" Hey, let's walk down the hallway and get to church that way." Said my friend one Sunday night after training union as we walked out of our room at the big red brick church down the street from the post office.
"Are you crazy?" said another," I wouldn't walk down that hallway right now ...for anything! Can't you see those boards up there?", she said, pointing to the beams that were hanging from the cindered ceiling. "One of them might fall on me and kill me ! You can walk through there if you want to but not me !"
Hearing my friend's conversation brought about a sudden realization that she was right ; If one of those boards fell on my head, it might kill me. And, for the first time in my almost 10 years, I realized that should I die, I would go to hell. Oh, I had heard about being saved and I knew that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. But, for the first time, that realization became personal.
I was usually allowed to sit with my friends during church if I promised not to talk but I didn't want to sit with them tonight. My daddy was usually there but this night, he was having to work and my mother was sitting alone. So, there we sat, my mother and me, on the second pew from the front on the left of the sanctuary. That night was the first night of a revival and the preacher was Dr. E.P.J. Garrett and his message was about the cross. All I could think of when I listened to him was the conversation of my friends and the horrifying thought of my eternal destination if I died. He shared how Jesus died for the sins of each of us personally. He said if there had been only one person on the earth, Jesus would have still died for that person. He said we were all born sinners and until we told Jesus we were sorry for our sins and asked Him to come into our hearts and live forever, we would be destined for an eternal hell.
I could hardly wait for the closing prayer because I knew what I wanted to do; what I had to do. When the invitation began, I looked up at my mother and said "I'm going, are you going with me?" I didn't wait to see if she was or not, I just stepped out and walked the few steps to the front and told Dr. Garrett I wanted Jesus to come into my heart. He did and He still lives there today.
Tragedy may be the very thing that God uses to get our attention and bring us to repentance. The tragedy of our church being struck by lightening was the very thing that brought my attention to my need of a Savior. Would I have received Jesus into my heart later on if not that night? I don't know. But, I do know that there are good things that can come out of bad situations. Sometimes God allows tragedy, even the tragedy of a church fire, to teach us lessons we would never learn any other way.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
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