Happy Birthday
Today is my birthday. I am 50 years old today. Those who know me well, will be surprised that I am claiming April 8th as my birthday because they know I was born in September and that I am more than 50 years old. So, I need to explain.
Fifty years ago today, I was a senior in high school. Because of a girl, I had begun attending the Central Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. That church brought in a visiting pastor named Hugh Pyle to conduct a revival meeting. That did not interest me—at all. However, something the visiting speaker said Sunday morning got my attention. He said that after every week night service, He was going to meet with the teenagers and talk about “Love, Courtship, and Marriage.” I decided to attend those week night services so that I could hear what he had to say about love, dating, and marriage.
After the session on Tuesday night, April 8, 1958, I was headed to my car, when the pastor of the church, C. Sumner Wemp, stopped me. He asked me, if I knew for sure I was going to heaven.
At the time, I thought if anyone had a crack at heaven, I did. Because my father was from Greece and was a Greek Orthodox, I had been baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church. Moreover, when I started dating, a girl took me to a Baptist church, where at her coaching, I went forward and was baptized. From my point of view, I was a member of two churches. That ought to cover it. Besides, I had been baptized twice. Since the Greek Orthodox practice triune immersion, I had been dipped in baptismal waters four times. Surely I had points in my favor.
Nevertheless, when the pastor asked me, if I knew for sure I was going to heaven, I had to admit I did not. I gave him my story, but he was unimpressed. So he invited me to his office to tell me how I could know for sure I was going to heaven. Because I was a Greek Orthodox, he used a Catholic Bible to explain to me that I was a sinner, that Jesus suffered and died for my sins, and that I needed to trust Jesus Christ to get to heaven.
I remember realizing that before God I was a sinner, but what really came through to me that night was that God loved me so much that He sent His Son to die for me. I had known Jesus died, but I had never understood that His death paid for my sins and that it made it possible for me to go to heaven. I was overwhelmed. I wept. I trusted Christ that night and literally felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted off me. I was overjoyed. Later, when I got home, my mother took one look at me and said, “What happened to you?”
That night I was born again, this time spiritually. I became a member of God’s family. From that night until this day, I have never doubted that God is my Father and heaven is my home. So you see, April 8th is my birthday—my spiritual birthday.
Now that is what I call a “happy” birthday.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 4/8/2008
Fifty years ago today, I was a senior in high school. Because of a girl, I had begun attending the Central Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. That church brought in a visiting pastor named Hugh Pyle to conduct a revival meeting. That did not interest me—at all. However, something the visiting speaker said Sunday morning got my attention. He said that after every week night service, He was going to meet with the teenagers and talk about “Love, Courtship, and Marriage.” I decided to attend those week night services so that I could hear what he had to say about love, dating, and marriage.
After the session on Tuesday night, April 8, 1958, I was headed to my car, when the pastor of the church, C. Sumner Wemp, stopped me. He asked me, if I knew for sure I was going to heaven.
At the time, I thought if anyone had a crack at heaven, I did. Because my father was from Greece and was a Greek Orthodox, I had been baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church. Moreover, when I started dating, a girl took me to a Baptist church, where at her coaching, I went forward and was baptized. From my point of view, I was a member of two churches. That ought to cover it. Besides, I had been baptized twice. Since the Greek Orthodox practice triune immersion, I had been dipped in baptismal waters four times. Surely I had points in my favor.
Nevertheless, when the pastor asked me, if I knew for sure I was going to heaven, I had to admit I did not. I gave him my story, but he was unimpressed. So he invited me to his office to tell me how I could know for sure I was going to heaven. Because I was a Greek Orthodox, he used a Catholic Bible to explain to me that I was a sinner, that Jesus suffered and died for my sins, and that I needed to trust Jesus Christ to get to heaven.
I remember realizing that before God I was a sinner, but what really came through to me that night was that God loved me so much that He sent His Son to die for me. I had known Jesus died, but I had never understood that His death paid for my sins and that it made it possible for me to go to heaven. I was overwhelmed. I wept. I trusted Christ that night and literally felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted off me. I was overjoyed. Later, when I got home, my mother took one look at me and said, “What happened to you?”
That night I was born again, this time spiritually. I became a member of God’s family. From that night until this day, I have never doubted that God is my Father and heaven is my home. So you see, April 8th is my birthday—my spiritual birthday.
Now that is what I call a “happy” birthday.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 4/8/2008
