In the book of Isaiah we hear these very words proclaiming “good news”; “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’” When Isaiah wrote these words it was a message to the people of Israel who had just been released from captivity thousands of years ago. In Isaiah’s day there were no cell phones, news broadcasters or internet services, only those who would travel long distances over the mountains and through the valleys to share the news with those who had not heard that they were now free from their captivity. The Apostle Paul would echo these very words and share the good news with a multitude about what Jesus has done for all of humanity in bringing all who would trust him into a newly restored relationship with a living God.
I can still remember the day when the good news was shared with me. It was in the year 1988, a year that brought to my wife and I many trials and tribulations. We had teenage children who pushed the rebellious limits with us, drug and alcohol problems, school suspensions, and other problems. We had financial losses. We had marital problems. It was like our world was falling in all around us. Towards the fall of that year my wife came to me and said “we needed something”, just not sure what that could be. She did however ask me if I would be willing to attend a Billy Graham crusade in a local sports stadium. My first reaction to this was anything but positive. However, I worked with a man who I knew to be “religious” and I felt I could trust him, so I asked him about this Billy Graham fellow. His advice to me was simple, just go see for yourself. So off we went. The stadium was packed. It was the last night of the crusade, standing room only. I listened to Dr. Graham’s message and for the most part it went right over my head, but at the end he simply asked the crowd that if they wanted to know God to come forward, which I did. It was there in the midst of a huge crowd that a man met me and shared the good news about Jesus Christ with me. I don’t know why but I chose to trust him because I could sense he had something that I needed.
That night, I prayed for the first time in my life and asked Jesus into my life. I accepted him as God’s own son and asked him to forgive me for the sin of disregarding him in my life. That night as I left the stadium I had an incredible sense of order, peace and joy. I told my wife, “I don’t know what these people have, but I want it”. Knowing the living God has transformed my life over past thirty years. I have sensed His living presence with me every day since then, but most of all I am forever thankful for the man who met me that night in a crowed stadium and shared the good news with me. When I look around me I see a very broken world. In many ways it is as hopeless as my year was in 1988, but my prayer for all who read this is that they too will let this good news of a living and relational God transform their lives.
— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Paul Watkins is pastor of Church of the Nazarene, Monroe.
