I loved the summer season when I was growing up. I loved playing baseball, riding my bike and warm summer evenings. I loved just being outside. My first ‘job’ was to cut grass at the local KFC. They paid me $2 and large soft-drink. What could be better for a 10-year old budding entrepreneur?! As I got older my grass-cutting jobs evolved so I became an outdoor handy-man; somewhere between a landscaper and window washer. I saved the money from these summer jobs and, at the age of 15, I bought a really nice drum set. At the age of 17 I bought my own pick-up truck (an absolute must for any self-respecting teenage boy in Indiana).
I recall one summer in particular. I had recently become a Christian and I spent much of my time praying and engaging with God as I walked the lawn-mower up & down the big gardens of my customers. It was a season in my life when I felt happy, content and at peace. I didn’t understand enough about God’s grace to realise this was what I was experiencing; but things just seemed to ‘click’. The baseball team had won our division championship and played a state final in the professional stadium (read, all-Ireland final in Croke Park). The band I played for was getting invitations to play in more events around the city. And I was being asked to speak to youth groups about my newly realised belief in Jesus. It was one of those seasons when things just seemed to get better and better. The more time I spent time with God, the more I grew to know Him. The more I grew to know Him, the more I was learning His heart and learning His ways.
Starting back into school that autumn, things began to change. The guys in the band weren’t keen on my new perspective on life. They didn’t want their musical ambitions restricted by their drummer’s convictions about a lifestyle of purity. The baseball team’s coaching staff changed and, for reasons still unclear to me, the new coach simply didn’t seem to like me. I soon felt a growing distance from all who were previously my friends. As a consequence of my desire to share what had changed in me, the entire student body seemed to conclude the once fun, popular Cope had changed; turned weird; gone ‘religious’.
Teenage years are difficult for anyone and those few months were hard for me. But through it all I felt God’s grace and protection. I made new friends, I didn’t waiver in my love for the Lord and I sought ways to share His love with others.
One day in class a note was passed to me. It was from a girl who sat across the room. I only knew her from a distance and had never really spoken to her before. She hung around in a different crowd. She was popular and captain of the Cheerleading squad. Her note said she had questions about God, she wanted to believe, but was afraid of what it might mean. She didn’t know who else to talk to. She didn’t want to be seen talking with me but wanted to know if we could exchange notes so she could ask me questions. A series of letters back & forth eventually led to her being faced with a decision.
That experience taught me a great deal about God’s heart for people. No matter who they are, where they come from, what they’ve been taught, or what conclusions they’ve made, God loves them. In addition, each person, every individual has been created in the image of God and carries a unique expression of God within them that the rest of us need to experience.
My cheerleader friend wanted to follow Jesus. He was revealing himself to her. Holy Spirit was tugging at her heart. But she, at the time, felt she did not want to risk the change she felt would surely come to her lifestyle. So she chose not to respond to God.
I will always remember those letters, the knowing glances across the school hallway when I was convinced she would become a Christian and, especially, the tears that filled my prayers as I discovered the heart of God for people.
No matter what else happens in the life of a church, God’s heart for people must remain a top priority for all we do. Jesus came to seek and save all who were lost (Lk 19.10). He did not come to condemn the world but to save it (Jn 3.17) by destroying the works of the devil (1 Jn 3.8) and making abundant life available to all (Jn 10.10). By coming into relationship with the Father, we have been commissioned to carry on the mission of Jesus (Jn 20.20, Mt 28.18-20).
Years later I received another letter from my cheerleader friend. We had gone to different colleges and she went to a lot of trouble to find my address. She wanted to thank me for being patient with her questions and not giving up on her when she chose not to follow Jesus. Her life had spiralled downwards during her time in college until she met a group of Christians. She wrote to say she had become a Christian and could now fully appreciate all I had tried to share with her those years before. She was now active in campus ministries, sharing her love for God with those around her.
She had discovered God’s heart for her – and his heart for others.