Monday, March 6, 2000

10:19 PM, on the computer

I learned an important lesson yesterday, and there's a small story to it. It starts last Wednesday, when I accidentally left my Bible at church. Come Sunday I was looking for it, and I realized that I had lost it, or it was stolen. I was really upset, because I was given that Bible on my 19th birthday, four days after I accepted Christ. I was pretty bummed about it, and on the way home I prayed about it and asked God why my Bible would be taken from me and His answer was quite simple: "Why should I give it back, you never read it!"

I swallowed hard. I knew He was right, and that I was being a hypocrite as well because I said that everyone should read their Bibles, and here I was, not reading mine. I took it to church Sundays and read it when the pastor said to turn somewhere, and I used it in witnessing on the internet and in debates with nonbelievers, but I never really read it diligently. When I got home, I pulled out an old King James Bible that was given to me in Sunday School when I was nine and read it for three hours. When I went to church for the afternoon service, the first peu I looked in had my Bible in it! It truly is my most prized possession, and I didn't realize it until I freaked out after almost losing it. I'm going to make it a habit to read it every day now.

I had a great night last night. I went out to eat at O'Charley's after church, and I went with five other friends from our praise & worship team. It was especially good, cause my friend (and leader of the P&W team) said he was paying. Well, we had a good fellowship there, and I got an opportunity to talk to my friend about his younger sister, whom I have a bit of a crush on. I think he knows, but I'm not sure. But the six of us had a good time last night, we talked a lot, told some jokes, prayed, discussed church, God, and other things, ate, talked some more, and left. I had a great time, it's been a while since I've gone out and done something... I've become something of a recluse lately.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the school prayer act proposal I wrote late Friday night, and I've realized that if I can get it in the hands of the right people, it could pass. I think now is the perfect time to get God back in America, especially after all the related tragedies lately. Everyone I'm sure knows about the teacher who was fired recently for saying that a student that had died was in Heaven, and about the little girl that was shot to death by another student in class. In follow up articles that I've read, people reports said that a large number of people think that we need God back in our schools. I read an article in the newspaper Saturday morning that said in a recent survey, 80% of people in America feel a need for some sort of spirituality. My heart jumped... if we can get the message of Christ to all those people, just imagine the harvest! And probably the most encouraging thing I've heard all year came from the pope. He was in India on one of his peace tours, and religious leaders came to him and told him to not talk about Jesus as "being the Messiah, and the only way to get to Heaven" in India. The pope in a later speech in the country said that all Bishops and Priests of the world should "go out into their churches and preach that Jesus is the Son of God and is the way to Heaven, and the truth." I was awestruck to hear him say that, and I nearly jumped out of my seat!