The Christian Perspective Archives - Page 6 of 6

THE CHUCK COLSON STORY

It was a grey overcast evening when Chuck Colson, caught in the middle of the Watergate investigation, drove up to the home of Tom Phillips, a respected friend and successful businessman. Settling in on the back porch with a glass of iced tea in hand, they began to discuss where life was going for each of them. In his book, Born Again, Chuck Colson writes of the dramatic change that came into his life that evening. “I am not doing too badly, I guess,” said Colson. … “But I’d rather talk about you, Tom. You’ve changed and I’d like to know what happened.”

‘The success came, all right, but something was missing,’ he mused, ‘I felt terrible emptiness.’ I don’t understand it, I interrupted. … You were a straight arrow, … everything in fact going your way. ‘All that may be true, Chuck,’ Tom responded, ‘but my life wasn’t complete. … [T]here was a big hole in my life. … One night I was in New York on business and noticed that Billy Graham was having a Crusade in Madison Square Garden. … What Graham said that night put it all into place for me. I saw what was missing, the personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the fact that I hadn’t ever asked Him into my life, hadn’t turned my life over to Him. So I did it – that very night at the Crusade’” (pp. 108-110). [Read more…] about THE CHUCK COLSON STORY

ON TRANQUILITY UNDER STRESS

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At about 5 feet tall, the smiling, diminutive Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu looked to be the model of peace and tranquility. At the pinnacle of her success, the guest of both the powerful and the poor,

admired around the world, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity fought a personal battle few knew anything about. In “The Private Writings of the ‘Saint of Calcutta,’” better known as Mother Teresa, Brian Kolodiejchuk quotes (page 187) an article she wrote as a prayer and sent to Father Picachy on July 3, 1959:
“The loneliness of the heart that wants love is unbearable. –Where is my faith? –Even deep down, right in, there is nothing but emptiness & darkness. My God, how painful is this unknown pain. It pains without ceasing. –I have no faith. … I am told God loves me, and yet the reality of darkness & coldness & emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul.”
A saint she may have been, but life was no cake-walk for even this dedicated lady of the Church. Like the rest of us, she was human and had her own battles to fight … but she learned from her experiences, held steady amid the pressures, and the world has benefited from the result.
Christianity, you see, does not propose a life of ease and tranquility. Jesus Himself forewarned His disciples, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Life, the daily routine

of living, is the crucible in which character is developed. Maturity does not come easy.
I know of no way to learn those fundamental qualities of life so necessary for our development such as patience, kindness, honesty, integrity, humility, self-discipline, perseverance … and I could go on. These important indicators of a stable character are developed only amid the pressures of life. There is no easy out!
I must tell you from personal experience that life can sometimes throw us some very wicked curves, and not always because we have done something stupid, lost our common sense, or indulged in something we knew instinctively was very wrong. Sometimes life just hits us between the eyes.
Talk to me about bankruptcy, talk to me about cancer, talk to me about nightmarish days and sleepless nights … I have been there too … you know what I mean. Life is tough! The question, in short, is not whether we have reached depths of despair we cannot even put into words; the question is, what have we done about it?
Fortunately, there is for many of us a light at the end of our tunnel. I have taken seriously a promise Jesus made when He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. … Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” For me Christianity is not something I believe because it’s convenient. Believe me, that’s not always the case. When a person, however, is conscious of living under the watchful care of a loving Heavenly Father, there is a rest amid the tumult that must, frankly, be experienced to be appreciated.

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THE CASE FOR CHRIST STANDS PROVEN

In The Case for Christ, a book I highly recoimmend, author Lee Strobel, journalist for the Chicago Tribune, and thoroughly convinced the Christian faith was bogus, tells this amazing story.

“For much of my life I was a skeptic. In fact, I considered myself an atheist. To me, there was far too much evidence that God was merely a product of wishful thinking. … As for Jesus, … [I was convinced] He was a revolutionary, a sage, an iconoclastic Jew – but God? No, that thought had never occurred [even] to Him. … I had read just enough philosophy and history to find support for my skepticism. … I had a strong motivation … a self-serving and immoral lifestyle that I would be compelled to abandon if I were ever to change my views and become a follower of Jesus. … There was enough proof for me to rest easy with the conclusion that the divinity of Jesus was nothing more than the fanciful invention of superstitious people. [And then Strobel’s life took a dramatic change of direction].

“It wasn’t a phone call from an informant that prompted me to reexamine the case for Christ. It was my wife. Leslie stunned me in the autumn of 1979 by announcing that she had become a Christian. I had married one Leslie – the fun Leslie … now I feared she was going to turn into some sort of sexually repressed prude. … Instead I was pleasantly surprised – even fascinated – by the fundamental changes in her character, her integrity, and her personal confidence.

Eventually I wanted to get to the bottom of what was prompting these subtle but significant shifts in my wife’s attitudes, so I launched an all-out investigation into the facts surrounding the case for Christianity.” [Consistent with his training as a journalist, Lee Strobel launched a two-year odyssey, interviewing carefully selected experts who could help him clarify every question he had about the Christian faith.]

“By November 8, 1981, my legend thesis, to which I had so doggedly clung for so many years, had been thoroughly dismantled. … The atheism I had embraced for so long buckled under the weight of historical truth. It was a stunning and radical outcome, certainly not what I had anticipated. … So on November 8, 1981, I talked with God in a heartfelt and unedited prayer, admitting and turning from my wrongdoing, and receiving the gift of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus. … There were no lightning bolts, no audible replies, no tingly sensations. … Over time as I endeavored to follow Jesus’ teachings and open myself to his transforming power, my priorities, my values, and my character were (and continue to be) gradually changed” (The Case for Christ, pages 13, 14, 266, 268).

What more can I say? There is something genuine to the Christian faith. The greatest miracle I have ever seen has been the dramatic change that comes to our lives when we have acknowledged Jesus Christ as our Lord and Master. There is much more here than changing our point of view. A new honesty impels us to admit to our own shortcomings, our imperfections, and our need for maturity. Simultaneously, however, we capture a new perspective on life, a new understanding of truth, a new view of death, and a new purpose for living.

This is real … and we know it is because it happened to us. The case for Christ stands proven!

CREATION IN ALL OF IT’S GLORY

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Little did my wife and I know what lay before us. We had long anticipated experiencing the reported grandeur of Montana’s Glacier National Park and we were not disappointed. It was early July, 2007, and we were at the tail end of a visit to the West Coast. The display we encountered of God’s intriguing creation soon overshadowed the joy we had experienced visiting with friends and family.

Scott Studios — Logan Pass at Glacier National Park

We had already experienced the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon and the grandeur of Mt. Rushmore. The vastness of Kansas’ prairies and Old Faithful in Yellowstone left us with memories that will never be forgotten. Glacier National Park was our last stop before heading home; we had left the best to last.

It was late morning when we arrived at the west entrance Visitor’s Center. We soon embarked on the free shuttle that was available, and, nervous with anticipation, we took the Going-to-the-Sun road to Logan Pass. We finally reached the pass, following a winding, mountain, road, In just a little over an hour. There before us … well, it was magnificent! We stepped out of the Visitor’s Center to the sight of a giant mountain rising into the stratosphere. Etched against a cloudless, deep-blue sky, the view left us speechless. In the valley between us and the mountain, elk could be seen taking their noon-time siesta.

It was time for lunch, so we spread out a blanket, made sandwiches, and settled back to enjoy the scenery. A friendly ground-squirrel soon joined us, only one of the many “permanent residents” of the Park. “Don’t Feed the Animals,” said the sign. Yeah, sure! Who can say “No!” to those beady little eyes, that twitching tail and those little hands awaiting a snack.

The day was too soon over, but as we returned in the shuttle, one last surprise yet remained. The Going-to-the-Sun road skirts the ten-mile long Lake McDonald before arriving at our point of departure. We walked to the edge of the lake and added to a camera-full of memories from this outstanding display of God’s creation. It was an experience we will never forget.

All of this God created, I note, in six “days.” I take that to mean “periods of time,” and it reflects, I think, the mind of our God. I have used the word “magnificent” too many times already, but what can you say? I have travelled – living for many years in Peru, crossed the Andean Range between Chile and Argentina in a Cessna 175, and visited the islands off Greece — and everywhere, God’s handiwork comes through.

What heaven will be like, one can scarcely imagine. The Apostle John’s vision of golden streets and pearly gates is of little interest to me. But what I have seen on earth brings up a thought. If God was able to develop this creation in six relatively short periods of time, what will heaven be like? He has worked on that project for some 40,000+ years (I’m guessing of course)! I can only imagine what awaits me when I get home! Do I deserve it? No way! But I rest on Jesus’ promise. “Trust in God; trust also in me. … [I]f I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me (John 14:1-2). What a magnificent (sorry) prospect!

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