Thursday, November 01, 2012

The Scavenger Hunt


Until the summer I had a head-on collision with Jesus, my only experience with seriously ‘religious’ folks was a Seventh-Day Adventist boy from my first grade class who got into a lot of trouble because his parents didn't allow him to attend school on Saturdays (yes, we did have school 6 days a week before our communist government had mercy on us and put us on a Monday through Friday schedule).  I secretly wished my parents wouldn't allow me to go to school at least one day a week either – religious reasons or not - but they were good communist who believed strongly in the value of education, so I was out of luck. Other than D.Dj., I didn't know anybody – not a single soul - who believed in God, much less followed Jesus.

An orthodox priest who happened to be our neighbor didn't even try to pretend that his wearing the long black robe signifying his religious authority had anything to do with the existence of God.  His priestly office was just a job like any other that helped pay the bills and provided some extra money for Animal Kingdom chocolates and cheap brandy he seemed to enjoy very much.  I loved him dearly for lack of pretense and for introducing me into the fascinating world of collecting photos of exotic animals and putting them in well-protected albums.  We swapped the duplicates of our Animal Kingdom pictures while eating the thin chocolates, making sure the pictures remain pristine.  We never talked about God, or Jesus, or any other similar potentially volatile topic that could ruin our perfect friendship.  

But, everything was different now.  Sharing my personal story about meeting Christ with anyone who cared to listen was just a part of this new life of faith.  Living in the city with the population of more than 1.5 million people, I was convinced that tucked away somewhere there must be others who truly knew Jesus and was determined to ferret them out. I threw myself into scouring various resources in search for an evangelical church within a 100 miles radius. After a couple of weeks of research, I discovered that there were actually three, all relatively easily accessible with public transportation.  I was ecstatic. I couldn't wait to meet my new eternal family so we can grow, mature and live together happily ever after.




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