words to live by

Hebrews 13: 5b I will never leave you nor forsake you.

(forsake means to give up or leave without intending to return or claim again)

I was a 18 yr old freshman at Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky (www.asbury.edu) just south of Lexington. Asbury is a small, nondenominational Christian liberal arts college. It was either fall quarter, 1968, or winter quarter, 1969. I had started dealing with the issues in my life related to my growing up in the family I grew up in.

I was up in the prayer room in the practice wing of the music building (I was a music major), struggling with whether I could really trust the God that the students, faculty, & staff all seemed to serve so effortlessly. What they said about their relationship with God was all well & good, but I had to decide if what they claimed anyone could have with Him also applied to me.

Ya see, I was at a college where people loved each other, said so, & showed it. I didn't realize until coming there how disconnected I was with my father, family, & friends. I was a non-traditional male growing up & living in the '50's & '60's. I felt like I was in this thing called life kinda on my own.

I don't remember the questions I was asking, or the worries I was fretting, or the stuff I was struggling with (there was a lot!). Somewhere in the middle of that prayer time of me talking & God listening, a very determined thought was dropped into my head.

" 'I will never thee nor for sake thee,' says the Lord God of Hosts"

(I guess God was still talkin' to me in King James Version English. LOL)

Clear as a bell, this thought rang in my head. No escapig it, no denying it.

I'd never read Hebrews. I sincerely doubt that I'd ever heard a preacher preach on it in any of the churches we went to during my growing up.

Later that week, I think I looked in a concordance to see if those words were in the Bible. Can you fathom what I thought & felt when I found out they were there?

I had to just accept the fact that God had spoken to me in a very definite way.

I've carried that verse with me in my heart ever since. I guess it's my "life verse" - one that resonates throughout my life.

He's never left me.

He's never forsaken me.

And He's not gonna ever.

How do I know?

40 years experience with Him.

So?

Trust Him. I know what I'm talking about.

I love you.