Please
forgive the lateness of this newsletter as my computer hard drive crashed last
Wednesday morning while I was out of town and had to purchase a new computer (ouch!).
As some of you who follow me on Facebook have already
read, last Wednesday night at around 8:00 p.m. I celebrated the fact that forty
years ago, at that time, I surrendered my heart and my life to Christ, thus
beginning a great adventure that will stretch into eternity.
The back-story to that night bears telling. At the time of my “conversion”, I was general manager working
long hours at a popular Atlanta restaurant. My free time, what little there was
of it, was spent on things I generally wanted to do, with little regard for my family. Church was rarely an option as I was usually
arriving home from the restaurant in the wee hours of Sunday morning. I will
say I was often moved, deep inside, by Christmas and Easter services at my
church. Peggy should be nominated for sainthood for putting up with my
foolishness during the ten years I spent in the restaurant business.
On the Sunday evening before that Tuesday night, April
29th, 1975, Peggy and I got into an intense discussion about
Christianity. I did not understand what happened to good people if they did not
accept Jesus as their Savior. What about those who had never heard of Jesus?
What about Jewish people who were very religious? Peggy said she could not
answer those questions. The “trap” was set! “Well”, she said, “I can’t answer
that but some of my friends are having a covered dish dinner Tuesday night and
the husbands are invited. Why don’t you come? Dan Hayes, the local Campus
Crusade area director and our neighbor, is going to be speaking to the group
and you can ask him those questions.” Well, I love a good meal and I guess I
could put up with some “religious guy” for a little while. You might say, in
this case, the way to a man’s soul is through his stomach!
As Dan shared his story, I came to see him in a different
light. He was funny, real and enthusiastic about his faith. At the end of his talk, he shared two verses
of Scripture. “I am the way,
the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.”(John 14:6) “Behold, I stand
at the door and knock, if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will
come in and dine with him.” (Revelations 3:20) Dan invited anyone who
wanted to receive Christ’s love and forgiveness could ask God to come into
their life and He would give them eternal life. I wasn’t looking for a
relationship with Christ, could have cared less but God had other plans for me. At that moment, God’s Spirit moved in my spirit, and I
knew that what Dan shared was the truth and I needed to commit my life to
Christ. Some of my buddies looked at me like I had grown another head or that I
had lost my mind, but I told them that I was “all in.”
O.K., so life was great now, no problems, right? The
next Saturday, I was called into the restaurant office by one of the owner’s and
was told that “my services were no
longer needed.” An ownership battle between the two principals finally came to
a head and my friend who had hired me was bought out and the other owner wanted
his own people in place. I left the restaurant and went home and announced to
Peggy that I no longer had a job but was not worried for I knew now that God
was in control and He would care for us.
Here’s the thing. I did not know it but Peggy and her
Bible study friends had been praying for me for a long time. Also, in the month
preceding my coming to Christ, Peggy received a clear message from the Lord to
surrender me to Himself, which she did over the kitchen sink one day! Several
things come to mind about my “conversion.” Many people were praying for me. Peggy
quit trying to convert me herself and surrendered me to the Lord. She, like Andrew in the New Testament, brought me to a
place where I could meet Jesus. I quit using my “concern” for other lost people as a
“smoke screen” and dealt with my own relationship with Jesus Christ.
What about you, are you avoiding the central issue of
your own relationship with God? Are you missing out on the greatest adventure
of all? If you are interested in talking more about this, give me a call.
MINISTRY NEWS AND NEEDS
Exciting news! I have taken on an
additional new role in my ministry. I have been asked to be the Chaplain to the Staff
of the Georgia/Alabama Region of Young Life. This is strictly a volunteer position with no line authority.. We feel
that this role is a continuation of the pastoral ministry that I already have
with men. I would be very grateful if you would consider partnering with me in
this new endeavor through your prayers . I attended the end of the year Staff
Conference last week at SharpTop Cove and met with the staff. What an amazingly
talented group people people they are!
I held a retreat for men in my Friday
Morning Group at a farm in central Georgia. Eight of us had a wonderful time of
fellowship together. We looked at the
concept of humility in leadership on Saturday morning and Tony Harris led our
Sunday Morning Devotional on the need to pursue wisdom.
Individual ministry is still a very
important facet of my work and I continue to meet with men over the breakfast
and lunch table.
“Evidence
For The Resurrection” to follow our study of Bill O’Reilly’s book, “Killing Jesus.”
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