3rd May 2006

‘I just wanted to tell you I've been faithful’by John Fischer

I spent this weekend with a fine group of men from a Presbyterian church in Wichita, Kan. At our first gathering, I was met enthusiastically by one of the pastors who had been instrumental in supporting my coming as a speaker for their annual men's retreat. He immediately began rolling off a list of people and places from my past where his life and mine had intersected. In his words, I had been his spiritual mentor without my knowing it. As he told me his story, I came to find out that one of my earliest performances as a singer/songwriter had been instrumental in starting him out on his journey of faith.

On Sunday morning as he introduced me to the rest of the congregation, he embarrassed me with four of my early LPs (youthful pictures and very dated apparel) and commented on how it had been no small task to rescue them from the stash of memories in his basement. I was amazed that the albums he found had managed to survive all the garage sales his family had surely had over the last 30 years. He related that while he was searching for the albums the day before, his 11-year-old son had wanted to know what Dad was doing in the basement, to which his wife had replied: “Oh, your father is just finding himself down there.”

Apparently part of finding himself was in finding me, and though my ego wanted to bask in the attention, I couldn't. In fact, he said something so profound that I didn't know how to respond. I still don't, except to marvel at how right it is. He said it repeatedly during our conversations that weekend. “I couldn't wait for you to get here,” he said, with eyes as wide as a child's on Christmas morning, “because I wanted to personally tell you that I've been faithful all these years.”

It left me speechless every time. I couldn't even say, “Thank you,” because it wasn't about me; it was about him, and how important it was for me to be a witness to his faithfulness. And the more I heard it, the more something far greater than pride or accomplishment was welling up inside of me. It was a sense of gratefulness to God that he allowed me to be a part of this man's life.

Think about someone God used to start you down your own path of faith. Make it your goal to be able to get to that person and tell them you've been faithful - you haven't quit on your faith. It will be great for you, but take my word for it: It will be life-fulfilling for them.
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N.B. Recently I've been inspired to restart the journey of faith for the last time (I hope) by 2 music artiste namely KJ-52 and Seven places.

Their songs have really encouraged me to live for God (KJ-52's Are you Real?), overcome temptations (KJ-52's Life After Death) and love God so that I dedicate part of my time to Him everyday (Seven Places' Even When).

Their songs are available in the disc X 2005- 17 Christian Rock Hits available in all good christian stores.

Though I think I will never see them to tell them how I've kept my faith, at least on Earth, I'll certainly meet them in heaven and I know I'll be able to say to them, "I just wanted to tell you that I've been faithful!

They also inspired me to start this devotional blog on the 30th April 2006. This will certainly keep me accountable in my spiritual walk!

Praise be to God!!