A friend who reads this blog saw another friend and mentioned that it's been a while since I posted anything on here; he was wondering if we had been thrown in the soup! From what we read in the news, I think those of you in the USA and Canada should worry about that more than we should!
Anyway, I failed. I said in my last post that I wouldn't make you wait long to find out who called my name. Bad, bad me. I could make an excuse and say I'm getting old and I don't remember, but I don't think I'll ever forget that evening.
As I mentioned in that last post, Darrell had gone for several open air meetings on the other side of Monrovia where a pastor was working to get a new church started. A couple nights we met on the neighborhood football (soccer) field and people just gathered as they saw the activity. (Well, I thought I was going to add a few pictures, but it's not cooperating! Maybe someday!!)
So, the person who called my name was the girl who had chatted with me right after the meeting. She was very pleasant and an extremely articulate 12 year old named Shelly. I was walking alone on the path back to the car when she spoke my name. It was obvious then that she wanted a serious conversation about what she had heard in the meeting.
I am very careful, especially with children, that I don't put words in their mouth or push them into believing as I believe. That is easy to do with children who are apt to seek to please the adult with whom they are talking, and it certainly is easy to do here in Liberia where "going to church" is a popular thing to do. So I asked questions very carefully and listened very carefully as she asked her questions.
Shelly said she hadn't been taught the things she had heard that night. When I asked her what her church taught about how to get to heaven, she said a person just needs to go to church. I shared some verses with her from the Bible--well, from memory since it was dark and we couldn't see the Bible!--that explain that salvation is a free gift being offered to us by God. While going to church, giving money to the church, being baptized, taking communion, etc., are all good, they do not get a person into Heaven. Those are all things we DO, but God says salvation is FREE, not to be worked for. Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8,9 We need the salvation offered through Christ's death on the cross because, as human beings, we cannot measure up to God's standard of goodness. Romans 3:23 Shelly took all this in and asked questions of her own as we went along.
It was so obvious that she clearly understood that salvation is a gift that God doesn't force on anyone; He just waits for each one to reach out and take it. When I asked Shelly if she was ready to take that free gift by acknowledging to God that she was a sinner who couldn't save herself and that she wanted to accept His free gift, she immediately said yes and didn't hesitate to pray right there on that path.
The crazy thing about it is that I wouldn't recognize Shelly if she walked through the door because I only saw her in the dark. The important thing is that God knows her and heard her prayer. It was a very special night!!!
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