This morning on the way to church I mentioned to my wife that I have elected October as my favorite month of the year. She coyly replied immediately it must be because it is the month we celebrate our wedding anniversary.
To tell the truth I was thinking more about college football (wow! what games yesterday!), major league baseball playoffs, fall leaf color in the mountains, and cooler days at the beach.
When we arrived at church for Bible study our text was Genesis 28. The incident describes how God pursued and met Jacob in the wilderness through a dream. Jacob named the place Bethel or “house of God” to mark a momentous time in his life. I asked the group if they had sacred places where they have met with God in decisive moments.
Then in my mind a light clicked on. I remembered another reason why October is my favorite month. (Yes, I will be careful in the future to note also it is because of our wedding anniversary.) It was on October 3, 1968 that God drew me closer to Himself.
That evening I attended a lecture about hallucinogenic drugs by Doctors Sidney Cohen and Timothy Leary, former professors of psychology at Harvard. Since I was a psychology major I was interested in what they had to say.
Timothy Leary coined the phrase “turn on, tune in, drop out” and was the founder of the League for Spiritual Discovery (LSD). For an hour and half he explained that using drugs was a spiritual experience to know God.
After attending a reception for Leary and his wife, who both looked and acted stoned out of their minds, I headed back to my dorm room. As I walked I thought how foolish Leary seemed to me. To be honest with myself, though, I had to admit that I had no better solution to knowing God than Leary. I had taken religious courses in college, and had attended church since an infant. But God was a concept, a teaching, not a Person to me.
I went out to sit on the terrace of the Student Union building. I lifted my eyes to the starry sky and said (whether out-loud or not I do not remember), “God, if you exist I want to know you. Do with my life as you please.” Short and simple was my request.
My best friend and roommate found a Bible and gave it to me to read. The following days and weeks I read it and studied it with a few friends. I came to understand that God wanted to have a personal relationship with me through Jesus Christ.
I received the invitation of Christ that I read in Revelation 3:20: “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and have fellowship with him.”
Now thirty-nine years have passed and I have never regretted “answering the door.” I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life and to forgive me of my sins and to make me the kind of person He wants me to be. I am still learning to follow and obey God.
To tell the truth I was thinking more about college football (wow! what games yesterday!), major league baseball playoffs, fall leaf color in the mountains, and cooler days at the beach.
When we arrived at church for Bible study our text was Genesis 28. The incident describes how God pursued and met Jacob in the wilderness through a dream. Jacob named the place Bethel or “house of God” to mark a momentous time in his life. I asked the group if they had sacred places where they have met with God in decisive moments.
Then in my mind a light clicked on. I remembered another reason why October is my favorite month. (Yes, I will be careful in the future to note also it is because of our wedding anniversary.) It was on October 3, 1968 that God drew me closer to Himself.
That evening I attended a lecture about hallucinogenic drugs by Doctors Sidney Cohen and Timothy Leary, former professors of psychology at Harvard. Since I was a psychology major I was interested in what they had to say.
Timothy Leary coined the phrase “turn on, tune in, drop out” and was the founder of the League for Spiritual Discovery (LSD). For an hour and half he explained that using drugs was a spiritual experience to know God.
After attending a reception for Leary and his wife, who both looked and acted stoned out of their minds, I headed back to my dorm room. As I walked I thought how foolish Leary seemed to me. To be honest with myself, though, I had to admit that I had no better solution to knowing God than Leary. I had taken religious courses in college, and had attended church since an infant. But God was a concept, a teaching, not a Person to me.
I went out to sit on the terrace of the Student Union building. I lifted my eyes to the starry sky and said (whether out-loud or not I do not remember), “God, if you exist I want to know you. Do with my life as you please.” Short and simple was my request.
My best friend and roommate found a Bible and gave it to me to read. The following days and weeks I read it and studied it with a few friends. I came to understand that God wanted to have a personal relationship with me through Jesus Christ.
I received the invitation of Christ that I read in Revelation 3:20: “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and have fellowship with him.”
Now thirty-nine years have passed and I have never regretted “answering the door.” I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life and to forgive me of my sins and to make me the kind of person He wants me to be. I am still learning to follow and obey God.
I like the promise God gave to Jacob that I read in Bible study this morning:
"Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." (Genesis 28:15)
No comments:
Post a Comment