Yes Lord!

I waited with anticipation for the movie, The Jesus Revolution, to release and hit the local theaters. I sat in the cushy reclined theater seat, popcorn in hand, antsy to get past all the movie  previews. The movie did not disappoint. I laughed, cried, had ah-ha moments and was glued to my seat when the credits rolled to an end. Truth is, myself and the friends I went with, sat in silence long past everyone was gone and the theater was dark. Thank God for cell phone flash lights.

It impacted us.

I walked out wanting to rearrange my life in order to hear God  speak to me, so I could respond with a “Yes Lord”

It’s been a few weeks and it is still impacting me.

Lives Forever Changed

I was saved in that movement, baptized in that exact cove in Orange County and sat under the teaching of Pastor Chuck Smith. In my early twenties I was in the Maranantha Band, River of Life, touring the United States. My husband later became one of the early Calvary Chapel Pastors. I guess you could say, I go way back with the ministry of Calvary Chapel and Pastor Chuck Smith.

Though I reminisced about Pastor Chuck and his wife Kay, the movie was far bigger than them. Glued to the screen, the movie took me back to my first early love with Jesus and the first pastor I ever knew. In tears I remembered and relived the day  my mother was baptized by Chuck after some men burned her occult books and Tarot cards in a beach bonfire.

A Work of the Holy Spirit

Raised by an alcholic father and a mother who escaped into the occult, our little dysfunctional family was brought to life and light because of one man and his wife saying yes to Jesus. Two days following my mom’s baptism in her late 50’s, my father went to the church and accepted Christ, never drinking a drop of alcohol again. The Holy Spirit moved in great and powerful ways in those days. For the first time, I saw my parents love one another and literally watched them change before my very eyes. That was fifty years ago.  They loved a Jesus who rescued them from a dead-end life and ushered them into his arms as they aged.

Say Yes to Jesus

All of this  happened in our lives and many others  because one man  said yes to hippies, outcasts and doing church the unconventional way. I am not sure I would have had that courage but I am eternally grateful that Chuck and Kay Smith   said Yes to Jesus.  I am left today with one thing stirring in my heart–I want to say YES to Jesus in unconventional ways all the rest of my days. God can do a lot with a life that is willing to surrender to a sacred yes.

I don’t know how God is stirring in you these days, but as for me, I know that I am once again freshly aware of his presence, his power and his ability to use ordinary folks like me to do the will of the Father. My heart song, even as I write this is…Come Holy Spirit!

What about you?

Perhaps saying a new yes is where God is taking you in this season. Maybe it’s been a stretch of doing things in conventional ways that made sense to you and others… but you are not seeing the fruit you hoped for. What if, God called you out to do things that you didn’t feel quite qualified for? What if God was requiring a yes before the anointing to write that very book you’ve dreamed of could be written?

Will you join me in making,”Yes Lord”, a first and ordinary response to his extraordinary invite to follow Him and all that He is doing. In the wake of the revivals around our country, may we as Christian communicators have a revival of our hearts. I can’t wait to see what a Big God does with our surrendered yes.

Did you see the movie? Do you remember your early days walking with Jesus?  What does it stir in you now? How can you say YES to Jesus again in this season of life?