Transformation 8

I am reluctant to include my "conversion testimony" in my top 5 all-time life changes, but it needs to be there. I certainly was a life changer. The down-side was that it introduced me to a culture that often had little spirituality connected with it. That part was a huge side-track in my spiritual formation. It took me decades to get past. It continues to have aversive associations in my mind. I often cannot even here the name Jesus without unattractive images and experiences coming to mind. Lot of good came out of as well, it's just difficult to sift through it all. Nonetheless, here is the story.

After moving back from Arizona, I continued my reading of things spiritual and meditating. And I got married. Linda had a childhood girlfriend named Darlene who was marrying the son of the associate pastor of a small charismatic church that met in a YMCA. Linda was a bridesmaid for Darlene. It happened at the rehearsal dinner.

You have to picture the scene. I didn't know anybody there except Darlene and Linda. I had long hair (I was born blonde, but it has been a while). I was standing off by myself, bored, when this dude named Greg came up to me. He had a boys regular hair cut, a button down shirt tucked into his pants which were securely held high on his hips by his cinched down belt. He had a big fat bible in one hand. He approached me with his hand stuck out and a big smile on his face.

"Hi. My name is Greg. Do you know Jesus as your personal savior?"

Oh no. Think fast.

"Yeah," I said, hoping it would put him off.

"Praise God," Greg exclaimed. Undetered, he opened his big bible, licked his index finger and began flipping pages. "I was reading in the Gospel of John the other day and God told me..." He said a bunch of other stuff, but I honestly don't remember any of it. I was rescued by the host announcing that dinner was being served. I sat at a different table than Greg.

A strange thing happened that evening and the next morning. The phrase "God told me..." kept playing in my head. I had been meditating for about a year and reading lots of spiritual books and God had not told me anything. Why is God talking to this weird dude and not me? I felt a stong compulsion to go Greg's church that morning.

"Would you think I was weird if I told you I wanted to go to Darlene's church this morning?" I asked Linda.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I think I need to talk to that Greg guy."

We drove across town to the YMCA that the church met in. It was about 11:45 am and we figured that church would let out in about 15 minutes. We sat in the parking lot, waiting for people to come filing out. Turns out that "Pastor Al" was speaking that morning. He was the associate pastor of that little church. He was not the most dynamic speaker. He had a tendency to go on and on and speak well past the typical ending time. He always blamed God for his long-windedness. "I don't want to squelch the Spirit" he would always say.

We sat in that parking lot for freakin' minutes. I remember wrestling with myself during that time. This is stupid. Let's get out of here. But I couldn't pull myself up to leave.

Finally, we saw people shuffling out of the hall where the church met. I walking into the room, spotted Greg leaning up against a table talking with someone at the back and walked right up to him.

"Mark, what are you doing here?"

"You said something last night that I can't get off my mind. You said God told you something. I want God to speak to me."

Greg wasted no time. He sat me down, opened his bible and talked me through several verses. I don't remember any of it, but I am sure it was the "Roman's road." He asked me if I wanted to pray to receive God into my heart. I did.