My name is Richard Causey and I live in New Jersey. Growing up I never went to Church. My parents never even mentioned it. Not because they didn’t believe but because that’s the way they were brought up. I wasted half of my life waiting for the true understanding of my call to Christ. I was never a Christian, I didn’t even know what a Christian was. That is until my wife, now of 25 years came into my life. It was Bobbie, my wife, that Gently, pull me into the body of Christ. First through asking me if I wanted to play softball for her Church.(If you wanted to play for Blue Anchor Church you had to attend Church twice a month. It was to hard to keep track of which two weeks so I started going every Sunday.)

After attending this Church for about 2 years one Sunday as I was sitting in the pew thinking to myself. Life was good to me. I had a wife that I know GOD sent to me and two beautiful girls. I had a good job and was able to provide for my family so that we could live in comfort. What else could I ask for. I had it ALL. Then our preacher, Don Ott, who was into preaching salvation said, “Suppose you have a good job, a loving family, small children, and a wife who is saved. What if you were involved in a car accident and because of your injuries you were going to die, here’s the catch, and your whole family was with you and you knew everyone else was dead. What if you weren’t saved? Would you go to Heaven? Would you be there with them to live forever?” Well he caught my attention.

Then what he said next, “NO you will not go to Heaven and you’ll never see you family again. You’ll never know their love or the love of GOD ever again. You will however live forever in pain and agony and then you’ll wish you had listened to me today. But it will be too late. No matter what you say, no matter what you do you’ll be there for eternity.” I though how could one not BELIEVE?

Whoa, was I wrong. How could I be so wrong and not know? What was I thinking? Could my giving, my good works, and my helping feed the hungry all count for nothing? Then Don said,” It say in the Bible: (Mark 16:16 NIV) Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. “ Then he quoted, “John 3:3-7 3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." 4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" 5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' “ Then Don said “Let us pray.” and we all know to bow our heads and close our eyes. “With all heads bowed and eyes closed, if there is anyone who wants to except Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior raise your hand.

I didn’t have to think, I didn’t have to wait, I raised my hand. Don said, “I see you, GOD Bless You.” After Church Don and I got together and talked for hours. I WAS SAVED>>> PTL…….

Then I read this story

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs.After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination. As the one lone ember's flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and "dead as a doornail." Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it. As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, "Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday."

This was me until the Left Behind books and New Hope Village chatroom….. I found in there a warm, caring group of Christians. I listened for awhile and finally joined in with their conversation and they excepted me as if I were a long lost friend, which I was. I’ve been finding myself in there more and more. And then back to this morning.Thank You Lord for these people.

Christians…….. We need to be more like the flame in the fireplace. I see all the people who are not saved are like the ember. A lot of them believe but they really don’t want to give themselves over to GOD. That’s where we come into play. We have to bring them closer to the flame of Christ. We need to invite and tell everyone about our Churches. We need to get everyone INVOLVED. People need to see that we are everyday people just like them, except we have JESUS in our hearts and minds. We have to let them know it’s OK to cry, OK to have their emotions out in the open. It’s a part of us and part of turning our all over to GOD. It’s time to stand up for what you believe in and preach it.