No engrish here, people. Sorry.
As a kid, I used to read up and watch about the miraculous recoveries, the financial, emotional and physical U-Turns associated to a person's decision to accept Christ as Savior. I'd remember the 'Hallelujah!' of a fat African-American woman was heard a lot during these scenes. This, followed shortly by the 'Praise the Lowrd!' by an African-American pastor, sweaty and just filled with such a burning fervor.
Perhaps I watched 'Coming to
That stuck to me. And when the time finally came for me to accept Jesus as my personal savior, I expected a complete turnaround. I was looking for that burning, purifying feeling of salvation. I remember I would either prolong my 'Amen' or I would deliberately stay silent, waiting for a feeling... Something like a 'how you doin'?' from God, I guess. You could imagine that I accepted Him more than once. The most recent time I did was back in March of this year.
They had a beautiful service a few hours back over at The Rock. Pastor Miles McPherson was not around, but who took over had a wonderful message to tell, and lemme tell you, it ended with an exclamation point. He quoted Mark 10, which contained the story of a certain blind man asking Jesus for help. Emphasis was placed on how this blind man had nothing to lose, but everything to gain by crying out to Jesus, regardless of how hostile & cruel the circumstances around him were.
Beautiful as it sounds, I would like to direct your attention to what happened just before the service ended. See, The Rock has a program, a ministry named 1825, designed to reach out to our brothers & sisters preferably but not limited to being within the ages 18 and 25. Me included. But not if you're reading this 2010 onwards.
Anyway, the pastor who communicated the message suddenly called out a bunch of folks in the 1825 ministry. He told us that something more recent than a blind man getting his sight restored by Jesus could probably strike his point deeper.
These men & women had cardboard signs with them, and one by one they took center stage, showing a message describing what they were. They would then lift their signs over their head, effectively showing another message on the other side of the sign, describing what they are now. For example, one of the ladied walked to the front, and her placard read, 'I hated my dad.' She lifted it, showing, 'I love my dad & I pray for him everyday', or something to that effect. Other guys & girls passed, their signs containing alcoholism, anger, & materialism, among other things.
Nice, I thought. But then this guy had 'Imprisoned by sexual immorality' flipped to 'Freed by Christ (but still under probation)'. The last guy, who was all tattooed if I may add, had 'DRUG DEALER, SEXAHOLIC' and a few other interesting details. He lifted his placard (and this I recall quite exclusively), revealing 'Hustlin' for Christ, but still struggling'
Now that struck me, and got me thinking as we drove off to lunch. That guy didn't have the fantasy U Turn I wanted to experience for myself. He was still struggling.
And as I thought about it, I realized that this 'U Turn' I sought was no different from every other form of instant gratification imaginable. I pictured it as asking God for a cigarette. A beer. Some porn.
'Dear God... Gimme a beer..'
'Lord, yosi nga.'
Could you imagine asking Almighty God for this month's FHM?
'I read it for the articles.'
Well, God bless you. (Touche. I would have cussed as a reaction before today.)
Anyway. We've heard that all good things come to those who wait. But obviously, some good things don't happen in an instant - so could learn to wait. On God.
I'll make this short. I didn't quit smoking right away. I'm still struggling with a few things here and there. However, as opposed to myself 2 years ago, I am praying and praising more now. I couldn't imagine myself posting an article this convicted back then. I am constantly on the move, with the aim of getting closer & closer to Christ.
Now how would I put that in my cardboard sign?
...What's on your placard?
...If you raise it over your head, would I see anything?
Consider starting or strengthening your relationship with Christ. I'm not saying life as you see it will be better, but I assure you, the peace to be felt is nothing short of PERFECT. God bless you with wisdom.