His father said he had a drug problem. This was said in jest because, while Bob did not take drugs, he was drug to church whenever the doors were opened.
As Bob grew, he lived from one emotional high to another. He had even walked the isle when he was nine. He seemed to enjoy the emotion, but failed to ever truly accept the salvation offered by Jesus Christ. Bob's parents became embarrassed by their son's need to be on an emotional high.
In time, Bob would graduate high school and attend college. One day, Bob picked up a tract distributed by Billy Graham; it was called “Missing Heaven by Eighteen Inches”. The tract explained that eighteen inches is the distance between your head and heart and sometimes what you think misses the journey to the heart. It seemed to Bob as if Billy Graham had written the tract just for him, “maybe you have grown up in church and been baptized, taught Sunday School and may even be a preacher but you have never asked Christ to come into your heart and forgive your sin!”
Bob looked at the tract with new eyes. For the first time he conducted an honest soul search and found that he was empty, Jesus was not there and Bob was not thrilled with what he did find.
In the quiet of his room he bowed his head and surrendered his life to Jesus and invited the God of the universe to find a home in his heart.
For Bob the strangest sensation overcame him; peace and assurance. No bells, no whistles, no fireworks, no explosions, just a new heart that connected the eighteen inch gap with his head.
Because Bob had been a part of the church all of his life, it was hard for those who had seen him grow up to believe that he hadn't actually accepted Jesus. Bob asked his pastor to baptize him, “Why? You're a Christian!” came the quick reply. Bob quietly replied, “I wasn't before but now I am.”
These days Bob and his parents also connect in a new way. The embarrassment of a boy who looked only for an emotional high is replaced with spiritual conversation that is edifying to all of them.
Bob's dad recently asked him, “Who will see God?” Bob thought and replied, “The pure in heart.”
Bob's dad reemphasized what his son already knew; God looks at the heart and encourages us to do a self examination to see what we find in the depths of our heart and then dispense with those things that we have conformed to in our world and transform both our hearts and minds by the renewing of the Spirit.
God draws each of His children to Himself and we can only love Him when we understand that He first loved us and gave Himself for us. This news is humbling; it is often received with a sense of awe and incredible joy.
Bob had heard the stories, he had grown up in church and yet the message in his heart did not match the message in his mind. He said yes to a journey of eighteen inches and his life will never be the same.
By Glenn A. Hascall
