Decisions

I remember it as if it were yesterday.  
44 years ago

As we drove home in the brown panel family station wagon that late Friday afternoon, I thought to myself, I did something very important today.  How can I remember this date?  Of course, it was my brother's birthday.  Wa-la!  That is easy to remember.

October 4, 1968

Several months earlier, I remember going up to my Sunday school teachers at the local church and posing the question, "What do I need to do with this Easter Story?"  "What about this Christmas Story?"  They had no answers.  I felt in my heart that these stories were important for some reason.

It was 5:15pm, late that Friday afternoon on October 4.  My mom had taken me, my brother and my sister to a re-novated garage, turned playroom, that was hosting a Good News Club (Child Evangelism Fellowship).  It was there that I heard the Salvation story for the very first time.  It was there that I realized I was a sinner, that Jesus had died for my sins.  I realized that I needed to ask for Jesus for forgiveness and ask Him into my heart.  I didn't question the simplicity of it.  I was happy to be have found the answer for my longings.  

I immediately enrolled in the Bible Memory Association, memorizing 12 - 15 Bible verses a week for 12 weeks.  I did this for 10 - 15 years.

Each year on this date, I mentally celebrate my Spiritual Birthday as I am thankful for the heritage I have and thankful that my parents took me to the Good News club on Crestmont. 

I reflect on the journey...
  the journey through 
participating in youth group activities,
going on mission trips to Central America,
attending Moody Bible Institute,
following God's leading to minister in Bolivia, South America
and now...
Living in Guatemala.
What a journey it has been!

That one decision changed the course of my life.

~J