Into the Fire

Now head coach of the Washington Redskins, Jim Zorn was the young quarterback of the new professional football franchise known as the Seattle Seahawks. He became the darling of enthusiastic football fans in Seattle and never failed to mention his faith in Jesus Christ whenever he was interviewed which was frequently. It was Jim Zorn’s vocal profession of his faith boldly proclaimed on the multiple TV stations in Seattle that God used to get this lost soul saved.

My husband met the Lord just shy of two years after I came to know Him. Almost immediately after a very intense battle for his soul, when he was secured in Jesus, we began what he named Racetrackers for Christ.

Much earlier when I was 20 years old and on the first major trip of my life, I sat in our little room in Victoria Station on the outskirts of London and “defended” God’s existence to my friend and two young American women studying in France who the proprietor had added to the occupancy of our room, not yet a Christian and totally uninformed as to what the Bible said about Him. A few days later when we visited them in Aix en Provence, I nearly died by asphyxiation from a propane leak in the bathroom after taking a long shower because of very little water pressure. I would’ve died in sin if I had succumbed at that time.

When I was 18 or 19, I was sitting in the “back” of an MGB sports car behind the passenger seat which held one of the friends in that car with his sister on his lap, giving her a ride home from work. A man barreled through the red light and smashed into the baby blue car right behind where I was sitting. None of us were severely injured in spite of the collision. Of course my friend’s “new” used car was totaled, and I spent the night in the hospital with a sprained back after first going home. We all could have been killed. I would’ve died in sin.

If I had to attribute my total lapse into what I knew in my heart was wrong to one thing, I would tell you it was the lyrics to the songs of the day in my youth. Always being attuned to words, the moral decay within the powerful music eventually wore down my standard which floated adrift without the anchor of knowing Jesus Christ.

Father, you have been so good to me. Extending mercy when none was deserved. Preserving my life until I came to know you. Thank you for watching over me, Lord. I’m still desperate for you. Thank you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.