I received a call from my niece,
Rhonda, this week. I could hear the excitement in her voice as she related to
me her first visit to church in thirty-four years. She had not attended since
she was six years old and walking into the “unknown” can be pretty frightening.
As she described the service, she must have seemed like that little girl again,
looking around and marveling at the wonder of it all.
As I listened, it took me back to my
own experience as a visitor in this “newness of life.” I was thirty-two years
old when I walked back into a church for the first time since my teens. It
wasn’t the same experience that I remembered but a different denomination with
a different style of worship and beliefs. It was 1980 and as I looked around
the huge sanctuary, I also felt small and insignificant. When the service
began, I know my eyes must have been as big as saucers as I observed the people
lost in the presence of God, totally oblivious to anyone else around them. It
didn’t take me long to become very comfortable in those surroundings as I also
surrendered myself to God.
Rhonda told me she understood
nothing in the sermon but when the preacher gave the altar call, she expected
him to say, “Now Rhonda, come on up here and receive Jesus as your Savior.” I
asked her if she went up but she exclaimed, “He didn’t call my name!” I told
her that she didn’t have to walk the aisle and shake the preacher’s hand to
become a Christian as is often misunderstood. She could accept Jesus right there
on the phone with me. She chose to wait. There is an urgency that the Holy
Spirit makes known to us when the time is NOW.
I prayed that Rhonda would indeed
make that decision soon.
The next day I perused the shelves
at the Christian book store looking for a book that would help Rhonda get
started on a sure footing as a new creation in Christ Jesus. I bought several
booklets and a devotional for new believers. I read each one for myself before
mailing them on to her. It was a refreshing experience to look at the materials
through eyes as a new Christian. Although I’m 25 years old in the Lord now,
sometimes it’s just good to begin from the beginning . . . and return to your
First Love . . . afresh and anew!
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