Lou Engel conceived the idea of having a focus on corporate prayer and fasting in key cities, a number of years ago. Many Christians were present and they came and went through the day as it lasted for 12 hours. The atmosphere was one of wholehearted focus on God. Martyn commented afterwards that a half hearted response to Jesus was not acceptable. Being part of such a gathering provoked us to want lives that are more fully given over to Jesus. A nineteen year old girl who spoke had consecrated her life to Jesus at a similar prayer gathering 7 years ago. She gave her teenage years to Christ and her words radiated passion for Jesus. I am considered passionate but this girl shook and quivered with the pulse of Jesus. This reminded me that we will reap what we sow. She had given up the “rights” that teenagers expect but God had blessed her mightily. Let’s remember that Jesus gives us so much more than we can ever give. We will not miss out if we focus our lives on pleasing Him.

Prayer focused on Prop 8 and marriage, and also on abortion. James Dobson was one of the speakers and he reminded us how important marriage of one man to one woman is for the health of this nation. He canceled all his previous commitments to be there with his wife Shirley. His commitment to the prayer meeting was of great encouragement to us. My only concern was that more local Christians were not there. Understandably we all have busy lives but it would have been great to have seen the stadium as full as it is when the San Diego Chargers play football games there.

Repentance and prayer might not sound exciting, but they are way more significant than supporting a team or staying home to clean the house …… Football fans support their teams with a mighty clamor. The noise generated by a half empty stadium of Christians generated even more enthusiasm, cheering and worshiping than the football fans. As God is so much more significant than the defeat or victory of our local team, I was satisfied.

The most challenging aspect of our time at The Call was crying out to God regarding the death of fifty million unborn babies. We shouted “help, help” to Jesus. We definitely need His help to end an era of child sacrifice when it has become acceptable to sacrifice our babies for their mothers to maintain a certain lifestyle or reputation. It is not just the mothers who are at fault. If we know the truth about abortion and do nothing to warn girls in our churches, and do not offer financial help to those who cannot afford to provide for a baby, we are guilty too. If our silence and inaction lead to a death, how can we respond, except to cry out in pain and sorrow, seeking His forgiveness and mercy.

A Focus on the Family book: Answering The Call, Saving Innocent Lives, One Woman At A Time, by John Ensor (2003) is informative and Biblical. Ensor estimates that 250,000 evangelically oriented Christians are having abortions annually. Our churches must not be silent. The author explains that he was shocked in 1989 that fully 30% of the women in his own congregation had had abortions. He describes the day that they looked at abortion for the first time, “as the day God lanced a boil”. Ensor compares the responsibility of a Christian leader with that of a doctor: “A good doctor does not withhold the lance to spare the patient pain. Nor can good physicians of the human soul beg off examining the disease and discord now festering in 40 percent of the people in their own church. It is spiritual malpractice.”

John Ensor adds: “We must lance the boil of this guilt if we are going to produce true life and health. This is painful and difficult, but it is also purifying. And it is our duty. The biggest mistake we are making in our local churches today regarding abortion is rightly sensing its destructive power but then remaining silent to spare people hurt. Some tears are medicinal. This is a case, I assure you, where godly sorrow is cleansing.”

Paul explains that godly sorrow leads to repentance and ultimately to concern and to readiness to see justice done. Please read 2 Corinthians 7: 7-9 which describes how Paul wrote a challenging letter to the people in Corinth which caused hurt for a little while but led to repentance and to godly lives- well worth the temporary pain. Paul continues: “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.” (2 Corinthians 7: 10-12)

At The Call we were reminded that America is guilty of the blood of 50 million babies. (Other countries are equally guilty.) Are we ready to bring truth into our churches which will lead to healing? Are we ready to repent? Are we prepared to stand up to protect marriage between one man and one woman, whatever present or future laws dictate? We are God’s people and we are called to consecrate ourselves to Him. Are we ready to move beyond a faith that tends to be half hearted, to embrace and declare the real Jesus on His terms? When we humbly repent and pray, God will respond by forgiving our sin and healing our land. Let’s live life His way.

This is a post from: WomenRespond.com

The Call in San Diego: Calling Christians to Respond to Marriage and Abortion

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Tom’s future dreams, which will no doubt change in a few weeks, are influenced by a few days of past happiness. It is easy to make decisions based on similar experiences. A friend of my parents was also in love with Wales. He probably also experienced idyllic summer holidays and he determined that his wife and children would move to a beautiful remote location in Wales. He was unable to be there for much of the time as he was working in London during the week. He joined them in this supposed paradise for the weekends. I met the wife and kids once when they lived near my family in Hampshire, in the south of England, prior to their move to Wales. I don’t remember her name, but the mother was very sociable and a people person like myself. At the time I was a student, training to be a teacher and she asked me to read some Bible stories to her young kids, the one time that I met her: perhaps I had mentioned my new found Christian faith to her. I remember reading the children’s Bible to her lovely, young sons in her garden which was pretty and typically English: roses and a very green lawn thanks to plenty of rain.

My mother continued to mention this family occasionally. They moved to Wales but their lifestyle was not the buzz of extended family, games and nice weather that are typical of a week’s summer vacation. The loneliness was intense and the last I heard was the terrible news that the bubbly, friendly wife and mother had committed suicide. The beautiful countryside was not enough.

Today when I was speaking with Tom I advised him always to prayerfully consider what direction he should take in life. It is easy to run after dreams and to pursue a fantasy that can end in disaster. I assured Tom that heaven would be perfect but until then it is important to pray and to seek Jesus’ lead. I suggested that he should do something worthwhile and that he should not limit his decisions to a certain location or pay package. Of course we need to earn money but it should not be the main determiner of what we do and neither should the beauty of the location be the deciding factor.

Proverbs 3:5-6 offers words of wisdom: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” As humans we are easily influenced by experiences that are foolish. It is not only teenagers contemplating their future who need to seek God’s path. We all need His guidance. We are inclined to follow our hearts but the Bible warns us that our hearts can’t be trusted: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

The verses preceding verse 9 in this chapter in the book of Jeremiah illustrate the difference between the man or woman who trusts God and those who trust man for direction. I suggest that you read Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 5-9. The one depending on man’s guidance will be “like a bush in the wastelands”, whereas the person who trusts in the Lord is in a much safer place: “He will will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

If we seek God’s direction for our lives through prayer, Bible study and speaking with Christians who are mature in their faith, we will be shown the right path. This might not look picturesque and it might not be very profitable, but if it is God’s will, it will be a place where we will “bear fruit” for we will be relying on Jesus. He will satisfy us even if life is hard. The woman I met briefly was “like a bush in the wastelands” as her husband followed his heart. I feel certain that he did not seek God’s direction or seek the opinion of his wife. May this sad situation remind us to seek Jesus’ wisdom rather than following our hearts. Our hearts are deceitful.

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Guidance for the future

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In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13) there are many seedlings that do not reach maturity. They are more disappointing to the gardener than the small dry grapefruit because the seedlings never bore any fruit and the seeds that were taken by the birds were non starters. Fruit is not only delicious but it also has the capacity for more of the same plant to grow. The original seed, if it grows effectively, can produce multiple seed producing fruits and the result is wonderful.

In Matthew 13:23, Jesus explains that “the seed that fell on good soil represent those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” This is God’s will, and surely the goal of the church, that those who hear the good news about Jesus will understand the truth, and mature and multiply in the sense that they will help others to become productive children of God.

A Christian is not the smug, pew filler that I used to be. I was smug because I thought that I had done what was necessary by being in church, but I was no more than a seed on a hard piece of English stone floor, waiting to grow. There was so little truth to listen to and I did not understand that I needed to respond. Thankfully, Jesus put me in the equivalent of fertile soil when I went to college and arrived in a good church. The Bible was taught faithfully and as I listened I started to grow.

It seems that the hearer needs to be alert and listening and the message needs to be clear and true. It is so easy for all of us to be selective in our hearing. My children are adept at ignoring instructions to help but quick to hear any mention of food! The seeds that successfully reached maturity are like people who understand that without Jesus they are hopelessly lost. They hear and apply every one of His words to ensure that they grow up as God’s children rather than as a stunted, self absorbed seedling that shrivels up when in difficulty. The seed that becomes productive is like a true follower of Jesus who is not seeking his own comfort and pleasure but instead, like Jesus gives up his life. In John 12:24 Jesus says,”Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

Many people want to have the reassurance of being connected to Jesus. They marvel that He rose from the dead and they believe that He has the power to successfully rescue us from the curse of death. They are right to trust Jesus but many are tempted to avoid the self sacrifice that we are called to. Unless we die to ourselves we remain a single seed, but God’s vision is for us to produce much grain. It is only when we focus on loving Jesus and others instead of ourselves that we truly start to do what pleases God. My other blog posts about the seeds discuss the reasons that they fail to reach maturity (and fulfillment). They are stunted because they are like people who are focused on themselves, put off by persecution, money and other worries.

Instead we should be focused on pleasing God. He can be trusted with our lives and He can handle our troubles. There is no time to focus on these personal distractions as Christians must join Jesus in far more important work than feeling sorry for ourselves. He wants us to join with others to reach out to “the lost”, to those who do not yet know how much He loves them. First we need to give up our lives to follow Him: “If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life you will lose it but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” When we give up trying to control things and trust God we are re-born as a new creation, a child of God with Jesus leading us. No wonder that we can now be productive, and bold, as Jesus is the one who through us can bring about a fantastic ‘harvest’. If we labor alone we will remain a single seed but when we die to our own ambitions we will belong to Christ and we will be producing much “grain”.

I was like a seed sitting immobile on hard stone. I was preoccupied with myself and I prioritized my pleasure and my success above spending time with God or helping others. Once I was placed in a church where I was taught the truth about Jesus, I started to change and by the time I was in my second year at college I was becoming more excited about helping others and teaching the Bible than pursuing my personal dreams. Now my desire was to please Jesus and this gave me fulfillment. I wanted others to grow into a relationship with Christ and I was eager to share the great news that God himself came to earth to die for you and me that we could be set free from the power of sin and death. I continue to share this message of great joy and I hope that others will become like seeds that are productive, bearing fruit and living abundant lives.

Christian women respond: Persevere and become spiritually mature. God’s harvest is beautiful and impacts the world.

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The Harvest

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The thought related to a more profound meaning of the word “homecoming”. When I was a child in England, I remember telling my friends that my best friend was Jesus. This was not true. I knew that he was important but I had no relationship with Him, beyond singing a few hymns and scripted prayers on Sunday. Another of my pet statements was that I was going to Heaven when I died. We all assumed that this was our right, a natural part of being a human being. My friends and I were not inspired to find out more about Jesus. It sufficed that He offered us the all important ticket to Heaven. I now realize that this “ticket” was not like a free ticket to the fair, rather it cost Jesus His life for Him to offer it to me, and unless I gave my life to Him I was not going to the heavenly destination. Heaven is way more important than the fair or even a refreshing rest. It is a true homecoming.

In my post about the homecoming parade at our local high school, I described the effort that some of the kids went to to stick scrunched up pieces of tissue on the float to make the float attractive. Originally homecoming was to welcome back alumni of the school. There is still some of that but the parade is watched mostly by the school and some parents. The kids shout and cheer and the occasion is fun. In the evening at the homecoming football match the four floats, made by the different year groups, were displayed and they were ranked first, second, third and fourth. The tissue scrunching kids go to all that effort to be applauded by their classmates, some parents, and alumni, with the possibility of winning a prize.

The process of those who added the tissue to the float is a bit like the typical person working hard to live a productive life. I am sure that those kids worked late to finish the job, there was so much to do. It is likely that they received some encouragement but if they did not win the prize the process may have seemed ultimately unfulfilling. Isn’t that like our lives. We wonder what the point is as we work late and struggle to do the equivalent of sticking yet more tissue on the float.

Our lives can be more than trying to receive the praise of others and winning a temporary prize. We may be popular at school or receive an academic scholarship or become the heroic saleswoman in the company or even the super mother, but deep inside we know that these are not enough. Jesus says that he will give us life to the full. As we receive His love and His Holy Spirit we will change. Our goals will change and we will stop doing things just to receive praise from other people but instead our focus will alter and we will focus on pleasing Jesus.

Christ knows that we cannot go to Heaven just as we are. However much we try, we are not good enough to join Him in Heaven. We are naturally self centered and our hard work sticking tissue or the equivalent is not ultimately going to cut it. Without Jesus’s intervention no one will win the best prize. We are too bad and we need Jesus’s forgiveness and his life giving Spirit. In John 4:14, Jesus says to a wretched woman who had had numerous failed relationships: “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The prize is everlasting life, starting now and culminating in Heaven, and it is a gift that only Jesus can give.

In John 14 Jesus talks about Jesus and God, in the form of the invisible Holy Spirit making their home with those who love Jesus and obey His Word (the Bible). To have eternal godly purpose we need God’s presence now. This relationship now will lead us to our forever home. Jesus rose from the dead and we too can spiritually bypass the finality of death if we are truly his children. In John 14 verse 1, Jesus says “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and also trust in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Only Jesus can secure our final homecoming because He is God. He came to earth in the form of a man; how else could he have died in our place? Only Jesus the perfect man could take the punishment that I deserve: death. That is why Jesus could say “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” I do hope that you will follow Jesus and discover a life that is fulfilling and will last forever, thanks to Him.

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A heavenly homecoming

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Karl Marx, German political economist, 1861

We studied various political thinkers including Marx and we read George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty Four”, wondering whether the Iron Curtain would become an even harsher barrier separating east from west. Europe seemed much smaller then, as most people living in the Eastern Bloc were virtual prisoners and could not join us to present their perspective. Our parents were children in Britain during World War Two and their memories also reminded us that the power of evil could impact us as it had impacted them. Although their gas masks looked like Mickey Mouse they were still a reminder that danger was a real possibility. Europe was not necessarily fine and there was much to discuss.

When we arrived in The States in 1999 we came at the end of an era. There was still the assumption here that the US was safe and far away from danger. Waitresses smiled continuously and there was a sense of satisfaction. There seemed to be an abundance of money: sufficient money to throw away on details. There was a sense that we could all fall in love with the present because it was good and we were happy. Vietnam was a bad memory but best swept aside as it should not spoil the fun of the present.

September 11th threw a hand grenade into much of that. It was a terrible day that reminded Americans that evil was a reality and that like Europe, America is not necessarily fine.

Our oldest son Tom is going to college for the first time this week. I hope that he will be challenged to think beyond the fun. Perhaps now there is more debate here about good and evil and while Islam seems to be more threatening than communism, it demands a response in the same way that the Iron Curtain provoked us to comment. September 11th can never be justified but the Bible teaches that God works for good in those who love him and I think that there is value in being challenged to question why. Without recognizing evil we cannot understand our need for a savior. This world is full of evil, full of examples of man hating man.

Jesus is God who came to Earth as a baby, at the first Christmas, to grow up to die for us to receive the punishment that we deserve, at the first Easter. My desire is that our son, Tom, will be in an environment, like I was, where students are prepared to push aside the Easter bunny and Santa Claus and consider how Jesus stands against evil with his love and hope. Instead of hiding behind fixed smiles, we also can consider the claims of Jesus and how he can help a hurting world, how Jesus can help us. Pursuing truth will offend but it is more purposeful than avoiding conflict by saying nothing. It is more purposeful than pretending that the Easter bunny has all the answers, smoothing over family difficulties by offering candy to maintain peace. This fictional interpretation of Easter contrasts hugely with what Jesus achieved on the first Easter when he shed his precious blood to offer peace to a people who deserve punishment.

As I travel to Chicago with Tom tomorrow I will be silent for a few days, Please use this time to scroll back to the beginning of this blog to see what I was like when I was also seventeen and starting college, and how God changed my life. Read some of the comments, including a current conversation investigating the meaning of life.

May God bless you.

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college is a place to ask why

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The reality is that there are many depressed and disillusioned people who have not achieved their goals who feel let down by God and are possibly jealous of others who seem to be living a more successful or happy life. We should know by now that when the princess gets married she does not necessarily live happily ever. It is likely that her marriage hits at least one rocky patch and her kids rebel, calling her “stupid” and causing her to go to bed early in tears more often than she could have imagined… She may look at her single friend’s interesting career and tidy apartment and wonder what went wrong.

Christian women need to re-evaluate their goals in line with the Bible and God’s priorities. All of us have experienced disappointments and rather than becoming resentful we should turn over our past as well as our future to Jesus, seeking to please him in all that we do. We can get used to our own grumbling, complaining attitude assuming that this is normal. It is normal but it is not Christian. In Philippians 4:14 the apostle Paul encourages us to do “everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless children of God in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life – in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain”. Paul was single, frequently in jail, persecuted, near death on several occasions, on the move constantly and there was no sign of a stable home for him to come home to every evening. Perhaps we should expect him to have been in and out of the psychologist’s office but instead he was focused on Christ. His goal, the purpose of his life’s race, was to be a blameless child of God sharing the”word of life” with others. Paul knew that all those lost people needed the Word of life: they needed Jesus. He did not want to live in vain and as God’s voice, he is encouraging us to live a life of purpose, way beyond the goals that we have dreamed up.

If you are single, thank God, if you are married thank him, if you are grieving trust him and if you are resentful let it go. Let’s focus our eyes on Jesus, confessing that our priorities are often pathetic and that our dreams are self centered.

Shine like a star for Jesus

Let’s share God’s goals. Let’s reach out to a lost, hurting or indifferent world offering Jesus, the only one who can radically change our destiny. Are you ready to walk away from the grumbling and complaining and shine for him?

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goals in life

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As a new Christian, I assumed that it was fine to have a boyfriend who was not a believer. None of the sermons had addressed this issue and I had not yet got to the relevant parts of Scripture that confronted this subject. I rationalized that because I did not sleep with my boyfriend, I was fine. I was in danger of being pulled in the wrong direction. I could have married someone who did not share what was becoming the dominant force in my life.

My concern is that there are many new Christians who do not understand that to follow Christ they need to let go of many aspects of their old lifestyle to adopt a much better life with Christ at the center. This is much more exciting and refreshing as it is only when we face up to the sin in our lives and ask Jesus to forgive us that we are truly able to enjoy living with him. We are aware that a cancerous tumor needs to be removed and the same is true of sin.

Sword

That is why we must apply the word of God to our lives rigorously. Seek a mature Christian who can help you understand Scripture and do not avoid the truth. Hebrews 4:12 explains that “the word of God is sharper than any double edged sword.” It penetrates deep, judging “the thoughts and attitudes of the heart”. In the same way that cancer needs to be removed to stop it destroying the body, sin also needs to be dealt with. Our relationship with Jesus is much more important than the health of our bodies.

My relationship with the non Christian boyfriend ended. Jesus intervened. Please ask Jesus what he needs to remove in your life. I assure you that you will not regret this prayer for we can’t hide from God (Hebrews 4:13) and ending a sinful habit draws us into his light and closer to Jesus.

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Like cancer, sin needs to be cut out

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I prayed frequently for my family. I had a wonderful family. We enjoyed spending time together and we were generally pleasant to each other. It is easy to assume that kind = Christian. Actually Christian= aware of how far from God we are and how only Jesus can forgive and free us from our wretched state. I like truth. Today this is an unfashionable word in an era when relativism is embraced, but in 1981 truth still meant something to me at least. I wanted my family to understand that holding onto church attendance as a substitute for a relationship with Jesus was not enough.

My brother and sister, Vaughan and Clare, are twins and two years younger than me. We were not placid but neither were we like angry dogs, at least not by the time we were 18 and 16!

Angry dog

My comments to them about not having the choice of sitting on the fence, regarding Jesus, were considered inflammatory. I emphasized that you were either fully for Jesus or against him: a bored observer is not a child of God. Vaughan and Clare were annoyed and my remarks threatened the peace that we had been enjoying on our vacation in France.

I have lived in the US for nine years and It seems that some Californians at least, and I am sure some British people too, prefer to keep the peace than explain a truth that can liberate someone from death to life. Without Jesus our spirits are dead and our future is hopeless. Jesus wants to interact with us, to breathe his life into us and for this to happen we must give up our control and our selfish wants. I was basically telling my brother and sister that they had got it wrong. The good news is that Jesus got it right and during that year they started to seek him as well and so did both of my parents. I saw no obvious encouragement during that vacation but God’s work was in motion. Today all of my family is wholeheartedly serving Jesus. Without understanding the challenging news, that we simply can never be good enough to please God, no one will understand the full magnificence of the good news that God came to earth to die in our place if we give our lives to him in faith. This is the only way to receive eternal life.

If you really want to give people what is best, tell them the truth. Avoiding conflict is not an excuse. We must not be guilty of withholding information to appear nice. Lives are at stake and those who discover the full riches of Christ will come back and thank you. Some may turn against you. I did not change Vaughan’s and Clare’s lives, Jesus did and it was Jesus who said : “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, read the Bible and find out about him. If you are, gently but faithfully share the whole truth. This will help set people free.

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Avoid or Embrace Religious Conflict?

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A newborn baby can focus on his mother’s face, but at first he is not able to see further afield.

Cute but vulnerable

My attention was now on Jesus and, in a spiritual sense, I had started over and my life was new. Now I had the living Spirit of Jesus in me, the Holy Spirit. I had the potential to change the world but I had to grow up. My life was full of hope. God himself was with me but like a child I had much to learn and I would make mistakes.

As a parent it is tempting to wish that our children would remain infants. For a mother, that sensation of being needed and appreciated is usually more exciting than the teenage response from our older kids: a loud opinion. It seems that sometimes the church is also tempted to hold on to a vast collection of babies. If we are loved and encouraged and fed enough to get by then surely we will coo like contented babes and cause little trouble. However, God’s word, the Bible, warns us that this is not his plan.

In Paul’s letter to the Hebrews chapter 5 verses 13 and 14, he writes, “For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and does not know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” Paul was complaining about people who had been Christians for a while. They had not grown up, they had not received sufficient training to make godly responses and their understanding of the Bible was minimal.

My desire is that you would not remain a spiritual infant. Study the Bible, listen to Christian talks that will challenge you to repent and change. I find Alastair Begg’s talks on www.TruthForLife.org helpful. Growing up is painful but it leads to spiritual maturity. A mature animal is less likely to be food for the local lion. Similarly, when we are mature we have the skill to “recognize the difference between right and wrong”, we can more successfully avoid our enemy the devil who “prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) Peter exhorts us, in verse 9 “to stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith”.

Receive training from the word of God and don’t be naive like an infant. God can overpower our lion like enemy but if we remain immature we will be devoured.

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A baby Christian

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Nowadays so many students in the US stop going to church when they get to college. In the UK the opposite was often true. In 1980 when I arrived in Cambridge, university cities usually had at least one effective church that taught the congregation about why we needed Jesus. Most of the village churches and many of the churches in towns too did not clearly communicate the truth about who Jesus was, why he came and why we needed to pay attention to him. Today in the US many churches make their services “seeker sensitive”, making the message appealing and avoiding teaching about our horrible sinful state. I am so pleased that Mark Rushton, the vicar of the Round Church did not do this. He taught the Bible as it was, providing in depth understanding of Scripture and challenging me to reconsider my notion that I was a good girl. To ensure that people had the opportunity to understand how we could become Christians, every couple of months they held a guest service when a visiting speaker would preach about sin, repentance and salvation. By November, I was ready to respond. I had been listening for six Sundays and was challenged by the Bible messages but needed to hear about my need for a savior. Although better, in my own eyes, than many of my teenage contemporaries I recognized that compared to Jesus I was a horrible sinner and I needed his forgiveness to be transformed into a new person. I had assumed that everyone had the right to go to Heaven but now I realized that without Jesus I was lost. As I walked up to the front of the church to declare my faith, I was starting all over again with Jesus at the helm rather than me. I was in better hands now.

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Starting College

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