I listened soberly as Bruce and Ruth Brown finished telling the story of Gail and Mark and Ned. "What about Mark and Ned?" I Asked. "Whatever happened to them."
Well, Ned was the different one. He had prayed when they were caught in the fire, but his only interest in God was literally as a fire escape. Coming out of the fire, Ned would have preferred to have forgotten the whole thing. Fire leaves its scars, however, on both our bodies and our souls, and as the bums healed, the memory became a great bittemess to him. Why should Gail have died? He felt that God had not been fair.
Good old Don Elefritz had been the counseler in the christian camp that Ned went to that summer. Don had pressed Ned to come to the Lord. Whew! Ned had set him straight! In not any uncertain terms he told Don to "Bug off!—When I'm ready I'll come to you. Until then I don't want to hear another word of it."
Throughout his teen years Ned was rebellious. The standards by which his Christian parents lived just didn't fit Ned. Yet he realized that there was right and wrong. He was the proverbial "strong-vvilled child." He tried to put his life into perpective, only to find that a life lived according to our own will really doesn't have much perspective.
Ned felt his case was hopeless. He felt that God had failed him when Gail had died. Furthennore, every attempt to put his life in order without God just didn't seem to work. If you let go and got drunk or smoked pot you knew you were wrong and suffered from it. On the other hand, if you really lived straight, your conscience still informed you that you were a sinner. He finally decided that God might be all right for his parents but "not for me!"
Living in a cluistian home was a real trial for a boy who had decided that God wasn't for him. Years of defensive argument led to a superbly developed defensive mechanism. If God isn't for me, then God isn't! simple solution -Ned became an Agnostic!
The real problem with Ned's approach was that "God is!" And, God wasn't through with Ned yet.
Publicly and intellectually Ned was an agnostic. He argued that if there is such a thing as God, he certainly has nothing to do with us.
Not publicly and not intellectually Ned had a recurring conflict within himself. Something or someone he would see would suddenly raise doubts about his stand. Perhaps God really was interested in him. He would quickly squelch these thoughts, but inwardly he felt that there was a continual battle.
Ned longed intensely for fulfillment in his life. He met a lovely girl. They didn't speak much of God for he wanted most of all to forget about God. Eventually they married and had a beautiful baby girl.
As most normal young couples they had their financial problems. Ned told his wife, "Well, you'll just have to trust!" She looked at him strangely. "Trust what?" she asked. He was embarrassed. Just what did you trust in anyway if you couldn't trust in God.
The baby became a youngster and his wife decided that every child should learn about God. Without consulting Ned she took the child to a nearby Church Sunday School. Whew, did Ned blow up! "Don't take her to that church!" he insisted. "They are about the farthest out of any I know." She responded, "But what difference does it make if you don't believe in God anyway. A church is a church." Still she yielded for the sake of peace. But, Ned felt confused and challenged.
Ned's sister Rita had been his only family ally. Then she became a "turncoat" and "got saved." Ned told her he didn't want to talk about it. "Ned, you have to deal with this," she pleaded. "You can't go on like this forever." He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't get away from it.
One day Dad called up. "Son," he said, "I know you have your own life to live, and I don't want to interfere; but wouldn't you like to talk about the Lord." But Ned just couldn't confront the issue. It seemed like there was no solution, and no use talking about it either.
In trying to bring order and meaning into his life, Ned worked harder at his job. He became the manager of a thriving local gas station. He wanted to provide well for his family to be successful.
An old friend dropped by the station occassionally, filled up with gas and stopped for a few moments of talk. It was Don Elefritz, the old summer camp counseler. He never pushed things anymore. Usually he just gave a gentle invitation, sometimes to a family winter camp, or a couples sing. Ned never attended, but neither did he fail to recognize the warm, good-humored peacefulness of old Don. He really seemed to have something to live for.
Fall hunting season breathed its "call of the wild" to Ned. He made his seasonal weekend hunting trips out to the old stamping grounds in western Iowa. After a brisk day in the woods he would settle down in the old farm kitchen with Uncle Freeman, Gail's father. They would spend an hour of two over a coffee cup, talking about old times. Uncle Freeman's love and peace were beautiful he seemed to be living for something higher than this life. Amazingly there seemed to be no bitterness in Him about Gail's death. He was so accepting and warm, never pushy but always concerned about others.
Sometimes Ned would visit with his grandmother. Now there was love personified, and of course always accompanied by toast and apricots. That was Grandma warmth and peace always living for something outside herself.
Even nature seemed to witness to Ned. One beautiful clear winter evening the stars seemed so magnificent. Ned was awedby his creator God. That night he came in from the service station after his wife was already in bed. He watched Johnny Carson for a bit, but then he headed for bed. Somehow he felt strangely moved inside. Everything he had ever tried had left him so empty, so unfulfilled. Now here was a God so great, so magnificent! "God," he said, "I don't know where else I can go. Ifyou will have me, here I am." It was that simple. He did not feel a great elation, but he did feel peace, and he settled down for a delightful, restful sleep.
The next morning he awoke with a strange feeling of peace. He pulled open the curtains for a quick peek. A beautiful tree stood there like a special witness from nature. "Well," he smiled, "Of course there's a God."
The next few weeks were confusing. Sometimes the old doubts would roll in upon him. He found that personally he wasn't greatly changed. Sometimes he wondered, "Am I really saved?"
Back at home Dad Brown frowned at Mom Brown. "What's going, on at Ned's," he asked. "I keep hearing little remarks about God. I think I'd better see if he would like to talk about it."
"Why sure," was Ned's surprising answer, so the next evening Dad and John Montgomery were in Ned's living room, enjoying a cup of hot coffee.
"I don't seem to be meeting the standard," said Ned. He felt like one big f ailure. John was so helpful. "Don't you know, Ned, we never really meet God's standard—God's standard is perfection. It was Jesus who met God's Standard.
Jesus was perfect, and as a perfect sacrifice He can remove every stain of sin from us. God Himself brings us up to the level of His own standard through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
It all seemed to dawn suddenly on Ned. It was all because of the Lord Jesus and His death on the cross. "Jesus met the standard I couldn't meet," he exclaimed. The doubts were gone. Now he was resting on the Lord Jesus Christ, not on himself.
"You know," Ned said, "I realized that God loved me; I just didn't realize how much He loved me!" He just shook his head in wonder. "God is more gracious than any of us. He will pursue us when we have given up on ourselves. He pursues us when everyone else has given up on us. NO ONE IS BEYOND HOPE!!!"
EDITOR'S NOTE: If you need additional help concerning your soul's salvation or concerning your pathway in following the Lord Jesus Christ after you are saved, you may call the editor in the evening at: (216) 322-6002 or write to: The Editor P.O. Box 1874 Elyria, Ohio 44036
Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.