While God was pursuing me, He was also after the rest of my family.
My mother had been saved as a young girl. My dad had been an altar boy, but never had a relationship with Christ at all. My brother was a nine year old boy who had barely ever been in church. God was now after us all.
A new pastor had come to town. A family member out of state knew of his arrival and requested that he come and see our family. He did and was warmly received by my mother. My father not so much. He did his best to avoid the man’s visits. My mom made the commitment to visit his church and began to attend regularly. At first she went once a week, but soon became a three service a week attender.
She would come home and relay the goings on to my dad. The people she met, what happened during service and different things the pastor said in his sermons were brought up. Eventually, my dad started asking about her times there. He was growing curious.
One Wednesday night, my brother was not feeling well and my mom asked my dad if he would keep an eye on him while she went to church. My dad expressed that he was hoping to go that night. My mom excitedly acquiesced and let him go.
At this time, my dad was how I had always known him. He had long black hair to the middle of his back and a thick full mustache and beard. His apparel was made up of blue jeans, Harley t-shirts and biker boots. He accessorized with a buck knife on one side of his belt and a chain wallet on the other. He was well known for his love of motorcycles, Winston cigarettes and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. And he was going to church on his own.
He rode his custom chopper to the church, chained it to a telephone pole and went inside. No one gave him a second look because they had been praying for him for weeks. They didn’t care about his appearance or his mode of transportation. They were just glad he was there.
The pastor taught his lesson and when people were coming forward to pray, my dad came along with them. A man named Dave Berger met him at the front, shook his hand and showed him from the bible how he could know for certain he was on his way to Heaven. My dad prayed to receive Christ that night. His life would never be the same and neither would our family.
I thank God for a church that loved my dad enough to meet him right where he was and gave him the gospel.
Joel Stiff's Adventure 