by G.C. and C.C., U.C. Irvine

Twice a year the students at UCI take the opportunity to visit various localities. This past trip was to Northern and Central California, mainly around the Bay Area and Fresno. What a privilege it was to blend with the young people, the college students, and all the saints in Santa Clara, San Jose, Pleasant Hill, Berkeley, San Francisco, Cupertino, and Fresno! Our burden for this trip was that many of our own UCI students, particularly those who had never been on a trip, would be able to go. It was the Lord’s blessing that 30 students and serving ones consecrated their entire week to the Lord to allow Him to use every minute of our trip for the gospel and the building up of His Body. During the trip we read the book A Blessed Human Life, and we enjoyed that a blessed life is a Christ-life, a life that is just Christ. Our human life will be blessed if we allow Christ to fill us and be magnified in our bodies; for to us to live is Christ! These statements really encapsulate our experience on this trip; we were just vessels and channels of life, continually being filled, continually flowing out, and exercising to be fully released in our spirit whether we were in the meetings, in the car, walking around the cities, or in our hospitality. We had such a sweet taste of the Body life and saw that our daily life needs to be a life of being constituted with the truth, being burning in spirit, and being outlets for the building up of the Body and the spread of the gospel. We give all the thanks and praise to the Triune God who has blessed us and will continue to bless all the saints in all the churches for the consummation of the New Jerusalem for eternity. Hallelujah!

One particular highlight and peak of the trip was during the car ride back to Irvine. The saints in one of the vehicles began to listen to and enjoy the messages from the Crazy Lovers of Jesus conference given in 1972. Brother Witness Lee’s speaking swiftly transported the entire van into the third heavens as we were brought into the spirit and enjoyment of the Lord in that conference. By the time the caravan came to a stop at a gas station in Castaic (a little town north of Magic Mountain), we had finished listening to the first four messages of the conference. By that time, the rivers of life in our innermost being and the glory of Christ shining out from us could no longer be contained. Immediately after the vehicle came to a stop, the brothers and sisters began to call on the name of the Lord in the middle of the gas station. The Spirit led us to speak to anyone and everyone at the gas station, telling them that they needed to be “Crazy lovers of Jesus, simply by calling on the name of the Lord!” We began with the cashiers and customers inside the shop and eventually spread the word to every person at the pumps outside. Within 15 minutes, the entire gas station, including the workers, the customers, the postman, and two children ages five and seven, were saved and were even calling on the name of the Lord with us! After returning to the vans and continuing our drive back home, we were shocked to come to the realization of what had just happened--around 10 people had been saved at a gas station in the past quarter of an hour! After some sweet fellowship and praising of the Lord, we came to the conclusion that this “gas station salvation” was the issue of our being burning in spirit and our crazy loving of the Lord Jesus! Praise the Triune God for all that He did during the week of UCI’s fall quarter blending trip! May the Lord gain more of his crazy lovers today!