Good grief, would you put your hand down?

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  (Romans 10:9 NLT)


Several years ago, and I do mean several, I was at church camp down south of Oblong with several other youth from my church and other churches, and in fact, one of my very best friends...we'll call her Susan :)  If I recall correctly, I was in fifth grade and she was in sixth, or we had just finished those grades...anyway we're going along having a great week, making friends, staying up late, checking out the boys, etc, when IT happened.  It was at vespers (I think that is what we called it, or maybe that was later on), which was our nightly church service.  There was an altar call.  My friend, who we're calling Susan, starts crying.

Let me stop for a moment and say this...I'm not a crier, or at least I didn't used to be.  I show little emotion through tears.  I laugh a lot when I really should be crying (just ask my kids, they get so mad when I start laughing at something totally not funny).  I am/was embarrassed by other people showing emotion at times too.  (I know, I sound heartless, I am getting better.)  So here I am, sitting at the end of this pew, about six rows back, next to my friend "Susan" and she's crying...and she wants to go forward.  "With every head bowed and every eye closed, just raise your hand and someone will come to you..." You know the drill (hopefully).  I'm sitting there with my head down and eyes closed of course, whispering NO, would you put your hand down and please stop crying...when all of a sudden, my hand went up.  And the tears came down.

Billy Ray came and talked/prayed with us.  I think we cried the rest of the night.  (At least I know my friend "Susan" did.)  But oh, what a feeling.  I can close my eyes, picture this scene and remember vividly how my hand just went up, on its own.  Of course, I will never forget it.  That was the night that I/we changed our lives forever, for better.  I am so thankful for my friend "Susan" and for Billy Ray and for those that made it possible for kids like us to go to church camp.  I have so many fond memories of church camp...I know sometimes I wasn't there for the right reasons, but the friendships that developed there and still exist are beautiful.

And that is the story of how I became a C!