ne day over thirty years ago now, as I was walking down a deserted street in Manchester quite late one evening, I was stopped by a stranger, a man in black who looked like a priest. I was about to walk past him and he suddenly turned around, looked me square in the eye and said the following words to me which I have never forgotten: "What are you going to do with Jesus Christ?" I don’t know what I blurted out, I was so taken aback, and he didn’t wait for any answer, but disappeared into the night.

The words kept going through my mind. Why did he say that to me? I had always believed in God and although I had never been a ’religious’ person, I always said prayers to ask for help or guidance when I needed it. So surely, I was okay and God would accept me…I hadn’t done anything wrong, had I? I wasn’t a ’sinner’, just an ordinary young bloke.

ut then over the next few days, I thought, "Well, what have I done with Jesus Christ?" The answer was nothing. I just prayed to my idea of God without ever thinking about Jesus. Suddenly into my mind came this image of Jesus dying on a cross. I could see it as vividly as if I were really there. There was agony in his aching body, blood pouring from terrible wounds all over his body as he hung there – alone. Then in my mind I saw him turn his face towards me, a woven crown of thorns pressing and tearing into his scalp and heard the words "I did this for you."

I could not understand, but I could feel the love that Jesus had for me. So I started to try to find out more about this Jesus. Soon I realised that though I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me, I had never really known God at all nor did I have any real sense of peace with myself or Him. I recalled times when I had prayed and felt a complete emptiness. Then I picked up a Bible and fell upon these verses which leapt to my attention as I read them. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…and the wages of sin is (spiritual) death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ his Son."

I had this realisation that God not only knew me but also loved me as I was. But I had been living all my life doing my own thing, not caring about the God who made me and sent his Son to die for me – I needed forgiveness and a new start!

he day I asked for forgiveness, my life changed forever. It was a Saturday night in January 1972. I prayed a simple prayer asking Jesus to forgive me and come to me. I went straight to sleep; the next morning as I awoke I felt as if a light had gone on inside me, and a burden of guilt and loneliness had rolled away. I discovered that Jesus had come to me. He gave me new friends and a new family and a new way to live. I knew that all the past had been forgiven.

Thirty years later I look back on that time with great gladness. The presence of Jesus and the sense of cleanness and forgiveness is every bit as real now as it was then. I don’t know how I kept it up, that too is a miracle. Forgiveness is like a bird let out of a cage, or the dog races when the wire goes up and they’re off. It is so difficult to describe because there is nothing on earth really like the forgiveness of our God. Jesus is the only one who paid my debt and it is what we do with Jesus which will determine our future on this earth and hereafter. So let me stop and ask you "What will you do with Jesus Christ?"

Dave

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