Prepare-for-War

campus and was naturally very excited at all the opportuni ties presented to me. I intended to explore them all. But, God remembered the covenant He had made with my parents. Within the first week of school the Lord put His hand on my life so powerfully that I was absolutely miserable. I knew I wasn't right with the Lord, but I didn't know what to do about it. I was scared to death to go to a church because the group in which I had been raised taught that formal churches which had pastors were operating in sin against the Holy Spirit, and that if any of us went into a church the Lord would strike us dead or turn us over to Satan for torment. That teaching was completely in error, but I wasn't so sure about that and was terrified of going to a church. Finally, after two weeks of agonizing, I asked my two roommates to go to church with me. They weren't afraid to go. They had both been raised in churches. Neither one of them was a Christian. We finally went to a small campus ministry and I was much relieved to find that the Lord did not strike me dead, even when I actually spoke with the minister himselfl For the first time in my life I was taught by that minister that it is possible to have a personal relationship with the Lord such that He will speak and communicate with you just as He did the Biblical characters. However, he also stressed that we could not have such a relationship with the Lord unless we made a total commitment to Him. I had never heard such teaching. For the first time in my life I saw and experienced God's love from that group of Christian students. I saw the pastor and others living a close walk with the Lord and my heart cried out for such a relationship with God. It was the total commitment part which made me hesitate. I found that extremely frightening, but I knew I had no choice. Finally, at the end of the first semester I couldn't stand it any longer.l spent the whole night before my histol ogy final pacing the floor in tears and agonizing instead of studying for the test. At last, as dawn was breaking, I took a

28