As a child growing up in the 70s, I lived in Tustin, California. It was during an era known as the Jesus movement in an area that birthed the Jesus Revolution. Maybe many of you have seen the movie. It’s a remarkable story of spiritual awakening and salvation for thousands of hippies (and others) that took place at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.

I was no more than six or seven years old when my mom took me to this Calvary Chapel, and I started to learn who Jesus was. She bought me my first Bible at the campus bookstore, and I distinctly remember the dark green cover and the fish with the words “The Way” embossed in groovy letters.

That green book was my guide as I navigated my adolescent and teenage years, through an unsettling home life and a divorce during high school. I clung to the words on those pages and found peace in knowing that Jesus was with me.

His way led me and my big hair to a Christian college in the 80s, where I learned more about Him through Bible classes and weekly convocation. I joined a sorority, made life-long friends, and met my future husband.

But in that time, God’s way kept beckoning me… “I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father, except through me.” John 3:16

After college, I turned down a great job with a top advertising agency to go down a different trajectory…to support my husband in his baseball career for the next 11 years. Fast forward 31 years and two incredible kids and our life has had hallelujah moments in hardships teemed with tumultuous trials.

But we know that God has paved our path.

He is the one who breaks open the way and goes before us. Like the Israelites, his way has led us through the sea and the mighty waters, and while his footprints were not seen (Psalm 77:19), his handprints were all over our lives. He has avenues of grace that can’t be found in the ways of the world.

Like the thousands of hippies that were baptized during the Jesus movement, his way washes us clean and leads us down paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

His is the way of abundant, eternal life.