ONE HAPPY MOMENT
A Happy moment, a moment of epiphany, an AH HA time in ones life. I wonder if anybody besides myself ever had one of those moments. What would constitute as an AH HA moment? Would it be a difference maker, a life changing event, or maybe a culture shock? I know it was all of the above for me. When I looked at my life and where I had come from and how I lived back then I know I had a major change, a big difference change, and boy was it a culture shock to the brain and life. Of course after it happened I was informed in the Bible of what had happened.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a New Creature; the old things passed away; behold New things have come. (TIISB)
One of the AH HA moments in the Bible pertained to a Leper. Now, as we know it Lepers were not to intermingle with normal people for fear that the leprosy might jump out and grab them. Fear was great in those days, fear of anything and everything that they could not understand. Here was one man who made the choice to seek out one final opportunity to be free from the disgrace, healed from the dreaded disease; whether he knew he would be healed or not he chose to approach Christ and see what would happen. Through his bold choice and his belief that something good could happen, he was healed and made whole. Read for yourself:
MATTHEW 8:1-3 And when He (Jesus) had come down from The mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And a leper came to Him, and bowed Down to Him, saying, “Lord if You are willing, You can make me clean.” And He (Jesus) Stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I AM WILLING; BE CLEANSED.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. (TIISB) As I said before there are several stories throughout scripture similar to this one where people encountered an AH HA moment. We read about the woman with the issue of blood, the Centurion who came to Jesus on behalf of his servant who was a paralytic, and many, many, many more similar to this one. Since I gave my life to the Lord I have also had several AH HA moments with the Lord’s revelations. My first encounter was back in 1979 when I was ready to give up and quit living, I had already began making plans on how to successfully end my life, when one night in the loneness of my own home, in the dimness of my living room I seriously pondered over the ways to go when I happened to look down on my coffee table and see an envelope that I had not yet opened, so I opened it and began to read the letter inside; it began with: “We would like to invite you to visit our family..” I looked at the return address on the envelope and it came from a church in Lansing, Kansas.
That was on Friday evening and on Saturday on my way to work I stopped in at a book store and bought me a King James Bible and while at work I began to read it from IN THE BEGINNING. That Sunday morning I called for a taxi to pick me up and take me to this church. Now I want to at this time tell you about an experience I had 10 years prior to this particular Sunday. In 1979 I was re-assigned to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and while I was awaiting the arrival of my Sons to return to me I called for a cab to come and get me from my barracks and take me to a BAR!!!!!! YES you read it right, I was a heathen then.
So, the cab came and picked me up, and as we started out I felt compelled to tell him about Viet Nam and how I would like to go where the Vets go. Well, he proceeded to drive out to Lansing, and he made a left hand turn onto Eisenhower Rd. he went over the top of the hill there and down to the bottom of that hill, and the turned into a parking lot of a small white building, it was called the Club International. I stepped inside and I discovered that it was DARK inside, even darker than it was outside. The whole place stunk real badly, so I went to the bar lady and asked for her to call for a cab. She informed me that there was one waiting in the parking lot.
So, I left and there sat the same cab I came out with, and when I got in the cab I asked the driver what made him wait for me, and his reply was, “As we were coming out here you kept talking about Viet Nam and I thought this would be ideal for you, but the closer we got to this place the more I got to think that maybe you don’t belong here, so I decided to wait and see which was right. You don’t belong here.”
Now, ten years later I am in a cab after leaving my house and we have just pulled into the very same parking lot with the same building in the very same place. I went inside and there in the foyer I found a bulletin board and it had some photos on it. I moved closer to see the pictures and they were of the Club International after it had been closed down. The Pastor came out to greet me and I told him of my experience and he said, “Yep, you were not meant for there, you were meant for here and now.”
He told me that that would be my testimony, and it is a story that I tell often. After one month of reading that KJV Bible and attending that church, I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ and have never turned back since. ON December 3, 1979 at 12:30PM at an old Baptist altar I went to my knees and asked the Lord to deliver me from who I was and make me His, and that I would follow Him and Seek Him for the rest of my life. HE DID, HE TOOK ME, HE MADE ME WHOLE, HE TAUGHT ME LOVE!!!!!!!!
Moses, when he was leading sheep for grazing came upon a mountain, and he felt lead of the Lord to go up on that mountain, and while he was there he confronted a burning bush, and the Bible says it was not consumed. And there Moses entered into a verbal conversation with Jehovah God. Have you ever had that experience? I have! Like Elijah in the cave, it wasn’t until a soft and gentle breeze passed by that he heard the Voice of God.
Many people go around saying that you can’t hear the voice of God, but you can, if you shut up and listen. All too often we pray for about 2 minutes and then say AMEN and we are done; we rarely allow God the time to reply. In our busy every day fast paced lives there is no time to just sit and listen to God, besides all of that may people think they don’t need to hear from God. Sorry for that folks, it is my Prayer that those reading this post don’t think like that, but that they feel the need to hear God at all times. PRAY
THIS PRAYER Lord, I am in need of Your Word in my life, Your direction for my life, Your Wisdom, Your Peace, Your strength, Your Stamina, And most of all Your LOVE for my fellow Man. I Thank You in advance for answering My prayer. In the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all Mankind. AMEN