First Steps

I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was a warm spring Sunday and as usual my mom was taking my sister and I to church. There wasn't anything extraordinary about this particular Sunday. But God had something in store for me that day. He knew long before that on this day a conspiracy of grace was about to lay hold of my heart. God the Father was going to reveal the mystery of the cross of Jesus to my heart through the Holy Spirit. 

I can't remember what the message was about but I can remember that something, someone had awakened something deep within me that day. I suddenly realized as a 10-11 year old boy that I needed a Savior. I was raised in church and knew the stories and their meaning better than most of the Sunday school teachers who taught me. But all of that knowledge was without fruit until it dropped into my heart that day in a loud thud that prompted a response in faith. 

I can vividly recall my yellow short sleeved, button down shirt and the tears that filled my eyes as I made my way to the altar of that little church which met in a VFW hall that smelled funny from all of the meetings they held there. The altars were old wooden benches that were set out on an old orange carpet that was rolled out each Sunday and Wednesday to give the apprearance of a platform. 

That day none of those things mattered at all except one thing. Jesus had called me by name, a name that only He knew and that name was written down for all eternity by His blood. 

So started this pilgrim's passage.

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