Men at Work #109

Robert Laughlin Men at Work #109

Timothy, a lay volunteer

Every time it’s a different town, one where I’m not known. Doctor Jeremy thunders to his climax, still moving to me though I’ve heard it more times than I can remember. He calls on his listeners to come forward and be saved. I get out of my seat in the pews and walk up the aisle, tears rolling down my cheeks. Doctor Jeremy says I’m a natural actor, but all I have to do to make myself cry is remember my life as it was, how I might have gone to my last day on Earth a stranger to His love. I don’t think of my function in Doctor Jeremy’s church as an imposture; none of us think that. We walk up the aisle, and dozens, hundreds, of newcomers follow us into the light. They just have to see someone else go first; they have to see there’s no shame in wanting to be saved.