Today, August 17, marks a special anniversary for me. For on this day in 1982 I encountered a love
far greater then any I have known or will ever know--a love that invaded my heart and set me free.
This is my story…
The afternoon sun poured in through the living room window
of our old farmhouse in Clymer, NY. For
everyone, myself included, it was a normal day and we went about our normal
routines. Dad went to work. Mom was busy in the kitchen. I don’t remember where my sisters were but I
sat in the living room setting up my little, plastic dinosaurs. The green T-Rex would always go after the
red brontosaurus and then the yellow stegosaurus (my favorite) and triceratops
came to his rescue. But somewhere in
the midst of my play a question rose in my heart: “Where did dinosaurs come
from?”
I do not remember why I thought this or what was going on in
my seven-year old mind. The question
refused release until I sought out an answer.
It would not let my little mind rest so I went to my mom and asked her
the answer.
Though I do not remember the flow of the conversation, she
began to introduce me to the Creator God, the One who formed and made all
things, including dinosaurs. Then she
began to share about his love for us.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God sent his Son, Jesus, to die for my
sin—all the ‘bad things’ I’ve done.
As a seven-year old the ‘bad things’ I committed consisted
of disobedience to my parents and teachers or lying to cover up a mistake. If I got in trouble, I knew punishment
followed. But what was perhaps worse
then the punishment was the guilt and shame associated with it. Though I could not have explained either the
concepts or the words to you, I understood it as a heaviness of the heart as a
result of my disobedience. My conscious
at that age would hound me and refuse to release me from its clutches.
But in my conversation with my mom, she explained that Jesus
died for me. In other words, he took
all my punishment so that I would not have to have any. Furthermore, if I ‘asked him into my heart’
(believed in him at a heart level) he would forgive me. On top of all this, my mom explained, “he
rose from the dead the third day.”
“How do I do all this?” I asked.
“All you have to do is ask him.” My mom replied. Plain,
simple and free.
“Should I kneel?” I asked.
I think I had seen pictures of Bible people who did this.
“You can if you want.”
So I knelt in a sunbeam as she led me in a simple prayer:
“Dear Lord Jesus,” I prayed after my mom’s words. “I know
that I have done bad things against you.
Thank you for dying on the cross for me. I ask you to come into my heart, forgive me of my sin and give me
eternal life. Amen.”
Then freedom came, forgiveness rushed in and my guilt lifted
away. Jesus rescued me on that day so
long ago.
My mom later said about this: “It was as if a little light
bulb went on inside of you.”
She also tells me that I was so excited that I ran over and
told this good news to my next-door neighbors, two dear old ladies in the Lord
(a mother and her daughter). I do not
remember that part though.
God’s alien love invaded my heart on that day. Since then I have become familiar with his
love and know that nothing is able to separate me from it. He will attest that I am not perfect by any
stretch of imagination—I am always growing and learning about him and what he
wants me to do. But he came down to my
simple childish love of giant reptiles, posed his question to me and sent my
mom to share the good news with me.
From that my adventure and walk with my Lord began.
Beautiful :)
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