The Plan - how I got here (part II)

For part I of this story, click here.

Fast forward to late 1999, girlfriend and I have been married now for over 5 1/2 years. Our second child is no more than football sized and life seems to be proceeding according to plan, give or take a few dead ends, wrong turns and u-turns.

There's a Wal-Mart Supercenter near where we used to live where we did most of our shopping. On many occasions I'd be going there to pick up diapers, formula or whatever it was that we needed at that time. I'd always pass the aisle where they sold the books and magazines, and I'd often find myself taking extra time to glance through a magazine or a book that I'd pick up here and there to see if it was worth buying. On many occasions I'd see these paperback books with almost entirely black covers. Book one, book two, book three - all the way thru book six. I kept telling myself that one of these days I was going to buy the first two books and read them, just to see if they were worth all of the hype that they were receiving.

Eventually I did buy the first two books in the series and practically inhaled them, I read them so fast. Then I bought the other four installments and quickly devoured those also.

Of course I'm talking about the Left Behind series, written by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins, which is a fictional story that parallels the Biblical book of Revelation.

One thought kept popping into my head as I read through these books, which was: "IF the rapture happened today, right now, would I be taken up or would I be left behind?

Now I had grown up in a Christian home with a strong belief in God, and considered myself to be a good Christian. I was a five year member of the Christian group IVCF in college. All of my close college friends were Christians. I had spent every summer as a youth either going to or working at a summer camp run by my church. I even was a member of a missions team that went to Hungary in 1991. But was I really a Christian? IF push came to shove, where would I stand? I wasn't so sure.

Sadly, upon much inner reflection, my answer to the above question would have been a resounding NO! I would be one of the ones to be left behind, wondering what happened to everyone else.

Having always had a fascination with eschatology, I knew that I didn't want to be on earth during the time that the Bible calls The Day of the Lord. I want nothing to do with the wrath that is to come.

So right there, in the middle of a chapter I stopped and prayed. I admitted that I was a sinner and that I could not get into heaven on my own merit. I asked Jesus to come into my life and that I believed that His death on the cross was for ME. That He suffered and died so that I could one day go to heaven to be with Him. I also prayed that He would show me the plan for my life, that whatever He wanted me to do that I would do it.

After I wiped the tears from my eyes, I got up and walked around the house. I went into my daughter's room and watched her sleep. She looked like an angel. I went into my son's room and looked at him the same way. How precious he was! What a gift from God these two precious children were! And I was thankful for them and all of the blessings in my life. I just wanted to give something back.

After that I went back downstairs to either finish the book or get to a good stopping point.

Once I prayed that prayer, I could slowly sense a change in my attitude towards a career in ministry. Maybe being a pastor wasn't such an outrageous idea after all...

Things didn't develop right away with that idea. However I did find a renewed sense of need to go to church regularly. By this point I had stopped going to the Salvation Army altogether. Since my wife and I couldn't agree on a church to go to together as a family and since she couldn't go regularly anyway because of her job and the shift she worked, she just told me to pick a church and go. Which I did. {It's a wonderful church , and my kids and I still go there to this day.} I also found renewed interest in Bible study and such. I began to build a library of books written by Christian authors. Commentaries, Bible studies, and everything I could find, and I voraciously read whatever I could get my hands on.

During this time I read several books written by authors who had graduated from DTS. Throughout all of these different books, one thing was in common. The way that they handled the Word of God was just incredible. From the passion of their subject matter the recognition and awards that their work received. I thought, "Wow, wouldn't it be cool to go to a place that loves Scripture and is fundamentally sound in their interpretation of it."

Fast forward again to December 2004. I've just moved into a new apartment after living at my parents house for a year and a half after my separation and divorce. One Sunday before Christmas I announce my plans to go back to school because I want to get a masters degree.

"In what?" my family asks, seemingly all at once.

"Theology. A masters in Theology. See there's this great school in Dallas that I'd love to go to....

All last year the thought of going to Seminary kept getting stronger in my head. I wanted to run from it and hide. For awhile I did but kept coming back to it.

I even included it as one of my resolutions (see #4) for 2006.

Finally, in February, I decided to make the leap and apply. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? So I filled out the on-line application and decided that I wanted to visit the school. Hey what's this, they're having a weekend for prospective students? Wish I could go. That'd be so neat.

Then I remembered I needed to file my Tax Return! I'd use some of that money to fly down and back. Let me check it out for myself.

Yeah, that's the plan.

PS: Do I recommend the Left Behind series to you? Absolutely. Without a doubt. There are 12 books in the now completed series. It is an exellent story with a happy ending.