Other Pittsburgh Area Colleges ✠ University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee ✠ University of Wisconsin - Superior ✠ University of Wyoming ✠ Vanderbilt University (TN) ✠ Wright State University (OH) ✠
Ball State University (IN) ✠ Central Michigan University ✠ Chico State University (CA) ✠ Colorado State University ✠ Dickinson State University (ND) ✠ Har
Of Testimonies, Healings, and
B
A Holy Sp
eing Lutheran felt like part of my genetic makeup, highlighted by the fact that I was related to at least three-quarters of the people in my church outside the small town of Ida, Michigan.
H I G H E R
T H I N G S __
I loved it. Every church event was like a family reunion. Church was so integrated into my home and community life that I thought the IHS carved into the beautiful altar stood for Ida High School until I started confirmation. Sunday School teachers were cousins, distant cousins, or descendants of someone who married my dad’s cousin a generation or two before. Even four years of confirmation on Saturday mornings wasn’t so bad because I got to be with family. I felt at ease at church. I knew Jesus Christ was my Savior from sin and death. I loved my Lutheran church, but . . . I was curious about kids at school who seemed dramatically Christian. During my senior year, a kid talked about a night at his church where people gave testimonies. He explained that’s when people described how they were saved. “What’s your testimony?” he asked. I frantically tried to remember a time when I didn’t know I was a Christian. Going all the way back to my preschool Sunday School memories with nothing coming up, I blurted,“I was baptized a week after I was born.” “That doesn’t count!” he said rather indignantly. Feeling embarrassed, I said,“I’m sorry I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t saved.Your story is really exciting though.” He went on to tell how some people were healed while praying at his church. Suddenly, I felt I was missing out on something. No one at my church ever walked in sick and came out healed. No one told exciting stories about how they found Jesus. Everyone just kind of knew Jesus in my church. How boring! So began my descent into doubting if being Lutheran was all it was cracked up to be.This thought went against every molecule in my body. Even so, I accepted invitations to attend my friend’s church on Sunday nights, while going to my Lutheran church on Sunday morning. I saw things like a Holy Spirit Car Wash where people walked through a gauntlet of outstretched arms and hands. By the end of the line, the washee was speaking in tongues, a sure sign that the Holy Spirit had entered into them. Despite intense curiosity, I declined going through the Wash. Confirmed
Lutherans didn’t do Holy Spirit Car Washes. Throughout my college years, most of my friends were not Lutherans but evangelicals. During this time, I still identified with being Lutheran, mainly because if I didn’t, my body would surely disintegrate. I graduated from an evangelical Christian college and ended up joining the staff of Youth for Christ as the token Lutheran. I met some wonderful people during this period and admire the dedication of these friends in bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the unchurched. I credit them for influencing me in many positive ways, but . . . Something was gnawing within me during my first year with YFC. I felt good about what I was doing, but my mind kept going back to “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him,” from Luther’s Small Catechism.That conflicted with the YFC practice of asking people to make a decision to accept Jesus. If they weren’t making a decision, what was going on inside those unchurched kids who suddenly believed? Later that year, my new roommate turned out to be a Lutheran parochial school teacher. I hoped sharing an apartment with a Lutheran teacher might validate my Lutheranness. One evening, I happened to glance at his bookshelf and noticed a book I had never seen before called the Book of Concord. My roommate was amazed that I was brought up Lutheran and had never read anything besides the Small Catechism. I began reading the strong and clear statement of faith in the Augsburg Confession. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever read.Totally impressed, I poured over the rest of its contents. I felt like I had returned home from a long, long journey.
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win Cities ✠ University of Northern Colorado ✠ University of Northern Iowa ✠ University of Oklahoma ✠ University of Tennessee ✠ University of Pittsburgh &
