Maggiano's with Sean and April
Maggiano's with Sean and April tonight was great. Oh man that food is good, and you get so much of it. But our conversation was even better. Here's a snapshot of our dinner thoughts.Every year the Christmas Eve services at EFC culminate in the candle lighting ceremony. Everyone stands with their lit candles and it looks awesome in the room. Then the tradition is to extinguish your candle when they call off the number of years that you have been following Jesus. 10 years and under please extinguish your candle and have a seat. 20 years and under...that's when I sat down. 30 years and under...that's when Dawn sat down, which is the point of this blog. Dawn says that she can't remember a day without knowing Jesus so she counts from her first memory. She grew up in a Christian family and without a doubt had heard about Jesus since she was born. I also grew up in the same circumstances, but I first of all don't count time as knowing Jesus when I was too young to make any decisions (especially the most important on of my life) and second, I knew Jesus, but did not follow Him. I made a lasting decision to follow Jesus when I was 15. That's when I first had a desire to know Him and live for Him. I don't count the 15 years of my life that I knew about Jesus, went to church, and even lived by Christian ethics, but I do count the time since I began to get into His word and find out who He is for myself.
So the question is: what would you count and why? If you're a Christian, for how long has it been? Do you remember a moment or period of time or is it something that's just always been a part of you?
My first thought is that this question cannot even be answered by us. Who gives salvation? It's more that a decision we make, it's the grace of God for those who believe. What does it mean to believe? We could talk about faith and works for days, but I'll leave it right here for now. Got me thinking about it again.
Side note: it's awesome to see people who have been following Jesus for over 80 years. Inspiring.
posted by Tim Oas @ 11:50 PM
2 Comments:
Dawn may have been born a Christian. The rest of us have to make that decision on our own. Maybe she is a modern John the Baptist.
She is definately more holy that me. And cuter.
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