Stepping Up--Part II

The Bible study that I followed the piano player to didn't change my heart, but it did change my life. I had been brought up in the church and raised by parents who led our family in daily devotions. At 10, I realized that I was a sinner and asked Jesus to forgive me and to give me eternal life, but so much of my thought processes and actions remained unchanged. I'd let Jesus transform my heart, but I was still hanging onto my life for all I was worth.

Once I entered the study, my infatuation with the piano player gradually faded, but my love for Jesus was fanned into a brightly burning fame. The Bible study itself had been birthed out of a teen Sunday school class in a local church. It started as a small group that met in homes on Monday nights, but it quickly outgrew the homes as high school students from both schools in Greenville and every denomination began to attend. Eventually, the adult leaders started a Christian coffeehouse in downtown Greenville, NC amongst all the college bars. It was a place where we grew in God's Word on Monday nights and grew in relationship with each other on the weekends with Christian bands often playing in the background. It was truly an extraordinary time, and I don't have any word to explain it other than "revival". It was revival on a smaller scale than we often read about, but it was a revival that swept two high schools and changed scores of hearts. I didn't realize how rare and precious our time was until I went to college and met many friends who professed to be the only Christian that they knew of in their high school.

I only have vague recollections what we studied--like the building of the temple and topics like gaining wisdom. The thing that truly impacted me was meeting young people who were completely consumed with passion for Jesus. These were teens and people in their early twenties who had surrendered their lives in totality and who lived, talked, ate and breathed their love for Him. So many of you have written asking me about what Bible study we did. Although I love the abundance of authored Bible studies that are available to us today, studying God's Word directly and seeing lives that inspired me were the essential pieces in my life-transformation.

Joseph Sasser was one of the people who inspired me most. He was the lead singer and guitar player for Cross, but I never had a crush on him because of his beautiful, godly girlfriend Beth. Joseph led praise and worship for our Bible study and often talked to us about loving Jesus and living our lives as worship to Him. He showed me a depth and vitality of relationship with Jesus that I was missing in my own life. He showed me something that I realized I wanted, and I've never been the same since.

Over a year ago, I got the shocking news of Joseph's death. He and Beth had been married for years but had just had their first child. Joseph died suddenly in his early 40s. Truthfully, I hadn't thought about Joseph and Beth for years, but I grieved his death because of the place that he had held in my heart and life. Even though his life was short, Joseph reminds me every day of the power of one life lived out for the glory of Jesus. His life makes me examine my own today as much as it did over 20 years ago. What am I contributing to the lives of others around me?