Oh the Joy

God always says that if we follow him blessings will follow right? So I decided to follow him. Obvious statement if you know me. But this is the thing, we decide to follow then we slowly and mostly unintentionally slip away and then find things going wrong and decide to follow again. That is why I state that: I decided to follow him. Its like the other day, I got a swift kick in the pants, a very obvious sign from God...it honestly couldn't have been more obvious if my little red private phone line to God had rang.

So I went to detention and just like he said, the blessing followed. My intern and I sat down and talked to one 16 year old, five months pregnant girl. We'll call her D. D is worried about raising her son...disciplining him in particular. So we talked about the rod and the staff, 'time-outs', spanking, grounding, and what the Bible says about sparing the rod and spoiling the child. We had a nice seg-way and the conversation turned to a different sort. She, in so many fairly obvious words, told me that she believed but didn't have assurance of salvation. We then sat and talked about the act of salvation: what was it really that made us right with God. Why denominations are going to or not going to get you to heaven. Why her, not being a church go-er, still has a shot at heaven. Why me, as a great little born and breed Christian isn't necessarily going to go to heaven. Why Mary isn't the way to salvation. Why she gets frustrated reading the Bible when she starts at the beginning...Genesis...instead of at the real beginning...John or Matthew or one of the tales of Jesus' life and ministry. And so many other things: Romans 10:9-10, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Ephesians 2:8-9. And with all that you can recreate the conversation...the same conversation I have with MANY girls.

At the end of the night, exactly 10 minutes before my intern and I had to leave, D sighed a HUGE sigh and said the most beautiful thing, "I get it." She sighed, sat back in her chair and I saw a literal weight lifted off her shoulders! It was the most beautiful thing! For the entire 15 minute drive home, I was in awe, speechless, as I am every time I have that conversation with any girl. God is amazing! And other than Christ's death and resurrection, the most beautiful thing about salvation is when someone gets it. The mystery of how God works at that moment and in the lifetime of that person is simply the greatest miracle I have ever witnessed.