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The Rock Thrower


“To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,”
Isaiah 61:3


 A few years ago I made the decision to take a sabbatical from attending the organized church.  I had been a faithful active member for many years.  I taught Sunday school, served in bus ministry for ten years, worked with the youth in my community, went out witnessing, took all the classes the church recommended I should take in order to serve in any capacity. For years this was my life and I began to since something was wrong.  I began to question things and this is when my awakening began.

I always thought I was a good Christian based on the fact that I went to church every Sunday, didn’t smoke, drink or went to clubs.  Basically, I was a morally good person.  My seat in heaven was secure so I thought.  But after years of attending church I began to question my Christianity, “Am I truly serving God”? It started me on a journey in search of the truth.  My journey began by me reading the bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse.  I would spend hours reading the bible and talking to the Lord.  At the time I had stopped going to the church I was attending and began to have fellowship with Jesus in my little apartment.  What a special time it was, I loved it.  It was there that I found the Jesus of the bible and discovered that I had not been serving Him, but man.  Following mans traditions and church doctrine, reducing Christianity to being obedient to a man instead of being in a love relationship with our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

As I read the scriptures I saw how Jesus dealt with people in sin, one in particular the woman caught in adultery.  It exposed me and showed me how inappropriately I had handled situations.   You see I have always been the rock thrower.  I was the type of person who would point the finger and condemn others for their short comings.  Not only did I throw rocks, but insults and scripture.  Thank God I didn’t die during that time because I would have bust hell wide open.  Sad but true.  The Jesus of the bible exposed my sin and shame to draw me to Himself.  God loves us and He is not willing that any man should perish.  This is why God must deal with our sin, because sin leads to death and ultimately eternal separation from God.  Since I met the Jesus of the bible I am no longer the rock thrower.  I now cover those who have been hurt by the rocks to encourage them in their walk with the Lord.

Today I attend a small fellowship in Burlington, a young pastor, his family and their living-room.  The word has been so precious and life changing.

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