It was fifty years ago today that I stepped into Hughes Auditorium at Asbury College and made the decision not to be satisfied with a mediocre Christian life. The Asbury Revival of 1970 broke upon us that morning extending a scheduled chapel service and interrupting the next week of classes. In the midst of it all, the Holy Spirit worked in my heart to bring me to a deeper desire for God. Two days changed my life. There was the night shortly before my 18th birthday in Alamo when I gave my life to Christ and there was this moment fifty years ago when I was in the place where the Holy Spirit fell with unmistakable and overwhelming power.
I almost missed what turned out to be a powerful life changing spiritual experience. Five years after my Father's death, my mother re-married to a Methodist preacher. He was a graduate of Azusa College and before long he was putting the word about Asbury College in my ear. When I left home, it was the last place I wanted to go. After two years at Young Harris College, I made the decision to finish my college years at Georgia Southern College. After one quarter I knew it was not where I belonged and so I left for Asbury, but kicking and screaming in protest as I went.
I arrived at Asbury full of scornful skepticism for everything for which Asbury stood. A fall revival on campus that first year started the softening process on my heart, but it would take some time for me to allow God's Spirit to take hold of my life. The February morning when the Holy Spirit fell upon us in chapel brought me to the altar of the auditorium where tears of repentance were shed and where a new awareness of God's presence began to take root in my life. I have been forever thankful that God did not give up on me and cast me aside as He should have done, but that His grace prevailed over my rebellious spirit and arrogant heart.
I almost missed what turned out to be a powerful life changing spiritual experience. Five years after my Father's death, my mother re-married to a Methodist preacher. He was a graduate of Azusa College and before long he was putting the word about Asbury College in my ear. When I left home, it was the last place I wanted to go. After two years at Young Harris College, I made the decision to finish my college years at Georgia Southern College. After one quarter I knew it was not where I belonged and so I left for Asbury, but kicking and screaming in protest as I went.
I arrived at Asbury full of scornful skepticism for everything for which Asbury stood. A fall revival on campus that first year started the softening process on my heart, but it would take some time for me to allow God's Spirit to take hold of my life. The February morning when the Holy Spirit fell upon us in chapel brought me to the altar of the auditorium where tears of repentance were shed and where a new awareness of God's presence began to take root in my life. I have been forever thankful that God did not give up on me and cast me aside as He should have done, but that His grace prevailed over my rebellious spirit and arrogant heart.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment