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| 1968: Hair! |
Each year, on December 28, I pause and reflect. It's easy to forget what life was like 50 years ago, what life could have been like, had God not intervened that evening in 1968.
It was the last Saturday night of the year; I had a plan, and it certainly did not include an up close conversation with God. He had a different plan and, as it turns out, it changed my life...forever.
But the path to that evening in 1968 started ten years before, when my Grandmother, who lived with us at the time, would gather me up and carry me off to Church and Sunday School, what amazing grace! I still have my first Bible, the one mom gave me to take to church with Grandma. I didn't know, until I was a young adult, that my grandmother faithfully prayed for me each day--that "BJ would experience the power of Jesus in his life and embrace Him as his Lord and Savior." She eventually moved back to her roots in Fort Scott Kansas. But I continued to get myself to church until 8th grade.
I don't recall why I decided to "drop out" but I'm sure it just didn't feel very cool to attend church and Sunday School any longer--and since I went by myself, it was my decision to make. Fast forward to the fall of my Junior year in High School. One evening I landed at a Campus Life meeting (thank you Pauline Adams!) at the home of a classmate; it was the kickoff "Burger Bash" for the school year and as advertised it was all you could eat and attracted a huge crowd of students.
I got more that evening than a big meal. The Campus Life leader, Mark Zier, gave a short talk to close the event and he asked the crowd..."If you died tonight, do you know where you're going?" I didn't. It bothered me for a few minutes, then I moved on.
On the evening of December 28, 1968 I was set to attend an "After Christmas" party with some buddies (Jerry McClain was driving). Our "wires got crossed" (coincidence?) and they never showed up; stuck, I recalled something was happening at the Rec-center with Campus Life that night--they called it a Campus Life Rally. There was a girl I had some interest in and I knew she would probably be there (I was right); I managed to catch Mark (Zier) before he'd left his house. He was delighted when I called, and he swung by and picked me up. An evening of activities, music and then a guy, Roger Cross, got up and challenged me again about my life and death. This time I was ready and wanted to get this question resolved; Mark talked with me and then invited me to pray a short, simple prayer to embrace Jesus as Messiah, and the rest...is history.
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| Our 2nd date 1969 |
My home was a rather complicated place (aren't most?). Lot's of love, AND pain. I was carrying some emotional baggage by that time and was making some bad choices. Jesus changed all that in an instant. The baggage was there--in fact it didn't get fully "unpacked" for years. But His presence in my life set me in a "best direction" that just never wavered. Laura's family embraced me as a "son" as our relationship grew; they, especially her dad (my dad died suddenly in 1970, just months after my 17th birthday), filled a great need in my life.
In the 80's there was a popular gospel song written by Bill Gaither that describes my story, I get choked up every time I sing it; the chorus declares..."Something beautiful, something good; all my confusion He understood, all I had to offer him was brokenness and strife, but He made something, beautiful, out of my life."
December, 28, 1968. What a difference a day makes.
Thanks be to God for our Blessed hope!
Life is fast.
Liveitwell!
