The Most Important Night of My Life There I was, sitting alone at my desk in my room at 8pm, Halloween night, Oct 31, 1971, Hillcrest dormitory on the University of Iowa campus, Iowa City, Iowa…Go Hawkeyes! I was 19 years old...a sophomore with no particular direction to my collegiate career. And I was lonely. Suddenly, for no reason that I could think of, there came a rapping…a tap, tap, tapping…upon my dorm room door. Slowly I rose. Who or what could be on the other side of my door on this cold, wet and moonless October night? I opened. And there he stood…. Two months earlier as I walked from the field house having just registered for fall semester, I’d been handed a “spiritual survey”. Last question on the page…”Would you consider being involved in an investigative Bible study if one was held in your dorm?” Feeling sorry for these fellas and wanting to encourage them, I circled “yes”. After all, I’d grown up in the church, my dad having been a pastor for a time. Thought I could help ‘em out by being involved. Besides, I figured dorms and Bible studies were lightyears apart, and I’d probably never see these guys again anyhow. Two weeks later, early in September, a fella named Tom showed up at my door. I was being invited right then to come with him down the hall a couple doors to join in on a Bible discussion with him and some other fellas. Each week for the next two months Tom would stop in and we’d head together down the hall to the discussion. We were reading and talking about the part in the New Testament called “John”…written by a guy by that name who was an eye witness to the life and times of Jesus. And each week I became more and more aware that although I’d grown up going to church, that didn’t make me a Christian…any more than walking into a garage made me a car mechanic. I needed to decide to open my life to Jesus. A choice of my will to follow Him….not just go through the motions of church-ianity. ….And so there he stood at my door that night, Halloween night, Oct 31, 1971. Tom did. It was Tom who’d been knocking, but he wasn’t the only one. Jesus had been too. I invited Tom in to my room and he asked me point blank, “Dave, are you ready to invite Jesus into your life.” I was. And I did. It was that night that I decided to align myself with Jesus. I didn’t really know what that meant, or where that would take me, but I made a willful choice to believe. Tom took me ‘neath his wing over the next couple of years and helped me grow in my understanding of the Bible, and my relationship with Jesus. After that I started leading my own investigative Bible studies and introducing others to Jesus…doin’ for them what Tom had done for me. That’s why I love Halloween night. I love all that it stands for to me. That was the night 43 years ago that a mustard seed was planted that has grown into a bedrock sense of purpose…to live life to the fullest for its Designer, my Savior and best of all friends, Jesus. How ‘bout you? You ready this day to willfully open your life to Jesus? To on purpose decide to believe?
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 02:24:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015