AMAZED BY JESUS
Many years ago – in the confines of a barracks room, a young sailor decided not to go out partying with his friends. He invested that evening reading the Bible - very specifically – reading the Gospel of John. The room was mostly dark except for the light of the little study desk in the room.
Up until that time, religion and church had not occupied much of this young fella’s time or energy. In fact, up until then, reading the Bible had been only about finding the contradictions and the problems in it, so that he could throw these in the face of a Christian friend.
Well, if you haven’t guessed it by now – that young sailor was me. I read the entire Gospel of John that evening. When I got to chapter 20 and read about Mary Magdalene going to the tomb and finding it empty and then Jesus appearing to her and talking to her -- something happened. Jesus finally became real to me. He was no longer just a story or some fairy tale or fable or Sunday School lesson. It finally sunk in that Jesus was alive. In fact, that reality became so overwhelming that it seemed to me that Jesus was in that dimly lit barracks room. That night – in that mostly dark barracks room, I was amazed by Jesus and He made me one of his followers.
(From a sermon by Eloy Gonzalez, "Amazed by Jesus" 1/31/2009)