Yesterday afternoon I was a guest at a Baptism Service here in my home town. This was a great service! There was no fancy Baptismal Pool, no river or rock-pool, just a swimming pool in a local Leisure Centre, but that made no difference at all to the occasion. Seven people went through the waters of baptism after confessing their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and their ages stretched from about 15-years old to about 60-years of age (My guesswork, which is a reasonable estimate!)
My own profession of faith goes back to September 9th 1969, and that was the moment that my life was changed for ever, for from then onward I have always done my best to walk in Christ's footsteps. I came to Christ at a meeting that was held in the Friends' Meeting House in Bath, and was led by the evangelist, Peter Scothern, a great man of God. A few years ago I had the privilege of sharing a platform with Peter at a meeting which was held in a school hall in Chester, and I was struck again by the humble manner that he had.
Since I accepted Christ into my life it has been a wonderful walk, although not always an easy one. There have been many moments when I found the going tough, but in retrospect I can look back and see that they were moments of growth. I guess that they were my 'growing pains' as I moved on towards Christian maturity. Despite these tough times I would not change a moment of the journey, for how can any journey with Christ be anything but a mind-blowing experience.
Along the way there have been times when I have been out-of-step with God, even wondered if He had left me alone, and yet once I came back into line I was always able to see that He'd always been there, and that He had never left me. I remember one night in 1982 when I was in hospital in Zimbabwe awaiting a major back operation. In a lot of pain and very fearful of what the immediate future held, I sat in a window-seat one night at around 11.30 pm, looking up to the stars, trying to get everything into perspective, and trying my best to reach out to God. Yet, try as I may, I could not reach out! I felt totally desolate, for it seemed to me that I had become separated altogether from God. How could I go on on my own? It would be impossible.
The duty night nurse came to speak to me and I turned to her with tears coursing down my cheeks, yet no sound came from my lips. She arranged that I could call my Minister, a great guy by the name of Mike Rutter, and so I 'phoned his home. His wife answered and all I could do was sob down the 'phone. "Is that you, Colin," she said. Somehow I managed to mumble that it was. "Just put the 'phone down and Mike will be with you in a moment," she said. Even though it was past midnight and he lived about five miles away, it seemed like only a few minutes before he was there with me. The nursing staff allowed us to use an empty side-room and made us a cup of tea. For a while I couldn't speak, tears still coursing down my face. Mike talked quietly to me fro a while and then, taking my hands in his, started to pray. The desolation was dreadful. I was in the darkest place that I have ever been in. It really was as though I was completely and utterly without God, and I could not stand it. It felt as though my separation from Him was breaking my heart.
About 4.30 in the morning, as dawn was beginning to break, suddenly everything changed. I felt a warmth spreading through my body. I was no longer alone. I was back with God. Mike immediately sensed and then saw the change in my face.
It was an experience which I never want to go through again, yet it was an experience that gave me a taste of what it would be like to spend eternity without God. Every experience is a learning experience, and that day I learned the importance of doing all that I could to share the gospel with those in need of salvation, for the outcome for the lost soul is too dreadful to imagine. It would still be many years before God brought me into full-time ministry, although I already knew that it was something that would happen when He said that the time was right.
Today my heart burns with a passion for the lost souls that are still awaiting to hear about Jesus, to know about His saving grace, and to be released from the chains of sin. How I thank God for the wonderful committed Christians who have been in my life, and for the opportunity to give back something of the gift that He has blessed me with.
Yesterday at the Baptismal Service I spoke to a young man of about 18-years of age, asking him if he went to a local church. "No," he replied, "I just came here with my sister." I made direct eye-contact with him and told him that it was nearly forty years since I accepted the Lord into my life, adding, "and it was the best thing that ever happened to me!" I urged him to get to know the Lord, and to experience the change in his own life that had happened to me. "Just imagine," I said to him, "Who would ever have thought all those years ago that my decision would not only change my life but also have a bearing on countless other lives through the calling with which I've been blessed.
Great story. Thanks for sharing. People criticized Mother Teresa for her moments of doubts when she felt seperated from God. They perceived them as moments of weakness in her faith. But I see them as moments of strengthening. After all, when I am weak, He is strong. And it is during such times we learn to reach out and grab ahold of the hand our Lord is extending to us.
ReplyDelete