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Moving Toward The Sound

    It was one of those things you never forget…one of those miracles of God that happens when sincere Christians try to do something to make a difference.  They come at the most unusual times, but they come…they come by the grace of God.

    Our Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City, Alabama, was comprised of a group of wonderful Christian young people who accepted any challenge to bring Christ to the world.  We had renovated an old house in the middle of town, and creatively named it the Christian Youth Center .  It was open during the summer of 1981 and the response was overwhelming.  Over 25,000 young people visited the Christian Youth Center that year and God was right in the middle of everything.

    One of our projects was to have a Biblethon.  We would read the Bible non-stop from a loud speaker on the front steps of our youth center for all the town to hear.  We took thirty minute shifts and began early one afternoon.  Sixty-seven hours and fifty minutes…that’s how long it took.  We set up chairs in front of the steps for people to sit and listen.  Each chair had a Bible if anyone wanted to follow along.  Sometimes twenty or thirty people would be there…during the night there were times when only the reader was outside.  Several of us stayed there the whole time and tried to sleep inside.  Being a light sleeper, let me say that was the longest I have ever gone with so little sleep.  On the other hand, how many of us can say we were kept awake at night by the Bible!

    It was 2:30 am on the second morning when I looked out the window to see how everything was going.  To my surprise, a lady was sitting in one of the chairs, crying as she listened.  I sat down beside her, and she told her remarkable story.  There had been a fight at her house several blocks away, and she had been thrown outside.  As she sat on the ground and stared into the dirt, she was sure no one cared about her. She had nowhere to go.  For the first time, she thought about ending her life, and she began to think about a way to do it.  Suddenly, something stopped her thinking…it was a voice in the darkness and it seemed to be speaking to her.  She didn’t know what to think.  It was 2:30 in the morning.  She thought she was surely going crazy, and asked herself, “Is God calling to me?” 

    She began to walk towards the sound, and as she did, it became louder.  She continued for several blocks until she came to our house.  She sat down in one of our chairs and realized God had been calling her.  He had been calling her through the voice of a teenager.  We talked for a while and that lady gave her life to Christ! 

    As I began to focus my attention on what was being read, I realized that we were in the book of Psalms.  I walked up to the podium and looked over our reader’s shoulder to notice that he was reading the 31st Psalm.  It dawned on me that during our visitor’s most stressful moments, there was a real chance that the 23rd Psalm was being read.  She only heard faintly, but she followed the sound.  It led her to that moment when her life was changed forever…when she accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior.  Someone did love her…there was hope!

    I praise God that he uses our feeble attempts to serve Him to change the world.  His voice is speaking to each of us, sometimes in the most unlikely places…through the most unlikely people.  I pray that we follow the sound…who knows where it will lead us.

Love in Christ,
Billy

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