Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? (Psalms 85:6 NIV)
A number of years ago, I heard a pastor say that he would often meet his parishioners on the street and found them looking gloomy and defeated. He would greet them with the typical, "How are you?" Often they responded, "Okay, under the circumstances." The pastor would then immediately ask them, "What are you doing under there? Don't you know that you have been raised with Christ to live in the heavenly places?"
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. (Psalms 42:1 NIV)
Several years ago, I was interviewed on a Christian radio program and asked the question, "What's the greatest difference in the church in Romania and the church in America?" There were many differences at that time. Those were the dark days of communism and the evil dictator, Nicolae Ceaucescu. Christians were persecuted. People lost their jobs because of their faith. Some even went to prison because of their love for the Savior. It was extremely difficult. Ceaucescu's agents once discovered a load of Bibles coming into the country, and he had the Bibles turned into toilet paper.
If I could give a synopsis of my testimony it would be Surprised by God. Thirty-seven years ago I really had no spiritual interest. I had been selected as one of thirty high school students from Louisiana to study at the United Nations in New York City. I entered an international oratorical contest there and was awarded "Most Outstanding Youth Speaker" in North America. I traveled throughout the United States and Canada the next year speaking about the necessity of peace in the world. But there was one major problem. I had no peace in my own heart. I found myself trying to fill that vacuum in my life with alcohol, immorality and a quest for power. But nothing seemed to work.
When I came to know Christ over thirty years ago, I immediately wanted my friends to know the peace I had found in Him. Some of my friends had just returned from Vietnam with their minds messed up. Others returned crippled, and a few just never returned. It was really a tough time. Many of my colleagues began to throw out the traditional and Biblical moral values upon which the United States had been founded. Some of them even became atheists. I probably would have headed the same direction had I not encountered the absolute truth of God's word.
