Psalm 100
Shout for joy to the Lord,
all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter
his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good
and
his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
2 On your feet now—applaud God!
Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.
Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.
3 Know
this: God is God, and God, God.
He made us; we didn’t make him.
We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.
He made us; we didn’t make him.
We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.
4 Enter
with the password: “Thank you!”
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.
5 For God is sheer
beauty,
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever.
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever.
My Journey
Sherri Wallace
Yes, I’m a Christian.
‘How do I know?’ Well, I’m not
Jewish! Why are you laughing?
I went to Sunday School
until I was 10. I even won a Bible for
memorizing the most verses. Why did I
stop going? We moved to California, and
…I guess there just weren’t that many churches there. I did go to Youth Group with my friend a
couple times when I was in junior high.
It was a Baptist church, and I liked it…except for that funny, little
pool in the corner. That was weird.
“My friend got baptized in it one Sunday, but I didn’t
understand it. I mean, I was 10 when Mom
and Dad had me baptized in Virginia, but all the Reverend did was dribble water
on me. I was kind of embarrassed because
I was so old. The other two kids were
babies. But, my friend was the same age
as me…13. I wonder why she waited so
long to be baptized.
When I was 16 or 17, there was this hippie movement happening…they
called them Jesus Freaks. I thought that
was mean, but they didn’t seem to think so.
They were always smiling and hugging each other. One day, one of them walked up and hugged
me! I thought that was nice.
She started telling me about Jesus, and how He would fix it
so God wouldn’t be mad at me anymore.
All I had to do was say a prayer.
‘Did I want to do that?’ You bet! We went into this little room…me and 2
girls…and we started to pray. Then all
of a sudden, they started talking in some weird language. I think they wanted me to do it, too. I kept asking God; please make me talk like
they are. I want to be like them. But, He didn’t. When the girls stopped praying, they said God
didn’t want me, since I didn’t talk like them.
I was mad at the girls…and embarrassed…and I wanted to cry, but I don’t
know why. I just ran out of there.
‘What did I DO?’ I
told God, if He didn’t want me, I didn’t want Him either! And, I got wild and did what I wanted. I had a GREAT time! Who needs all those Do Nots and Thou Shall
Nots. Those people reminded me of a
dream I had when I was a little girl. I
was down in the church basement, and a policeman was there. He shot me!
I guess that must be what God’s like.
A big, mean policeman.
One night, I met a Christian guy while we were ‘cruising
the boulevard’ in Van Nuys. He took me
for a ride to the beach. We just stood
there watching the waves roll in. I love
the beach, don’t you? He started
singing, Michael Row Your Boat Ashore. I
sang for a while, but he was super foxy, and I really wanted to make out. All of a sudden, he said it was time to take
me home. What? Why?
Christians are mean.
There was a big church on the hill overlooking my
school. It was called Greek
Orthodox. It was really pretty and I
wanted to go to church there, but my Mom said they wouldn’t let me, since I
wasn’t one of them.
A couple years later, I got married to a Catholic, but we
didn’t go to church much. Only when they
said mass for somebody. One time, I brought
the Bible my Grandmom gave me, but none of the other people had Bibles. They just sat and listened. I was hoping they would read out of the
Bible, because, every time I tried to read it, I couldn’t understand it. I thought, if I was in a church, maybe the
words would make more sense.
We never got our son baptized because my husband was
Catholic and I was Lutheran. (That’s the
church I was baptized in.) I didn’t
think it was fair. It wasn’t my son’s
fault that his dad and I got baptized at different churches. I had this big Family Bible. In the middle, it had places to write about
special occasions. I wrote our marriage
date in it, and the day Shane was born, but the ‘baptized’ spot had to stay
blank. That made me sad. When Shane was 5, his dad and I got
divorced. I don’t know if he was too old
or I was too young…anyway, it just didn’t work out.
I got married again, to another Catholic, but he didn’t go
to church, either. His family said they
were ‘good Catholics,’ but I never saw anyone read the Bible or pray. Not even at mealtimes.
A couple years later, we
had Casey, my daughter. I asked my
husband about getting Casey and Shane baptized.
Maybe a Christian church wouldn’t care if he was Catholic and I was Lutheran.
We started going to this
BIG church, but there were only a few people in it. The choir sang so pretty, and they had Bibles
in the pews! I didn’t see a lot of
people use them. The pastor typed the
verses he was using in the bulletin, so maybe that’s why.
My husband and I talked to the pastor about getting the
kids baptized, and he said he could baptize Shane, but Casey could only be
‘dedicated,’ because she was still a baby, and didn’t understand what was going
on. That’s the first time I ever heard
of that. He said, when we get baptized,
we’re obeying a command from Jesus. It
had to be something we wanted to do, not just something that was done TO us.
Shane said he wanted to be baptized, so the pastor told him
to bring swim trunks one Sunday, and he would do it. (This church had a little pool, too!) I couldn’t see much, but I heard the
splash! Then, the pastor said it was
time to dedicate the baby. We said we
had godparents picked out, but he didn’t have them sign the baptism
certificate. I guess they don’t do godparents
there. Christians are confusing!
I don’t remember much about the pastor’s sermons…just that
one was about him being in a rowboat in the middle of a lake when a storm came
up. Scary! But, I noticed something strange was
happening. Each Sunday, when we would
sing out of the hymnals, I felt like crying.
Most of the time, I could stop it, but sometimes I couldn’t. Usually, I would glance at the words so that
I knew what to sing, but mostly, I would follow the music notes. The times I felt like crying were when I read
the words.
Another thing. Every
Sunday, after the sermon, the pastor would invite us to come forward, but
nobody ever did. I didn’t really
understand why, but I wanted to do it.
One week, as we were leaving church, I told God that I would go forward
the next Sunday. But, I was really shy,
so He would have to get my feet moving!
Next Sunday was Palm Sunday, and we were late (arguing
again!). Church had already started, so
we followed the kids in as they waved their palm branches. After the sermon, when the pastor gave the
invitation, I stood up (jumped to my feet, is more like it!). For a split second, I looked at my husband,
to see if he would come with me, but he said no. I guess God was giving me courage, because I
didn’t just sit down again. I walked
down the aisle and met the pastor.
Since it was Palm Sunday,
the choir was singing a looooooong song, so we sat down to wait it out. I think I told the pastor that I didn’t know
why I was there. When we stood up, he
asked me if I believed that Jesus was born of a virgin, crucified and buried,
and rose again the third day. I said,
yes, of course I believe that. Everybody
clapped, and the pastor welcomed me into the church. (He must have thought I was joining the
church, but I don’t think that’s why I was crying through the hymns.)
That night, the strangest thing happened. I wanted to read my Bible! I remember digging through box after box of
books until I found it. When I started
reading, I could understand it! I read
and read, and decided to take it to work with me the next day. I’d been on night shift for a long time, and
this was my first day back on the morning shift. I was testing some electronic assemblies
when, who should walk up but the one guy that I couldn’t stand! Rick was a married guy, but he flirted all
the time. Two years ago, he’d
transferred to day shift. And now, I was
stuck with him, again. I looked down at
my Bible and thought; this’ll get rid of him!
I told him that I had dedicated my life to Jesus, expecting him to turn
tail and run. Instead, he said, “Praise
the Lord! I got saved last year!”
Over the next few months, God used Rick to mentor me. He told me where to buy a study Bible, so I’d
have lots of notes to help me understand it, and he introduced me to Calvary
Chapel. The first Sunday I went,
EVERYONE was carrying a Bible! And, they
had notes and highlighting in them, which made me think they really used them!
The pastor gave an awesome sermon, and every song made me
cry. Rick said that was because I
finally understood what the words meant.
I learned that the Holy Spirit was living inside of me, now. That seemed creepy at first, but comforting,
too.
Rick suggested I
listen to the radio, too. The Calvary
Satellite Network was run by Calvary Chapel, and they had lots of pastors on
it, teaching us just like the one at the church did. Book by Book.
Verse by verse. I listened to
that station every time I could!
One summer day, there was a huge baptism in the ocean at
Pirate’s Cove. There were 10 or 12
pastors doing the baptizing, and lots of people were lined up. When it was my turn, the pastor told me to
hold my nose, and he dunked me.
Strangely, everything went black and seemed to stop. Then, almost in slow motion, the world started
again, and the pastor helped me get up.
I was so freaked out that I said, “Whoa!” and walked away. As I was making my way back to the parking
lot, some lady came up to me. She said
she’d been sitting on the rocks watching my baptism, and she felt led to come
tell me that God was going to use me in a mighty way! I couldn’t stop smiling on the way home.
My husband went to the church with me, but I could tell he
didn’t like it. Pretty soon, he stopped
going, but Shane and I still went.
Then, the world fell apart.
I found out I was pregnant with my second daughter, Jessie, and due to
the chemicals my job required, I had to go on disability until she was
born. At the same time, my husband lost
his job…and didn’t seem too inclined to get another one. We almost ended up on welfare, but my
husband’s family told us to move to Idaho.
They promised to help him find a job and a house for us. I didn’t want to leave my family, but they
had been treating me weird since I got saved.
It’s like they didn’t know how to talk to me anymore. Maybe a new home in a different state would
be a blessing in disguise.
In Idaho, we went to my husband’s niece’s church, and I got
really involved! Teaching Sunday School,
AWANA, lady’s ministry, working for the daycare and being the church
janitor. They even let me set up a
church library! My husband went to
church more than he did in CA (I think, because his niece nagged him). He even went to the men’s retreats. Things were looking up!
Later, because of problems the church split right down the
middle. It was the first time I’d ever
seen a church split. I cried and cried. My husband used that as an excuse to stop
going. Eventually my husband and I
divorced.
The kids and I started going to church again, and I felt
like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders! It was a different church than we were going
to before. I really liked the new
church. It was one of those where they
all carry Bibles. I prayed, “God, if
this is the church you want me in, please show me my ministry.” And, did He ever! The pastor was talking about a TV Ministry,
saying we had all the equipment, but no one to run it. So, I volunteered to learn to run a
camera. Two weeks later, the pastor came
to me and said they were going to teach me how to direct the whole thing! I was scared…anything can go wrong on Live
TV…but I loved that ministry.
Then, I got another shock.
They asked me to work at the radio station…the same station I’d listened
to in California! I knew God was
‘qualifying the one He called’
At the church, I went to a Ladies Bible study, helped
prepare and serve the Agape Meal (once a month), packed boxes for the Food
Bank, as well as directing the TV Ministry.
Then, the bottom dropped out. The church split (this was the third split
since I’d been there plus two law suits). I knew I needed to leave there. I
prayed and asked God where he wanted me to go – the new church, or stay with
the old? The only answer I got was,
“Wait.” While I waited, it became clear
that he didn’t want me at either of those churches, so I started looking at
websites, and made a list of churches to visit.
I had a ‘checklist’ of things that were important to me,
and I kept notes on each church I’d visit.
I thought it would be best to visit each church at least twice, to get a
better idea of what they’re like. In
some churches, I’d know that once was enough!
Like the one that told my friend she’d have to sit in the back because
she was late.
Even though I had another church picked out to visit, God
steered me towards FirstB. On the
website, I read some articles about blended worship by Mr. Redman. I was intrigued! The following Sunday, I walked up the steps
to First B. A man named Mike took one
look at me and said, “Do you need a hug?” I almost cried. As I made my way to a seat in the back, it
seemed like everyone in the church welcomed me!
A sweet lady named Teddy made me feel like an honored guest. When my friend, Josie sat down, she leaned
over and said something to the effect of, “I don’t need to visit here for 2
weeks. I’m staying!” I agreed. I still had one thing on my
checklist, though. When the pastor began to preach, I thought, “This man
doesn’t just know the Bible. He loves
the Lord.” What a relief! Now, First B is my home!
APPLAUD GOD
Psalm 100
2 On your feet now—applaud God!
Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.
Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.
3 Know
this: God is God, and God, God.
He made us; we didn’t make him.
We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.
He made us; we didn’t make him.
We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.
4 Enter
with the password: “Thank you!”
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.
5 For God is sheer
beauty,
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever.
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever.
PEOPLE GIVE THANKS
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