Wednesday, July 8, 2009

DOWNLOADS AND UPGRADES

On the first Sunday in May, my family, the four of us, went to church together for the first time in a long time. The pastor’s sermon was titled, “Upgrade your Friends.” After a few minutes into his message, he called someone up to the platform to give a personal testimony.

As the guest speaker’s story spilled out, he was able to offer a message of warning and a message of hope. He was on his way to a promising career as a professional football player, but he allowed the wrong friends to lead him into a life of drugs and alcohol and later into a life behind bars - a prison sentence for man slaughter. He warned of the dangers of having the wrong friends and conforming to be just like them. He compromised everything he had and everything he dreamed of to do just this. He shared with us that he grew up in church and had attended Sunday school from the time he was a little boy. He knew Christ; at least, he knew of Him.

My daughter could have joined him there on the platform.

She did not, but she COULD have. She could have told her story. Her entire future lay before her; the world at her feet, a blank canvas. She could have shared how the consequences of having the wrong friends caused her to leave a field of clover into a dry and barren desert. She could have captivated the congregation and moved them with her personal experience and heartache that would have pierced their hearts. She could have offered them a message of warning. She also attended Sunday school all of her life. She knows Christ.

The speaker shared with us that it was not until he finally turned everything over to God and allowed Him to fill his life, the one that once filled with self, the wrong friends, drugs, and alcohol that he could begin to offer hope to others.

My daughter could NOT have joined him there on the platform.
Maybe ONE DAY, but not this day.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

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