Last night, Cor and I had a great opportunity to hang out with about 25 people from Macalaster College who love Jesus Christ. We were invited to come and share at the MCF (Mac Christian Fellowship) and it was great to see such a great turnout at a school that has prided itself in the past when it departed from it's Christian and Presbyterian roots in the 70's. Way to go, God!
Cor started the evening by asking for everyone's name, their major, and to share when it was that they started to take God seriously. Great questions, and it opened up some students to sharing some cool things about their lives and spiritual journeys with Jesus.
I didn't even realize it until my friend Leonard emailed me about 5 minutes ago this morning to remind me that it was today, at 6:30am in a shower stall on the fourth floor of Frontier Hall way back in 1983 that Jesus Christ became relevent to me. So, today marks my 23rd "spiritual birthday". You think I would know something by now... God is just too good and patient to be my friend.
I am very aware that not everyone has a "date" or time that they can say that is when they decided to follow Jesus. When did I fal in love with Carole? When did I decide to go to the U of M? When did we decide to have children. Most decisions are a long pattern at first questioining and then a series of processes, and when the exact decision is made is most likely over a long period of time of working through the issues. Most people that I have known have come to know and love Jesus Christ in this way.
However, I don't do things the way most people do... I pretty much had my questioning, processing and decision time all wrapped up into that 45 minute shower that morning. I know this: I went into that shower with serious angst regarding my uncertainty about where I stood with Jesus, and I left knowiwng that I had settled the issue.
Too bad I have become a Baptist in my theology of baptism...otherwise that shower might have counted!
On another note, it is my wife's birthday (physical) today! Kinda cool that on the day when I was born again into the kingdom, she was celebrating her birthday into the world. I love you, babe, and am so blessed to be your "main sqeeze" [anyone under 30, do a google search on what that means]. By the way, we are WAY past the time when we are counting the number of candles on the cake!! Happy Birthday, baby!Trike
8 comments:
Man, in 1983 I was 3 years old...
THREE!!! What are you 7 years old now or something?
:)
lets see, in April of 1983 i was 29 months (2yr 5 months 10 days to be exact)
But i do remember every detail about my 2nd birthday....it was tuesday october 20, 1998 late in the evening at a crusade bible study....
Vicki
Ya know, before you blink two things will be true:
1. You will be experiencing your 23rd spritual birthday and
2. You will be amazed how God has been so faithful to you all those years.
That's the strong feelings I have today, on the day after...
Happy Birthday to both you and Carol! Steve, I liked the way you phrased the question today of having to decide on April 23rd for the first time: "How am I going to respond to Jesus?" You now have 23 years of expiriance engaging with that very question. May you encounter more joy each year in living out that question! Happy Birthday!
congrats to both of you! by the way- on your birthday in 1983 i was 5 years old and rehearsing to celebrate my first communion on sunday (being a catholic kid and all!). I remeber it distinctly because jerry thomas was in front of me and he dropped his candle three times- the last time i stepped on it and broke it by accident. On sunday they hadn't found an extra one and he was mortified to have to carry a blue on instead of white, which he ended up dropping on the alter and breaking before Father Joe could light it. He was teased about being cursed relentlessly for years but incidently he went on to be one of the most beloved priests in the sanfrancisco area. every once in a while my dad updates me on the new projects he's working on. When i think about what he's done in only 30 years of life i am really astonished but i guess love goes a long long way.
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