Grace Christian Assembly Part I

Per Mark's request, reposting here at BC. This post is background for the following one:


Question: How do you make a "quick" trip to Nashville from Dallas? Answer: You get in the car and drive 14 1/2 hours there on Saturday and then drive 15 hours home on Monday.

And why would you drive so many hours over two days to get to Tennessee? Well, we did it for the opportunity and great privilege of attending homecoming weekend and Resurrection Sunday at Grace Christian Assembly in Smyrna. As you may or may not know, I've been listening, via internet, to Jim McClarty for several months. Due to God turning our current circumstance around, Roger had a couple weeks off before beginning a new job on April 20th. So we ended up with this small window of opportunity to make the trip. And without a doubt, it was more than worth it. Let's just say that if I lived anywhere near Smyrna (or if GCA were to relocate to Ft Worth), I would be a member in a heartbeat. As it stands now, though, I'll have to be content to be an internet member. :) At least now when I listen, I'll be able to place names with faces and "feel" like I'm right there with them.

Unfortunately though, we missed the homecoming festivites on Saturday. But even in that, we are able to look back and see God's mighty hand of providence in our lives. We actually began the journey on Friday, and were just east of Dallas when Roger started experiencing a little complication of an eye procedure he'd had earlier that morning. We called the doctor, and he wanted to see Roger again, so we had to turn around and head back to Ft Worth (a 2-hour drive). By the time we got back and Roger saw the doctor it was 5:00, so we had no choice but to go home. (The doc thought Roger might have had retinal damage, but he didn't and is fine.) But all this happened after we'd experienced a very rough start to the trip in the first place. The doctor was running late for the original procedure on Friday morning. Delay. Our rental car was late in getting to the Hertz location. Delay. We'd had to wait over a half hour for it to arrive, and then it was a tad dirty on the inside. Roger was fit to be tied; my patience was on its last nerve, and we were seriously going at each other. After the return trip to the doctor, we scrapped the rental car idea, not even knowing if we'd make the trip at all. But we stayed packed overnight, revisited the idea on Saturday morning and finally left about 10:00am. The providential part came into play when we learned that terrible storms and at least one tornado ripped through middle Tennessee on Friday night. We are convinced that God indeed spared us from that. I'm thankful that while we're so busy seeing only what is right in front of us, God sees beyond that. He protects the ignorant and the short-sighted.
Undoubtedly, I could ramble on and on, and probably will in another post. I'm grateful for these new like-minded friends.

Thanks to everyone at GCA for your graciousness in welcoming Roger and me into your church and into your lives. And a great big thank-you to Jim, who not only gave of his time during church and the potluck afterwards, but was so kind to visit with us for several hours on Sunday night. We were blessed and honored by that more than you'll ever know.

Grace Christian Assembly Part II

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Pastor Jim was kind enough to visit with Roger and me on Sunday night. We fellowshipped over a very nice meal at Ruby Tuesday. We talked about many things, and my life has been enriched for having had the opportunity to know Jim a bit better.:-) Gracious, honest and forthcoming, he is. He loves God, and he loves God's people. And, he wears it well.

In a previous email to Jim, I had asked him about baptizing me at some point. (That couldn't happen this past weekend because of logistics and their homecoming plans.) Anyway, after asking him about doing that, I'd remained a bit uneasy, mainly because I've actually been baptized, and I didn't want to be one of 'those' people who continue in a vicious cycle of "getting saved"/getting baptized over and over again. However, there IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND that God -> removed the blinders and profoundly revealed Himself to me four years ago. No doubt. It was during that time, Oct/Nov 2004, that 'the lightbulb came on' for me. I 'got it.' God graciously, and in His perfect timing, gave me understanding of Who He is and who I am. I "got" that He is the just, holy and righteous God of the universe; and that I am a wretched, depraved sinner in desperate need of a Savior. And it is He alone who, for His own good pleasure and purpose, chose me for Himself and mercifully rescued me. During the ensuing years, I've often wondered if that's when I "really got saved." Knowing full well, of course, that "I" didn't do anything. "I" don't "ask Jesus into my heart" or "choose" Him, and "I" don't "make" Jesus Lord and Savior. Salvation is ALL of God. I also know that God has wrought true change in my life, where before there was none.

So, I mentioned during the course of the conversation with Jim, that I still wondered if that time was when I was "really saved." And in one fell swoop, with one statement and one piece of Scripture, all my doubts quite simply melted away. He said to me, "You were saved before the foundation of the world; God chose that time to enlighten you." I CANNOT tell you what that did for me, other than emotionally, it brought tears to my eyes. Of course I've read Ephesians 1, but apparently God chose this particular time to have someone speak His words to me, and in so doing gave me ears to hear and understand. After Jim said those words, I immediately had the related thought, "my name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life, BEFORE I was ever a glimmer in someone's eye." ;)

God's Word is mighty and powerful, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, it changes lives, never returning void. It is difficult to unlearn bad teaching. That I needed to be able to pinpoint a specific time, date and place when I "made a decision for Christ" is one of them. God is still teaching, and I'm still learning. Gratefully, He has placed a few teachers in my path who endeavor to rightly divide the Word of God and from whom I can rest assured I am taught well.