A Old Remembrance

It has been 48 years now since that Tuesday morning at Asbury College when I found myself in the midst of a revival that lasted a week, caused classes to be cancelled, and changed more lives than will ever be counted.  While I normally think about it most Februarys, the memory of it came back with a rush this morning as I was reading a devotional reading from Oswald Chambers.  It is one of those moments in my life that can be discussed objectively up to a point and then it simply becomes one of those divine mysteries that cannot be completely explained.

 

What I know is that those days changed my life.  What I know is that it provided a spiritual undergirding for a life of ministry.  While I have had many other powerful spiritual encounters over the years, none can really compare with the lasting impact those days had upon my heart.  I went to Asbury with a heart full of skepticism and a mind full of doubt.  I spoke of myself as a Christian, but at that point my faith could have likely gone another way very easily.  What happened in those hours in the college auditorium was something I would normally have taken lightly.  Perhaps, if attendance had not been required for the hour of chapel in which it started, I never would have gone.

 

But, once I went, I stayed.  I stayed and came to an experience with the Holy Spirit working in my life that I am forever grateful.  I have learned over the years that what happened at the altar was only the beginning of being drawn into a deeper spiritual life.  It left me with a longing for God that has continued to grow through the decades.  As I read Chambers this morning, I felt grateful that I heard the call to live the sanctified life and that my heart was open enough to begin moving toward it.  I am grateful that the journey continues to this day.