Happy Day Express

I grew up in one of those Christian homes you sometimes hear about where we went to church every time the doors were opened, regardless of special television events, job opportunities, family reunions, minor illnesses or sullen teenage behavior.
We had a small Youth Group and I was often the only boy who couldn’t talk his parents out of making him come to Youth Group meetings. Sometimes our Youth Group would lead the Sunday night worship service. I remember one time my sister, Dana, thought it would be fun to make the adults form a line and sing “Happy Day Express” as they marched up and down the aisle making locomotive motions with their arms like they always made us do. That was not well received by most of the adults.
They usually expected me to deliver the message, since I was the only boy in the group. I always acted reluctant, but everyone knew I wanted to do it and I could have kept it real simple, but I always put a great deal of pressure on myself in preparing and delivering “the message”.
So, one Sunday night when I was about 12 or 13 years old I stood in the pulpit of my home church and encouraged the other young people to respond to Gods call on their lives as I had done.
Within a couple of weeks I had pretty much forgotten those words. But there was one person in the audience that night who remembers the words I said.
You see, several years earlier, when I was perhaps 7 or 8 years old, I said the words that my junior worship leader helped me say and I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. I forgot those words, I never wrote down the date, but Jesus Christ heard what I said and wrote my name in his Book of Life.
In the years before I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, his word had been planted deep in my heart. The Bible stories and illustrations, the Hymns and choruses that we sang, the home cookin’ and warm fellowship that were lavished upon me in the basement of our little church building, all became so precious to me and spoke to me of the majesty of the personality of Jesus Christ. And after I accepted him I began to genuinely cherish these things and to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Then, when I was 16 years old I got a job and a car and a girlfriend (in that order) and I began to selectively forget some of the things that I’d learned at home and in church; those things that I had become so familiar with and so fond of. But Jesus continued to remind me.
And when I was 18 I left home, left town and began to deliberately forget and to plan on ignoring the reminders Jesus confronted me with. But I had no joy in my heart. You see, Jesus Christ had made some promises to me, and I had made some promises to him. He kept all of his promises perfectly because he is God and God is Holy and faithful. I broke most of my promises to him because I am human, and selfish and sinful. Because I belong to him there is no joy for me outside of the things that please and glorify him.
One of the proofs I have that Jesus lives in me is that my heart aches when I forsake him. Another proof is that when I get on my knees and pray to God he stirs my heart. I can feel a rush sometimes when I open my heart and mind to him and then the rush dissolves into a warm peace and a bright joy.
The greatest proof that I have that Jesus Christ is alive in me is that his Word speaks to me. When I read Gods Word I can see that it is true and relevant to me, to my daily experience, and to the world I live in. Gods word is alive! I can see glimpses of myself in some of the characters in the Bible: Jonah, Nathaniel, Moses, Timothy.

The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12

You see, the words that I said that Sunday morning as a little boy opened my heart to Jesus. But it was his Word that saved me and drew me to him.
I have made two very important promises in life, resulting in two life-changing and eternal relationships. And I had no idea what I was signing up for either time. Brenda had no idea what she was signing up for as she walked down the aisle of that church on August 14th, 1981. But Jesus knew what he was getting and what he could expect from me when I made my promise to him.