Let's learn to walk before we try playing basketball...

I hadn't been going to the church I currently attend very long when I decided to go along on a Monday night visitation. For us, that's where a group of people meet at the church, pray, and then disperse in teams to visit a list of 'needing' people. I use the quotation marks around 'needing' because the definition in this case contains a number of situations depending on the person.

My very first visitation paired me with our pastor and took us to the home of a man I had known most of my life. Pastor Derek prepared me on the short drive by stating this gentleman had never accepted Christ, and his family was concerned because he was getting older. He had also been visiting the church and showed a desire to learn more about Jesus.

Seemed easy enough to me. Go in and visit with someone I knew (I had attended school with his daughters), talk about Jesus, and hope someone walked that Romans road. I was most nervous about the fact I had attended school with his daughters and hoped Pastor Derek talked about the forgiving and redeeming factors of our faith...but that's a different post.

We were warmly welcomed into the man's home, and the discussion was very comforting and ran a gambit of subject matters but nothing requiring too much deep thought. After half an hour or so, Pastor Derek got to the heart of the matter as to why we were in this man's living room on a Monday night. What happened next actually happened so fast, I had to go back and replay it in my head over and over that night to piece the events back together.

I remember Pastor Derek asking this man if he had ever accepted Christ as his savior. At that very moment, the room filled with the unmistakable Spirit of God to the point I literally became overwhelmed. I knew to a degree what was happening in my head, but the experience overall was as if my very soul was being supercharged...and that was a completely new experience for me. I wasn't there for my benefit, it was suppose to be about this man and his eternal salvation. Yet the presence of the Holy Spirit blessed me in a most tremendous way.

Before I knew it, I was shaking this man's hand and hugging his neck. On his knees that very night...he met God...and so did I. Yes, I was already His child, but He helped me fully realize that I would be but a spectator as I spread His word in hopes that others would come to know Him. The glory is all His in every step of the way back Home.

Pastor Derek has on occasion ribbed me a little about that night. He knew what had happened in that living room, felt it many times before I'm sure. We walked out to get back in his truck, and as I looked up the long street of houses, I said something he will never let me forget, 'Look at all those houses, we've got time...let's visit a some more!'

Of course, wandering around on a Monday night knocking on doors uninvited is probably not the best idea, even if you are charged up on the Holy Spirit. I would learn to control my spiritual throttle in time with God's help, allowing me to be more useful in similar situation in the future. While God graciously brought my brother into the fold that night, He was also teaching me what my work for Him is all about. Quite simply...it's all about Him.

Hallelujah.