Every Journey Starts with the First Step~

The conversations we have with people can be very superficial, but every now and then a word or a phrase can change your life.  During my life I had plenty of conversations and many were meaningless but the conversation I'm about to share with you was when the journey began.

We all know there is a meeting, but the one which really counts is the meeting after the meeting.  This was the most meaningful conversation I've ever had.

I was meeting with the leader of the lay witness meeting after everyone had gone home.  I asked him about the stirring inside of me, something was happening and I wasn't sure what it was.  I asked the question about being born again, it had been brought up in the middle of the conversation several times. I had no idea what it meant, same with the word salvation, but I did have an idea about who Jesus was but what did He mean in my life? 

I began to say things, "I think I must be born again, tonight". 

He told me to wait till Sunday Morning and there would be an alter call and I could come forward then and accept Jesus. "Wait what if I get run over by a truck when I leave the church will I go to heaven?"  I was very insistent on him praying for me tonight. 

He prayed and I was born again.  The date was March 1977, I don't remember the day but I do remember the month and year when I was saved and Jesus brought me salvation from all of my past, present and future sin.  Awesome a date to remember. 

This was the first step in a very incredible journey.  I had no idea where it was to lead.  I remember I got saved again on Friday night, Saturday night and the big event on Sunday morning when I was supposed to come forward, over 50 people accepted Jesus at the alter on Sunday morning.  What an experience, my wife, Kay, my parents, my sister and many of my new church friends accepted Jesus as their savior. 

I found out what an adventure we were all about to embark on.  During the next six months, we had started a bible study on about every night of the week. My special one was the youth group on Sunday nights. The Baptist kids and Methodist kids all joined up and we met every Sunday night.  Our group started with about 7 kids by the end of summer we had over 50 kids coming to our group.

We had couples groups, lady groups, another favorite was the men's group where I was about to take another step of faith, into the world of ministry. On Friday nights, everyone would come to our house and we would have a speaker come in from Omaha and teach us the Word. These meetings went on for about 2 years. It was so exciting to learn what the power of the Holy Spirit was about to do in our lives. 

These steps were some of the most important steps, we would take.  These first steps of a journey are usually the hardest steps to take. Because you have to make them by faith.