This morning I take a pause from the Grace Series to tell you part of my story. It did not dawn on me until late last night that yesterday was the 18th anniversary of the day I gave my life to Christ. In honor of that day I feel led to share a part of my story.
My mother immigrated from the Dominican Republic to the United States in 1970. I was born in 1972. In 1975 she and my father divorced and shortly thereafter something happened that would become a major event in my life. I was three years old and I was playing outside in East New York, Brooklyn with my God-brother. He threw me a ball, the ball rolled into the street, and I chased after it. Before anyone could stop it, I was hit by a 1975 Lincoln Continental. These cars were built like tanks back then. The car hit me so hard that I slid under a van. When one of my uncles pulled me out I was unconscious, with blood coming out of my ears, nose and mouth. By the time my mother got to me, the people in the neighborhood thought I was dead. My mother did not have a car so they flagged down a cab.
In the cab ride to the hospital my mother cried out to the Lord of her youth. She looked down at me, her lifeless, bleeding and presumably dying child, and she then looked up to God. She had just lost her husband and she was about to lose her only child. She told the Lord that if He spared my life, she would dedicate me to Him. When she said that I woke up. When we got the hospital I was rushed into the ER. My clothes were covered in blood, my mother’s clothes were covered in blood, and there was blood the cab. The doctors were concerned that I had lost too much blood, so they ripped off my clothes and ran a battery of tests. To make a long story short, the doctors could not find anything. After multiple x-rays and a myriad of tests, the doctors did not find any broken bones, no bruises, no scars, no loss of blood, and no indication of any trauma whatsoever. The doctors called it a “miracle” and they kept me for three days for observation. After the three days they finally let me go without any human explanation for what happened.
A few months later my Grandfather was dying and he called for my mother. My mother took me with her to the Dominican Republic to see her father on his deathbed. But when we landed, before she went to see her dying father, my mother went to fulfill her vow to the Lord. She had me dressed in all white, she asked my uncle to take her to a church on Santo Cerro (Holy Mount), and there she lifted me up to the Lord and fulfilled her promise to “give” me to Him. The Lord was gracious enough to keep my Grandfather alive until my mother got there and spent some time with him.
Let’s fast-forward 20 years. I was a young Staff Sergeant in the Army, I had recently arrived in Camp Doha, Kuwait, and I was a hard-charger. I had been raised in the Catholic church and although I had religiously followed the rites and routines — receiving First Communion, being Confirmed, confessing my sins to a Priest and attending Mass regularly — I never had a true encounter with God. Another Staff Sergeant in my company, Leo Jacobs, kept inviting me to attend church with him. There was something that drew me to Leo. So on August 27, 1995 I attended the Gospel service on Camp Doha. I was amazed as I watched people praise the Lord with a passion and intimacy I longed for. I had been in church all my life, but I had never experienced what I saw them experience. They were crying out to God (some with tears), dancing before the Lord from the heart, and for the first time I could feel the presence of the Lord. At the end of the service Pastor B.W. Burnett called for people to come up to get “saved.” Instead of going up I got down on my knees, I put my hands in what I thought the “praying position” was, and I told God, “God, I really don’t know what this ‘saved’ thing is that these people keep talking about, but I know I don’t have it, and I want it. Will you save me?” And just like that, without going up for prayer, without knowing any scripture, without working for it and without any fanfare, I was Born-Again. As I knelt there, in the chapel, I knew I was saved. I can’t tell you how I knew, but I knew I was different. And from that day to this day my life has never been the same. God saved me by His amazing Grace! Not because I deserved it, not because I earned it, and not because I was so good. No, God saved me because He loved me and He sent Jesus to earn it for me.
So what does this mean to you today? A few quick things:
1. God made plans for you before the foundations of the world. I could not make up the story of my life and you could not make up yours. You are unique. No one else has your story.
2. Pray for your children and give them over to the Lord. When my mother prayed for me and then dedicated me to God, she did not know how big that decision was. I am thankful for a mother who was willing to give me over to my heavenly Father. As parents we must recognize that children are a gift from God and the best thing we can do with the gift of our children is to present them right back to God!
3. Religion does not save. Religion is about rituals, rites and routines and that never saved anyone. Lots of churches today, of various denominations, are full of religious activity. But religion without a relationship with Jesus will do you no good.
4. God saves by Grace. On August 27, 1995, when I asked God to save me, I did not even know one Bible verse. Even though I thought I was a good person, I was not good enough. Even though I had been working since I was 13, I had not worked hard enough. There was nothing I could do to earn my salvation. I had to acknowledge the fact that Jesus earned it for me and then simply accept eternal life by Grace. God does not save us because earn it, deserve it, or because we are so good; God saves us because He is so good and all we must do to receive the salvation that comes by Grace, is to access it by faith.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for Your amazing and immeasurable Grace, kindness and mercy towards me. You love me and care for me now, and I know and You have been taking care of me all my life – even before I acknowledged You as Lord. I thank You for making plans for me before the foundations of the world. I thank You for protecting me from the attacks of the enemy. I thank You for sending people to me to tell me of Your goodness. I thank You for loving me, even when I did not love You. I thank You for saving me, even when I clearly did not deserve it. And now Father, I thank You for using me, as an instrument of Your glory, to lead others to You. I will be Your legs to walk. I will be Your mouth to talk. Let the world see Jesus in me! I give my entire being over to You (spirit, soul and body), to be used by You to reach others. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
