My
Dad and I were date-keepers known for saying things like: "Seven years ago today we...." Over the years our calendars became a tour guide of National Historic Sites of the mind.
For
me, the most significant of those sites is August 16th. That was when, in 1960, God put me on
a path which would bring me to the next major milestones of my life.
Lake
Arrowhead Bible Camp, Brackney, Pennsylvania, was where a fifteen-year-old
kid, at the fork-of-all-forks in his life, met the One who sought him since
before time began. That Tuesday a divine conspiracy, unknown by all the mortal
players involved, pulled him away from a mental course leading to
destruction.
Ruth
Tyler was one of those players – a little-old-lady Sunday School teacher who talked the reluctant teenager into memorizing
Scripture to earn a week at the Bible Camp. How she did that he does not
remember.
Then there was Ernie
Fletcher – a long-time family friend who drove him and some others to the camp. And there were more.
Cliff Reed – the director of the camp, was ready for his unexpected role as the
boy’s first mentor.
Cliff Reed – the director of the camp, was ready for his unexpected role as the
boy’s first mentor.
A
missionary from Peru – brought him to the point of seeking the Savior.
A
young counselor, Jim Hockenberry, guided him in his first
limping steps at serious Bible study. Neither he nor the teenager knew that one day they would be peers in ministry.
Out
of the “tabernacle” that Tuesday evening walked a forgiven kid whose foul-mind, on the
threshold of a foul minded culture, had been given a new world of thought to
explore; a youth from a broken home – now able to call God his “Father;” and an
only child – about to discover a family in Christ.
Today (August 16, 2015) I walk through the memories again. Memories of when Jesus’ finished work on the cross became personal in my life.
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