Fresh Start Devotionals

He Did Most of my childhood memories are pleasant. I wasn’t abused, my parents provided for all my needs, in fact, I have to say, I was loved. I’m not saying my family wasn’t dysfunctional, in some respects all families have their moments, but we were as close to functional as I’ve seen. I went to school, had chores to do when I got home, worked or played all day on Saturday and attended church every Sunday. Yes, my Mom even baked cookies for us to eat when we got home. In short, I grew up in a Norman Rockwell painting. My father was the pastor and my mother was very active teaching and working in the Women’s ministries of the church. Like my brothers before me, the time came when the constant contact with the gospel rubbed off on me and I came to faith in Christ. I was very young when it happened and I have to admit that my understanding was, well, very childish. I thought of the forces of good and evil as opposite teams, you know, like a pick-up baseball game. I asked myself whose team did I want to be on? One where Satan was the team captain and demons were his teammates. Or the one with the Creator God as the captain and the angels as His teammates. I heard enough preaching to know which one was the winning team, so I prayed that God would pick me to be on His team. And He did. With simple faith I prayed, and accepted Christ as my Savior and submitted myself to His Lordship. Did I understand everything? No. In fact, I still don’t. I’m sure glad that God doesn’t require a child to understand like an adult. But you know, He does require an adult to believe as a child. “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.” Mark 10:15 NASB Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).