing Him Personally
I grew up attending church. I have joked, I had a “drug problem” as a kid, my mom “drug” me to church every time the doors were open. I knew the Bible. I knew the Gospel. I knew plenty of Scripture. But at 16 years old, I realized I didn’t really know God personally.
That began to change during Christmas of 1973. I was spending Christmas with my extended family in Ringwood, Oklahoma, as my family did every year. While there, my aunt and uncle were hosting a youth gathering in the basement of their home. I wasn’t particularly interested in going. But at 16, I figured there might be some cute girls there, so I decided to attend.
What I encountered was something I hadn’t expected. The teenagers in the room were different. There was something about them that was joyful, genuine, and compelling. I later learned that they had been experiencing a spiritual revival and had been seeking God in a deeper way through the Holy Spirit.
Someone asked me if I wanted to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I didn’t really understand what that meant. But I was willing to pray.
The young people gathered around me, laid hands on me, and encouraged me to simply ask God for everything He had for me.
So I prayed: “Lord, I want all that You have for me.”
As I prayed, I saw what appeared to be a golden pitcher pouring sparkling, pure water over me. I felt the presence of God moving through me, and I began spontaneously praising the Lord. It was a moment that changed my understanding of faith.
God was no longer simply Someone I had learned about in church. God became real. The Holy Spirit became my friend, comforter, counselor, and guide. From that point forward, my desire became simple: “Lord, I just want to do what’s pleasing to You.” Jesus had moved from being information to relationship.
The Holy Spirit Points Us to Jesus
I connected that experience to Jesus’ words in John 16:13: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…”
Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would come to guide them, reveal truth, and ultimately glorify Christ. The Holy Spirit doesn’t draw attention away from Jesus. He points us toward Him.
For me, that first encounter taught me the importance of yielding to God, to reach the point where I can sincerely pray:
“Lord, I want everything You have for me.”
Whether we call it being filled with the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or simply surrendering ourselves completely to God, the invitation is the same: There is more of God for us to experience. Acts 4:31 describes believers who were filled with the Holy Spirit and then spoke the Word of God with boldness.
When we yield ourselves to God, He empowers us to live and speak in ways that go beyond our own strength. But not every encounter with Jesus feels joyful. Sometimes, encountering Jesus happens in the middle of our deepest pain.
When the Answer Doesn’t Look Like We Expected
My second significant encounter with Jesus came years later. In December 1990, my father was diagnosed with cancer.
My dad was 56 years old. He was a cowboy, businessman, and tough man who rarely allowed anything to slow him down. He owned livestock auctions in Portales and later Clovis and had spent his life working hard. His philosophy was simple: “If it’s too tough for everybody else, it’s just right for a Rowley.”
But cancer was different. Doctors discovered a tumor that had grown around his spine. Surgery wasn’t an option, so my family and I did everything we knew to do. We pursued medical treatment. We prayed. We fasted. We took communion. We traveled to a healing conference. My mother and grandmother were powerful intercessors, and they prayed faithfully. I believed in healing. I believed in faith. I believed God could heal my father. But in June 1991, my dad died. He was 56 years old. And I was left with a question many of us have wrestled with: What do we do when we pray, believe, and trust God, and the answer isn’t what we hoped for?
Seeing God’s Hand in the Unanswered Prayer
Looking back, I can now see something I couldn’t fully recognize in the moment. During those six months, my father changed. The tough cowboy became softer. He reconciled with people with whom he had unresolved conflicts. He became more tender toward his family. He spent more time reading Scripture, praying, and seeking God. I now believe my father was becoming a new creation in Christ. The physical healing we had prayed for never came. But something eternal was happening.
Several months after my father’s death, I was spending time in prayer when I felt impressed to write something down. I believe the Holy Spirit was speaking to me. The message centered on a truth that would change the way I viewed my father’s death and difficult seasons in general: God’s purposes are eternal, even when our circumstances are temporary.
I realized that sometimes we become so focused on what we can see that we lose sight of what God may be doing beyond what we can see. That doesn’t make grief disappear. It doesn’t make suffering easy. It doesn’t mean every painful circumstance has an explanation we will understand on this side of eternity. But it reminds us that God is still God when we don’t understand what He is doing.
When You Can’t Trace His Hand, Trust His Heart
During that difficult season, Cindy shared lyrics from a song with me that captured what I needed to remember:
“When you don’t understand, when you don’t see His plan, when you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.”
Those words became a powerful reminder. There will be moments when we can clearly see God moving. There will also be moments when we can’t see Him at all. There will be prayers that seem to receive an immediate answer. There will be prayers that don’t turn out the way we expected. There will be seasons of celebration and seasons of grief. But God’s presence isn’t determined by our ability to recognize it. Deuteronomy 31:8 reminds us that the Lord goes before us and will never leave or forsake us. Even when we can’t trace His hand, we can trust His heart.
Have You Had an Encounter With Jesus?
My story ultimately brings us to a personal question. Not, Do you know about Jesus? Not, Have you been to church? Not even, Do you know Scripture? But this:
Have you encountered Jesus personally?
Maybe you’ve grown up in church, just like me. Maybe you know the Bible. Maybe you can quote Scripture and understand Christian beliefs. But has Jesus become more than a distant figure? Has He become your Savior? Your Lord? Your friend? Has God become your Father?
And perhaps there’s another question for those who already follow Jesus:
Have you completely yielded your life to Him?
Have you reached the place where you can honestly say: “Lord, I want all that You have for me.” Not just the blessings. Not just the answers to our prayers. Not just the moments when everything makes sense. All of Him. The joyful encounters. The difficult encounters. The moments when His presence feels undeniable. And the moments when faith means trusting Him even when we can’t see what He’s doing. Because following Jesus isn’t about having every answer. It’s about knowing the One who does. And sometimes the greatest lesson an encounter with Jesus teaches us is simply this: He is with us in every season. When life makes sense, He is there. When life doesn’t make sense, He is there. When we see the miracle, He is there. When the answer looks different than we hoped, He is there. And when we can’t trace His hand, we can still trust His heart.