Saturday, March 12, 2011

How Did it all Start?

Over the next few posts I want to share with you my story of becoming a Christian. This is not my testimony. That is a two-minute "elevator speech" focused on Jesus, not me. These posts are the earthly story of getting to Jesus.

Like so many Christians, I grew up going to church. I called it the "corporation". They ran it like a business. Whether I ever heard the Gospel there or not I cannot recall. But I went there faithfully every week, got confirmed there, and had many life events recorded there.

One highlight was my Jr. and Sr. High youth groups. I loved them. We were a great bunch of friends both at church and school. We had a great time going on retreats. For some reason I was always the "deep" one when it came to Bible study time and discussion. Although I was Bible illiterate, I had a lot to say about it anyway. As I look back now I could think, "How odd." But instead, I know it was God drawing me.

It seems like in every walk of life, I was always the one selected to do the spiritual thing. I led the chapel services at Boy Scout camp. I always volunteered for anything to do around the church. God's drawing? I suppose so. But these spiritual things came out of books. Boilerplate religious sounding stuff. I had no care nor concern for God or any other person or thing but me.

That was church. Not the kind of church I would ever go back to. I cannot recall the friends and associates there as those representative of Jesus Christ. We were just a group of good kids doing the all-American thing. Going to church, the church of our generations, was the thing to do. We never gave it a second thought.

It can be very hard to question tradition. Tradition feels right. It is bound by a lot of things, none of which may be God, but which God can use to draw us to Himself. Are we free to think that way and dare to challenge the course of natural life for that which is Highest?

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