Thank You Jesus!

   It seems unreal 25 years have passed since I began following Jesus.  25 years ago today, on April 15, 1990, I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.  It was Easter Sunday.  Since it was Easter, as I hiked alone through woods for hours and hours, I was thinking of Jesus.  The Appalachian Trail led up Mt. Albert in North Carolina.  On the top of that mountain was a firetower, which I went up.  It was a beautiful day, and the view was great.  Yet I was still thinking about Jesus.  For the past eight months, I had been going to a caring church where I had learned some things about Jesus.

   There on the firetower, I became convicted Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and I became convicted I needed Jesus, and I wanted Him.  I believed in Jesus!  I started to pray.  I prayed with much enthusiasm.  It was awesome.  That is when I gave my heart to Jesus.

   At first I did not realize all that had happened, but I began to realize God was with me.  In a trail register outside of Catawba, Virginia, I gave a public “thank you” to God.  I hiked with such joy for the rest of that day.  I also started signing my postcards to friends saying “God bless you.”  I had never said that before.  And I became thankful I had been saved.

   That was all just the beginning.  Twenty-five years later, I have countless testimonies.  I truly have been changed in my heart by God, bit by bit, all along.  The love of Jesus in my heart has resulted in many blessings.  There has been much suffering.  Many times Jesus has had to carry me.  Many Christian brothers and sisters have come and gone from my life.  And I have seen enough church strife for a lifetime.  Yet Jesus has always been with me, from average days where I need Him to live the single celibate life I have lived, to days such as when my grandma had to go to the emergency room on Christmas Eve, or the evening when she passed away as I was singing to her.  I have needed Jesus.  What Jesus has given me all along is joy and peace.

   Praise be to God I have a passion for doing ministry work, and I especially enjoy writing and preaching.  It has been a challenging journey.  From mountain highs like when I spoke to 300 students at Denver Christian High School for a chapel service, to a time when I could do no more than pray and cry for a student in our youth group who had a brain tumor, there is always the need to rely on Jesus to do the work He has given us to do.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (NIV).

   I know Jesus was the substitutional atonement, dying on the cross for the sins of anyone, and I thank Him for dying for the forgiveness of my sins.  And I thank Him for being faithful to me.  After 25 years, my desire is that I may continue to be thankful daily that Jesus loves me.  I love Jesus!
Hunter