I learned just how crafty God was after I joined the Navy on August 23, 1970 and attended boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois. A man in my company by the name of Gary Morstad was a Christian who loved God. He got permission from our Company Commander to take any who wished to a Sunday night service at the chapel on the School side of the base. That meant we would be outside of boot camp and where normal people were.
Little did I know that this was a trap that God had set up. Gary, myself and three others went to this service. I guess the service was alright, but what I really liked was that after the service they had cookies, kool aid and we got to meet to some girls. Girls! I had not seen a female in weeks. The next week I was back again, and the weeks that followed.
I don’t remember anything that was said or preached at that chapel, but I do remember Gary and I talking as we walked from our barracks to the chapel and back. It was as a result of those talks that I recognized my need for Christ. If not for there being girls at the chapel, I am not so sure I would have gone back a second time and had those talks where I learned of Christ.
God knew what he was doing when he had those girls at the service. I am sure those girls never knew how God used their presence to woo me to Christ. They might have thought being there was of no eternal consequence, yet their answering God’s call to attend those services helped bring me to salvation.
We may not know until we get to Heaven what our following Christ has meant in the lives of others. God does not call us all to great, heroic deeds or to evangelize thousands. All He ask is for our obedience, and then He will do a great work in the hearts of men. Perhaps God will use the sight of you at church as bait to a non-Christian to return again next week. You might never know in this life just how important a part you played in that person’s salvation.
Photo Credit: 101107-N-4743B-059 by U.S. Pacific Fleet
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