My eternal life in Christ began on a Thursday night in May of 1976. The Spirit of God was very merciful to me, though I was living in darkness. In fact darkness was a good way to describe my life at that time. It seems I never could figure things out. I lived only for myself. I knew my family loved me. I had a Grandma that would always try to get me to go to church when she could. But everything in my life was Marvin first.
A year earlier, my grandma took me to see the Thief In The Night movie. It scared me at the time and I decided I needed to ask the Lord to come in my heart. After all I didn’t want to get my head cut off. But then next school day came around, back with my old friends, back in my old environment and back to serving myself again. I soon forgot about that movie. But one that that stuck with me was my guilt. I knew I was a sinner.
One day as I was walking my mother home from work I began to unload on her say. “Mom it seems like there’s always a cloud over me.” I think she knew what I was getting at and she said “Marvin I don’t have the answers for you but you can find them in the Bible.” So found an old bible my dad gave my mother many years earlier and began reading a little here and a little there. I think I mostly looked at the pictures though. It didn’t really make much sense to me, but then nothing made much sense to me at that time. But the Spirit of God was heavy on me and I knew I needed Jesus. I knew enough about the scriptures to know that Jesus was the only way I was going to get my sins taken care of. However I also knew the last time I tried that. It didn’t last more than the next school day. It was a Thursday night and I only had one more school day of the week. So I asked the Lord if he would forgive me of my sins and I also asked if he would help me to be a Christian Just One Day. I figured, if I can make it though that last school day with Christ then I can have the whole weekend to be with him. At that moment the lights came on. I knew I was a sinner and I was talking to a holy God. I was so sorry for my sin. I quickly located the beer bottle I hid in my Granddad’s camper. I got rid of all my rock music albums. I told the Lord I was sorry and I really wanted to be a Christian. There was nothing in my old life I wanted to keep more than him.
Than the next day came. The old friends were no where to be found, and I wasn’t looking for them either. I was walking with Jesus. The following Sunday I went with my Grandma to Church and I listed to every message. I started reading more of that huge Bible I found. The following summer my Aunt Marylin took me to “Basic Youth Conflicts” seminar by Bill Gathered. During that time he encouraged us to make a commitment to read the Bible daily for at least 5 minutes a day. I have kept that promise to this day. It turned out my mother was right when she told me “You’ll find the answers in the Bible”
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2nd Corinthians 4:6
The day I received Jesus Christ as my savior is the same day I am living now. It’s an Eternal Day with God that will never end.
But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Proverbs 4:18
