Just Come In (Part I)

1989. Life was good. Making a boat load of money, had a beautiful fiance who I loved more than anything, and my boss had hand-picked me to take-over his position. The benefit package would likely set me up for life, seeing that I would be given the opportunity of accrued ownership of my own Wendy's restaurant in Nashville, TN. My family was doing great, had a awesome apartment, took postcard vacations, my health was excellent, and I had every reason to believe that life would only get better from here.  

And yet, I'll bet you can figure out what's about to happen . . . 

Because under the surface, even to the point that I was unaware, there was a huge portion of my life that wasn't doing great, my relationship with God. Or lack of to be more accurate. I had been giving Him lip service throughout my twenties, while steadily moving further and further away from His influence and presence. I didn't pray on a regular basis, couldn't find my bible if you paid me a thousand dollars, and had not even considered attending a church service since I was seventeen years old. When you have everything (or so you believe) that you need, God can easily become an afterthought. 

Of course, there had been times of crisis over the past twelve years or so, and during those moments I would call out for help while tears of frustration would cascade down my face. But those moments were fleeting and after a few insincere attempts at communicating with God I would pick myself up, pretend that God was uninterested in my life, and proceed using my own wisdom (or lack of) to plan my steps. It is fearfully easy to acquire the habit of pretending that God doesn't exist. All it takes is an increased dependence upon oneself, an inflated sense of pride, and a unrealistic view of the future. 

I use the word unrealistic because if you are God's child, He most definitely has not forgotten you. He has not surrendered His plans for your life, and He is constantly working, using the least amount of pressure at first but incrementally increasing His discipline, to the breaking point if needed to get our attention. There is a verse that accurately described my situation in 1989, "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap." (Galatians 6:7) 

My rebellion and appetite for sin would not go unpunished, for God is a holy God and loved me way too much to let me continue in rebellion against Him. He would use whatever means needed to bring me into awareness of my sin and need for His grace and if that failed, He would take me home before I disgraced Him even more. 

So that was the true state of my affairs in 1989, where things on the surface appeared to be great, just below the surface God's loving discipline was an ever increasing undercurrent, and those two worlds were about to collide.