Written by: John Sernaque
Dear Readers,
One of my favorite places in the world is Central Park NYC. I have many memories there, as my father would take us there as children. We’d get to run around and climb up on the rocks, which seemed as mountains to me as a small child. It is also where I met my wife, my favorite memory of all. But there is one memory as a child that really comes to mind. One of the first times my father took us there as a family, I am one of seven children, I was amazed at all the natural beauty that made up the park. We were moving along and I stopped to look at a tree, massive in size. I looked back to join my family, and did not see them. I realized that they continued ahead, not knowing I had stopped for that short moment. I was lost in this huge terrain, not knowing what would happen next. I scanned the park, looking for my family. My eyes came across a police officer on a horse. As I approached the police man, the horse was even bigger than what I saw from a distance. I got the policeman’s attention and he immediately knew I was lost, being that there was no one with me. He asked me which direction we had been walking in, so I pointed. He stretched his hand down towards me and said to me to give him my hand. He grabbed my hand and hoisted me up unto the horse and sat me down in front of him. I couldn’t believe that I was sitting on this policeman’s horse with him. Being so high off the ground, it seemed that I could see for miles, that I could see the whole world. Then the horse started walking. The police man told me to look for my family. But before I saw them, he points and says to me, is that them? He apparently saw a man frantically looking around for someone, knowing that that someone was probably me. I said yes, that is my father. He walked the horse over to my father and gently let me down to the ground. My father thanked him and we went on our way. I was lost but now was found.
So, I thought. How little did I know then that I would be lost for a long time. Our family was not a “religious” family. My mother talked to us about God, but we did not go to church on any regular basis. I was a typical worldly child that grew into a worldly teen that grew into a worldly adult. I can imagine how many times God looked for me, looking down from heaven, seeing all and knowing all, calling for me to come to Him. I not knowing I was lost, did not hear His voice nor look for Him. How many circumstances when there was no way out, but somehow, I managed to endure the trials. Little did I know that it was not by my own strength, but by the strength and mercy of Jesus Christ that gave me the opportunity to realize my own weakness as a mere mortal with a sinful nature. Totally lost without God, the Father. God loves His children, all of them. “ For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. Mt 18:11 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? Mt 18:12 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that [sheep], than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Mt 18:13 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Mt 18:14” God is long suffering. He knocks on the door to our hearts, wanting to come in, that we may be joined together as a Royal Family. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Rev 3:20” I can look back and pinpoint some of the moments in my life whereby God called me to come to Him, for He would be my shelter in the time of storm. I was blind and did not see where refuge was available to me. But by God’s divinity and grace, I fell on the rock, broken, where God found me. I was lost but now was found. “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Luke 15:24”
Now it is my work, and your work, to help others see the light, come to the light, and be found. By opening our hearts to God, He allows us to be His vessels, and gives us the strength and courage to proclaim His everlasting Gospel to the whole world, that all may be saved and have everlasting life. It is our stern duty to call sin by its rightful name, but we must do so with kindness. “Duty, stern duty, has a twin sister, which is kindness. If duty and kindness are blended, decided advantage will be gained; but if duty is separated from kindness, if tender love is not mingled with duty, there will be a failure, and much harm will be the result. Men and women will not be driven, but many can be won by kindness and love. {3T 108.2}.” We are to help those lost souls, that they will be found in this world full of darkness. Keep your eyes on Jesus, and you will not lose your way. I am eternally grateful for how good God has been to me and my family. It is our prayer that one day we will all be joined together into God’s Royal Family and get to be in His Glory, and enjoy the splendor of Heaven where we’d get to run around and climb up on the rocks in the Garden of Eden. What a day of rejoicing that will be.
Hozzászólások