Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: PROCRASTINATE (08/04/16)
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TITLE: Tomorrow | Previous Challenge Entry
By Graham Starling
08/11/16 -
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Funny things, testimonies. I haven’t thought about mine in quite a while, but it’s still as fresh in my mind now as the first day I told it. Not so much Cross and the Switchblade (told you it’s been a while) as Cross and the Butter Knife, but still worth the telling.
I went to the first meeting because I fancied the girl who asked me. It wasn't until after we arrived that I discovered she already had a boyfriend, but by then it didn’t matter.
That evening, it felt like something took hold of me by the scruff of the neck and shook me over and over. I vaguely recall the guy speaking from 1 Corinthians 13, but I don’t remember a word of what he said. Just that when he came to the alter call, I felt this thing inside me tighten its grip. Until I told it I needed to know more before making any sort of commitment, which is when it faded away as quickly as it had appeared.
It's still the one thing in my whole Christian experience I cannot explain without God being part of the explanation.
The second event happened some months later. We had a thirteen week break from university that summer, and I did nothing with it. Oh, I passed my driving test, but that’s about it. I knew the whole issue of what I believed was important, but apparently it wasn’t enough to get me off my lazy backside and do something about it.
It wasn’t until I’d been back at uni a couple of weeks when I bumped into a Christian friend of mine, and asked if I could come along to the next Christian Union meeting. He told me I wouldn’t enjoy it, which was fair enough, but I insisted anyway.
I won’t tell you who was speaking; it wouldn’t be fair.
It was the dullest experience in my – up until then – twenty years of existence.
About halfway through though, he said one thing that jumped out of context and hit me between the eyes.
“If you’re thinking about making a commitment,” he said, “and putting it off ‘til tomorrow, I want to tell you, friend, tomorrow never comes.”
Three, nearly four months since God shook me ‘til I rattled, and what had I done about it?
I spent the rest of the talk – fortunately as boring and irrelevant to me as the first part – thinking through everything I knew about Christianity and Christians, and comparing it to the little I knew of other ways of living. By the end of the meeting I’d decided that there was something my Christian friends possessed that I was missing – I kind of confidence and assurance. I figured I might as well give it a try, and that I ought to act on the decision before I found a reason to put it on the shelf for another indefinite period of time.
And so here I am, more than thirty years on – at the far side of marriage, parenthood, widowhood, a couple of years’ missionary work, several careers – battered and bruised, a bit bent out of shape, but far from broken, and still giving it a try.
I won’t say it’s been easy, but it’s been interesting, and better than the alternative. No, no cliché’s intended. Despite all the storms and struggles, there have been a lot of great times, and there’s been companionship and purpose in my life, enough to keep me going, even when I’ve desperately not wanted to. Of all the decisions in my life, I’m glad I didn’t put this one off, at least not the second time round.
Ah well, I suppose I'd better get back to work; those accounts won’t do themselves.
Nah. They can wait ‘til tomorrow.
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I think this is a great testimony that will resonate with many. Excellent work!