O' Happy Day!

John 21.25 Jesus also did many other things. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the world wouldn't have enough room for the books that would be written.

On a rainy Sunday, June 6, 1982, while attending the Billy Graham crusade by the urging of my two sisters, I “felt my Lord’s atoning blood, close to my soul applied. Me, me, He loved, the Son of God, for me, for me He died.”* Thus began my new life in the Christian faith.
For the previous 21 years of my life, being in an unconverted state, I grew up thinking myself to be a good kid. And by all accounts of those around me, I was. That’s right. Compared to those around me, I was a good kid.
I was raised as a Roman Catholic, being baptized as an infant and in time, receiving my first holy communion, confirmation and the coveted Pope Pius XII award by the time I was 13 years old. Perhaps I could more accurately be classified as a “practical atheist”, for my religious convictions had little association with the life I was living. The two, in my mind, were for occasions of their own. Me, myself and I owned 6 days and 23 hours of the week. Religion possessed a mere 1hour on Sunday mornings, if that. Besides all that, my reigning philosophy about religion was pick any religion, then be the best person you can be and you’ll make it to heaven. For me, as a Catholic, it never entered my mind that if you can make it to heaven by being a good person, then Jesus Christ died in vain!
Not until that rainy day in June, as I listened to the preacher, did it dawn on my soul that before God I am not so good. That’s right. Compared to the Holy and Righteous God how could I ever stand with my head held high? For the first time in my life I was measured up against One of infinite goodness, holiness and justice and immediately my badness was shown for what it really is. Under the weight of this realization my heart was crushed.
While under this burden of conviction of sin and heaviness of heart, the preacher continued. God, in His mercy, then revealed to me that even as I am, Jesus Christ loved me and gave Himself for me, to take away my sin and to give me His very own righteousness. Such love melted my heart, with tears streaming down my face. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who lived a sinless life, died on a cross on my behalf, rose from the grave three days later to give me new life…real life! …What’s your story?

* From the hymn: “And Can It Be”, Charles Wesley, 1738