Personal Narrative

I remember saying to him on one Monday morning, “What did you do over the weekend Mike?”. He launched into an enthusiastic summary of his weekend which included being at Youth Group, going to church on the Sunday and I even think that he said, “the Lord” or “Jesus” in there somewhere. I was freaked out and I felt a visceral pull in my stomach. Thoughts raced through my mind like, “I thought he was a nice guy but he is a religious nut.” I recommended to him that he never speak to me about it again and I said it in a rather colourful manner. It was a shock and awe tactic that I had used before to good effect with Christians but Mike did not take a backward step. “Have you ever read the bible?” he asked. With a huff I responded, “Of course I have never read the bible. Really, why would I read something like that?” Mike nodded his head knowingly and then said this to me, “Dale, you are a smart guy. You would not have a strong opinion about a political party that you knew nothing about, a culture that you knew nothing about or a person that you knew nothing about.” He then looked me straight in the eye and

I do not want to be 95% for you. If I am going to cross this line then I am going to be 100%.” In reality at that point I felt called to Christian ministry even though I did not know what that meant. I had yet to respond to Jesus with full surrender, as best I knew how, but I could see the writing on the wall and I believed that meant my future was going to be in service to him and to others. I went to Church on that fateful day hoping that an opportunity would be given for people to respond to Jesus. I honestly cannot remember a word that the Rev. Graeme Smith preached on that Sunday night but I was the first to go and stand down the front to indicate that I had responded to Jesus. At my point of decision I did not even want to be called a Christian. I wanted to be called a follower of