SIXTY-FIVE YEARS AND LEARNING

My name is Bert Walters. I was born January 10, 1941 in Wichita, Kansas.  Like so many people of my generation, our family grew up attending church every Sunday morning and evening. Most of us, including myself, have never questioned whether God exists. We were taught that he did, and we had no reason to question what we were taught.  In many ways that has been a blessing in my life. Regardless of the circumstances I have faced so far in my life, the one thing that I have not seriously ever questioned is the presence of God and the Holy Spirit.

About one year after my college graduation, I met my wife, who was just graduating (I guess that tells you her age). Both sets of parents were strong Christians and we had a beautiful wedding. Lea Ann and I have been blessed with 41 years together as man and wife. We have had our moments of great happiness, such as the birth of our daughter and periods of great sadness with the deaths of our parents. We have prayed together many years about jobs, whether Lea Ann should work when Jodie was young, for our friends in need, our country, our church, and thousands of other issues/concerns. God has been faithful to answer the needs, most of the time the way we wanted, sometimes not what we had planned, and on some prayers we are still waiting for his final answers.

Answered prayers come in many ways, I have learned. One I’ve never forgotten occurred in 1996. I suffered from severe prescription drug dependency and was hospitalized in the “Environmental” Ward of El Camino Hospital for about two weeks. Every day and every evening members of the church family as well as some very close friends made the trip to the hospital to pray with Lea Ann and me, to encourage me, to listen without judgment and to walk the talk with me. Following my stay in the hospital and several months of counseling, I made a complete recovery because of God’s intervention.  God works through every person in magnificent ways that we can only begin to understand.

We have watched our daughter struggle with various issues as all parents do with their children, but by far the most defining one has been her refusal to have anything to do with “Church” since the end of her high school days.  As a parent I often wonder what changed. Was it the schools she attended, something we did as parents, the influence of her friends, or simply her own choosing? Regardless, I still believe God will bring her back. Sometimes I ask myself, do I really believe what I am saying or is it just because this is what I was taught from childhood?  Is it blind faith? Is it reading and hearing God’s word or life’s experience?

For me the answer is all three. I believe we must experience first hand situations where we have no control whatsoever over our own destination combined with searching and contemplating His Word, spending time in prayer, and putting into practice what God has taught us.

The journey of finding Christ begins at different times for every person. I pray that when yours begins it will be as unique to you as the person God will have you become.