What I'm trying to say is, one person may be led to saying a prayer to accept Jesus in their heart through hearing a sermon and responding to an altar call, (and many do) while others may be led to Christ through a one-on-one interaction with someone, someone who builds a relationship with the person through one of the love languages, such as spending time with them, listening to their own personal story, encouraging them and lovingly explaining how we need Jesus. And then there's still others who receive Christ on a far more private level, those that receive God's word through simply reading the Bible, and also through the writings of Christian authors who pour out their hearts, sharing the Gospel creatively through a literary form that truly speaks to the reader's heart, while they are in a quiet mode of reflection and introspection. It could be fiction or nonfiction.
This is what happened to me when I was thirteen years old. I was led to pray for Jesus to enter my heart through the reading of this fictional, very old-fashioned book, even then, entitled Joy Sparton of Parsonage Hill by Ruth I. Johnson.
Here's the jist of it.. Joy Sparton and her twin brother are PK's. (preacher's kids, the first time I heard that acronym) They go to a formal, rather stuffy church (weren't they all like that in those days?) and even though they'd sat through oodles of sermons by their dad, the pastor, they had never themselves said the "sinner's prayer" to become "born again" before. (quotes used because I know that while a lot of us church-goers are quite familiar with them, some casual blog-readers might not be, and that's fine, so just know it's just us church folk's lingo.)
Anyway, so these 2 kids have a hoot of a time making fun of other people in church instead of being serious and listening to the message. For example, this one old dude has a perfectly round, shiny bald head and he always takes a nap during the sermon. Well, one morning a fly lands on his head, which awakens the old man and SLAP!! he slaps at that ol' fly on his head, leaving a red "hand" impression on his bald head and sending these 2 siblings into an uncontrollable gale of giggles! (I'd be rolling on the floor under the pew, too!) There are plenty of other hilarious characters in this church, too, and even though it's funny, it also shows how the message of the Gospel is not being heard by these two youngens.
Then the kids go to summer camp. Bible camp, that is. At first they continue to find ways to goof off and be the bad PK's, just to maintain their naughty image, but then an event occurs that changes them. Joy first. She and a girlfriend sneak out of their after-lunch "nap" time and go to the pool, which is locked and unsupervised. Despite the danger of no lifeguard around, they decide to test their not-so-strong swimming skills, a mishap occurs, and get themselves in serious trouble. Joy ends up almost drowning, blacking out and waking up with a kind camp counselor, to whom she confides that she was so afraid of dying and not going to heaven. So the counselor then explains the Gospel message to her, breaking it down into the ABC's of A: admit you're a sinner, B: believe that Jesus died for your sins and C: confess your sins and ask Jesus into your heart. She also uses the analogy, "just because you live in a garage doesn't make you a car" to show how it doesn't matter that Joy and her brother are preacher's kids and go to church every Sunday, they still need to personally pray to receive Jesus in their hearts.
This book really touched me, and led me to stop, put the book down, and say my own private prayer to ask Jesus into my heart. On my own, in my own little bedroom. No organ music, no people praying over me, no lightning bolts. In fact, as far as I could see, my life continued as normal after that point. But it was the seed that was planted, and God kept watering that seed by allowing new situations in my life, which eventually led to a more conscious decision to re-commit my life to Christ and to take my life down a much different path than the rest of my family and friends.
There were several reasons why this particular book reached me the way it did, where other methods of evangelism might not have. This book uncovered the habit of many of us churched kids, of being naughty in church and not taking the message seriously. It also really brought it home to me when it made the conversion experience happen while she was at summer camp. ah, yes, summer Bible camp. That's where it got me, as I had already had my own first experience of a week at the Bible camp sponsored by my church. There's just something different about it, the way these spiritual truths came alive so much more than in the stuffy, stiff environment of our structured church service. I'll never forget those times, it was a magical thing, almost, how we bonded so quickly with the other kids, made such close friends that it was a big blubbering sob-fest the last day when it was time to go home and leave these wonderful people. And then there were the campfire devotions every night, sitting on log benches, in the woods, under the stars, singing praise & worship songs around the blazing campfire while slapping at mosquitos and watching the shifting logs and burning embers in the firepit. It was that part of it, the singing along with the guitar-led worship, that motivated me to save up for my own guitar, teach myself how to play, and soon after became one of those "cool" counselors who sat on the front bench next to the fire, playing all our favorite songs. (of course the part that was NOT so cool was how dang HOT the guitar would get while sitting up so close to the inferno, and then there was that fear of putting my guitar back into its case when finished, in the dark, and grabbing a spider that had quickly crawled into the dark recesses of the case. eeeek!! yes, that has happened!!!)
Most importantly, this story reached me because, even though it was fiction, it was like a living testimony played out before me, someone else's story of how they encountered Jesus in a real, personal way. Not a book written directly at the reader, in the first person voice, pointing fingers and shouting "YOU need Jesus! Repent! Now!" But instead it's a gentle nudge from the author, a subtle "here's how it happened with the character in this book, and you can have it too!" I love reading real-life stories about other people, and reading is the key word, where i can sit quietly and absorb it on my own time and make my decision when i'm ready. I can imagine the author saying quiet prayers for her reader, as well.
So what is my novel idea? why, to write a novel, of course. Or a kids' book. but not just any book, but to concoct a story of a life intersected by the love of Jesus and how it changed a person's heart and their entire life, no matter how messed up they were before. A very real, down-to-earth kind of story, maybe about a young kid coming to know the Lord through interesting circumstances, or even, ha ha, even a story about an adult, modeled after my own crazy experiences!! orrrrr maybe not. might be a bit too shocking for the average church library or the inspirational fiction section at the library. (Of course the names would be changed to protect the innocent.) i do enjoy reading some Christian fiction, but some of it, sorrynotsorry, is just not "real" enough for me. The kind that i could relate to would have characters that aren't quite as clean-cut and smooth as the typical Christian romance (gag me!!) would have them described. My characters might be a little more awkward, they might swear or even have bad thoughts now and then. But they'd be real, and the gospel message would be clear. Pages might sting with the reality of an average sinner's life, yet be lightly sweetened with the heart of an evangelist.
That's my goal, for one day. someday. Easier said than done. writing, i mean good writing, is hard work. the planning, the revising, the completion of a story when i run out of ideas, the proofreading. and it's lonely work. But it would be my way to give back...to those who planted seeds in my own life...and to the Lord. Reminds me of the camp song we used to sing and i learned to play on my guitar, called Freely:
Freely, freely you have received
Freely, freely give.
Go in my name and because you believe
Others will know that I live.
God forgave my sins in Jesus' name
I've been born again in Jesus' name
And in Jesus' name i come to you
to share His love as He told me to.
He...said...
Freely, freely....
so...we'll see.
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