Thursday, March 13, 2003
Thursday, March 13, 2003
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
The telephone rang, he picked it up, and on the other end of
the phone was his pastor, John Ripley. Bob said that it was good
to hear the caring voice of his pastor. When they came to the
close of the call Bob says that his pastor asked him, "Are you
ready for the surgery?" At first Bob thought it was a foolish
question. He says that he was in one of the finest hospitals in
the country. He assured his pastor that the doctors were ready.
Then Bob said that his pastor asked him, "But are you ready, Bob?"
When Bob asked his pastor what he meant by that question, they were
soon in a very deep conversation about what it would be like to
meet God after death. Then Bob asked his pastor to help him to get
ready. His pastor, Rev. Ripley, asked him to open his Bible to
John 3:16. Then his pastor asked him to read the verse. They
discussed the meaning of the verse and his pastor asked him to read
the verse and put his name in the place of the words "world" and
"whosoever."
Bob reports that when he said, "For God so loved Bob
Mayfield that He gave his only begotten Son, that if Bob Mayfield
would believe in Him, Bob Mayfield would not perish but have
everlasting life," at that moment, Jesus Christ, changed his life.
And the change was real so real that teenagers called him the man
they knew who was most like Christ.
(John 3.16
NRSV)
A man named Bob Mayfield was named by a youth group in his
church as the one person they knew who is most like Jesus. He
confessed that he had not always had control of himself. In fact,
he reported that once he was very hard to get along with. He had
been a draftsman. He loved his work. It meant everything to him.
But he had trouble getting along with his fellow workers. His
dislike of others was so intense that Bob claimed that it caused
a tumor to grow in his brain, and he lost much of the use of his
right hand. While he was in the hospital facing brain surgery, he
was very scared.
Dear God, I am grateful that you loved me enough to send me a savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
