Sunday Afternoon

We filled the table - eleven adults, eventually twelve, enjoying a casual Sunday afternoon meal. Many were just meeting for the first time. But we all loved Jesus. So guess what? In no time we left the chit chat behind. We let down our guard and became family - closer than earthly family. It was the first meeting for many, yet one by one, individuals opened up.

Why?

We were telling stories about the One we all love best, our wonderful Father, and about Jesus our Savior, and the wonders of salvation. One told about the sorrow of a past abortion and His healing power. Another shared stories of choosing to leave home to live a homeless and drug ridden existence before God touched him deeply. A young man told of calling out the name Jesus as his car, spinning out of control, came to an immediate stop, inches from collision with a tree. He knew then that he wanted a close relationship with his Father in Heaven. One young mom talked of the loneliness of raising a child alone when still young herself, thanking God for bringing her to this place where others champion family and motherhood. Alcohol, a destroyer of two men's lives, had been overcome. God is even now rebuilding their lives. Depression, abandonment, drugs, alcohol, free sex and the sad outcome, broken marriages and broken lives, children suffering the result of such brokenness -- twelve adults representing twelve average American lives, all now changed by the power of Christ. Resurrection power.

There is nothing so refreshing as stories of Jesus and His love in people's lives.

Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear;
Things I would ask Him to tell me if He were here;
Scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea,
Stories of Jesus, tell them to me.

                             William H. Parker