Pastor Pondering's #164 *Wild Child*

I got my first “Mama” tattoo at age three. When I was eleven years old, I sang in bars for my biker buddies. I was obviously too young to drive but the biker gang I was a member of would tote me along in a motorcycle sidecar. They were called the H. E. Double hockey stick’s Angels. And since I liked hockey so much, they were a natural fit. It was on Friday, which happened to be the thirteenth day of the month when we were about to enter our favorite beverage establishment, that I heard something that arrested my attention.

There was a man standing on a soap box in the middle of the street speaking excitedly as he read from a small black book. Since black was my favorite colour, I was obviously interested. He spoke passionately about a man named Jesus and His Father who loved the world so much that He sacrificed His Son to give eternal life to those who believed.

My heart nearly stopped in my chest and a lump got caught in my throat. I knew in my heart of hearts that the things this man spoke from the black book were true. In that moment I felt a crushing weight in my soul melt away and I believed to the saving of my soul! Here the story ends.

We are easily misled by the sensational testimonies of a handful of people who have, by extraordinary means, come to Christ. I say misled because our enemy, the devil, loves to use even a conversion testimony to create doubt in those already in league with the Lord. Satan may remind us of the passage in _2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new._ We then consider our own testimonies and begin to question whether our experience was genuine. After all, there were no amazing, heart-pounding moments. In fact, the whole thing was rather dull, normal even, like deciding. No clouds parting, no hallelujah chorus or fireworks; just choosing life - again.

My conversion experience was a decision to follow Christ made repeatedly from a young age. Growth was gradual and seemed to be more like baby step, stumble, baby step, stumble, baby step. For those of you with a similar experience, take courage. Your less stirring story is no less legitimate. Joshua did not minimize the meaning when he reduced allegiance to God to a decision in Joshua 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Our faith isn’t built on feeling. Truth is the train engine; faith gets us on board and feelings follow in the caboose. Our confidence is not in our experience, but in our Saviour. We confidently agree with Paul in 2 Timothy 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. Jesus is the remedy for all that are sin-sick; the boring, the exciting, the wise or otherwise, and even the wild child.