Moments that Shape:
Praise for the Faint Spirit

I had been a believer for one entire week, or should I say a totally dedicated sold out Christ-follower? It was the summer of 1991 and I was living with my parents, trying to save some money for my final year of college. I remember having some very awkward phone conversations in those weeks. A lot of, “I’m not that person anymore.”

One phone conversation that I had not expected was from a young lady that I had dated in high school. She was actually spending a few weeks at her parent’s house while she waited for her next assignment from the mission board of her church. She was someone I had dated before I had thrown myself head long into all that was sin. I thought it would be nice to see her again, maybe this was one of those moments that God ordains.

Anyway, we went out to eat and she told me all about her mission work throughout the United States. She had worked in AID’s hospices and other places. I was fascinated with all that she was doing. I told her that I had just surrendered my life to Christ the week before.

We had a nice time, it was good to catch up with an old friend but then it happened. We were discussing faith or something, I still can picture the scene, and I made some comment about her not being properly baptized. Where did that come from? I was one week from giving my life to Christ but I still had a lot to learn about what that really meant. All of those years of programming didn’t get erased the moment I said I surrender.

She looked at me and asked what I meant. Well I was raised in the Church of Christ and I knew that no one on the entire planet baptized for the right reasons, only the Church of Christ. You can only imagine my surprise when she explained that her group of Christ-followers baptized for the remission of sins. I thought this has to be a trick. There is no way. I was raised with good and proper information, she couldn’t have been.

Well, I was bound and determined in my quest to share my new found faith. I asked her about the Lord’s Supper. I was pretty sure I would have her here. We would get to the bottom of this apostate group that loved people all over America in Jesus name, but whom failed to recognize the significance of eating a cracker and having a sprits of juice every week.

You can only imagine my expression when she explained that the group she fellowshipped with also took the Lord’s Supper each week. What was I to do? I was only a week into my fully surrendered Christ-life and God had brought me without question to a place of decision, a moment that would shape me in my journey of faith.

Here this woman sat, who in the name of Jesus helped widows and orphans, and I was too young in my faith to know what truly mattered. You may be reading this trying to guess which group she belonged to. Ha, I’m not going to tell. That way of thinking is what got me into the mess that day.

I was checking her brand and I had made some assumptions because her brand name was different. It was a moment that helped define my new found faith. It helped me see something very basic and true. It wasn’t about all those made up essentials, it was about my willingness to love more, care more, and help more. I saw in her a fully devoted Christ-follower not because of ritual repetition but because of a deep love exploding from her heart.

I began to read the Bible and it wasn’t long before I discovered a little book called Romans. I read it and I read it again. I remember wondering why no one else was reading Romans within the group I grew up in, all because a young lady was able to show me that we are not that different when we make love the measure of our faith.