Chapter 15
“And to sum up, God wants us just the way we are, but He doesn’t want us to stay the way we are. If we become Christians, and there’s been no change in our life, then there is a problem. And if you are the same person today that you were last year this time, and God hasn’t made any changes in your life in the 365 days that have passed, the problem is ours. He is there, He’s ready to do the work of sanctification, but we need to allow it, and we need to know what the Bible says in order for us to obey.”
Garnet closed his notes as the pianist came to the front.
“I’d like to remind everyone that the altar is open, and if my sermon today did not make sense to you, perhaps it is because you haven’t given your life to Jesus.” He took a breath. This was not his first altar call, but it was his first altar call in the church where he hoped to spend the rest of his life. As he looked out over the bowed heads, he thought of his own conversion and how he had known that there was sin in his life and that he wasn’t a good person. Even though he looked like a good person on the surface.
His eyes almost got caught on Mertie. She was sitting with her sister in the middle of the church, on the aisle.
He didn’t allow his gaze to stay but tried to focus on mankind’s need for salvation and his responsibility in this small corner of the world.
“Christ came to the world to save sinners, of which I am chief,” he said, paraphrasing Paul’s words. “If you’d like to follow Jesus, but you’ve never accepted His free gift of salvation, never had your sins forgiven, cleansed by the blood that He shed on the cross, never repented of your sins and come to a saving knowledge of Christ, and don’t know for sure that you will spend eternity with God, you can certainly come to the front and I would love to talk to you about it.”
The pianist began to play softly, and he added, “If you are convicted by the sermon today and you’d like to come forward and talk to the Lord about that, the altar is open, and you’re welcome.”
As he spoke, he straightened his notes on the pulpit and then made his own way to the altar. God resisted the proud but gave grace to the humble. He always felt like kneeling at the altar, bowing his head and heart before God and in a show of humility, was good for him. Not to mention, there weren’t too many times in his adult life where he hadn’t had at least something that he needed to talk to the Lord about.
He knelt at the altar, alone, as the pianist continued to play. He assumed she would play until he told her to stop or until someone else did. But in the meantime, even if no one joined him, he would spend a few minutes talking to God. Thanking Him for this opportunity and asking that His will be done in the hearts and minds of the people who needed to vote next week after his second sermon.
He was in the middle of telling God that he wanted his own life to change. That he didn’t want to be the same today as he was last week, that he wanted to be even closer to the Lord next week, when he felt movement at his side.
The light blue skirt and white blouse that Mertie had been wearing came into his peripheral vision.
She didn’t touch him, but she knelt down beside him, her face bowed low, her hands on the small rail in front of her as her forehead bent, touching them.
She didn’t pray aloud, and she didn’t acknowledge his existence, but her presence beside him bolstered his spirit. Whether she had been touched by the sermon, or whether she had just felt bad for him kneeling here alone, he wasn’t sure. But her movement must have sparked others, because air swished behind him as someone moved, and he could see from the other side to other forms kneeling at the altar.
He didn’t have grand dreams of bringing the United States to revival, but he did hope and pray that even if he wasn’t sworn in as a pastor here, that his messages would stir the hearts of Christians, causing them to reevaluate their lives, look at places that they could improve, and cause them to desire to be closer to the Lord. Even in this small church, with this small congregation, revival could change things.