ENCOUNTERS WITH JESUS: The Choice
Diverging Paths Require a Decision
How would you have reacted if you came face to face with Jesus, God with us, during the early years of the first century? Would you have been one who followed Him or one who feared Him?
Throughout the gospels, when people encountered Jesus they had to make a choice. Many believed in Him as the Son of God. Others condemned Him whether for their own selfish reasons or out of the fear of the changes that He would bring.
And many in between put off their decision, which was a negative decision in itself, by their very resistance to accept Him.
Remaining neutral was not an option. It’s also not an option today. Encounters with Jesus will inform you, inspire you, and call you to Him.
But that is just the beginning!
ABOUT DAVID
I was almost thirteen when I gave my heart to Jesus at Summer Camp in 1958. I felt enthused and excited, filled with promise for my future through high school and beyond. Summer jobs and long hours of study pulled me through my teens and into junior college where my dreams of education and independence became real.
I was eighteen. The world was mine. I didn’t care that my ‘61 Falcon wasn’t cool and its radio didn’t work. Cruising Main Street and teenage freedom was worth the trade.
In fact, freedom was everything, and the only thing that mattered as I shuddered in a drunk tank in late 1964, arrested for underage drinking and vandalism. For those forty-eight hours in jail over New Year’s Eve, I humbled myself before God and promised to put Him first in my life. It was hard to face those I had disappointed, but His forgiveness and love gave me courage.
The prayers of my parents carried me through college and beyond to my secondary teaching credential. I married Loretta along the way, and my BA in History landed me a job as a high school teacher for the next thirty-four years. I know those prayers still cover me in His faithful love.
I can’t claim a perfect life, but I can claim a perfect Savior. I pray as you encounter Jesus in these pages, you will give your heart to Him, and know true joy in His forgiveness and peace.
May God bless and keep you.