Different, Important & Useful #WilcoWednesday

Welcome to Wilco Wednesday! If you are a new around these parts, “Wilco” is Army-speak for “Will Comply.” Think of it as saying “Roger, God. Got it. Will do.”  So that is what Wednesday here at 7 Days Time is all about– exploring his decrees and seeking guidance for what complying with Him looks like in everyday life. The best part? He loves us for who we are, not what we do.  Remember: He doesn’t want perfection, just obedience. Share. Enjoy. Interact. And let’s respond to God’s call with  a hearty “Wilco, Lord!” Welcome my friend Tara as she makes her writing debut! (Be sure to give her some love and leave a comment below.) 

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Go down to the end of our street then take a left. Take the third right and keep going until you reach Linden.

I made this 1.12 mile walk every Wednesday night and Sunday morning starting when I was 10-years-old.  That 30 minute walk was the difference between my parents and I…  and it was the glue that held my faith together.

What made me want to go to church so bad I would take myself? That’s easy. Her name was Evelyn and she once lived across the street from my childhood home.

You see, I am an only child who was born on a street where my parents (ages 30 and 32 at the time) were the youngest on block.  I was the first baby to be brought home to N. Campbell St. in over 20 years. Our neighbors to our left were Grandma Bonnie and Papa Ted. Across the street was my “boyfriend” Jim (who was in his late 60’s) and his wife Joan. Our neighbors to the right were Norbert and his wife Rita. And across the street lived my best friend Evelyn.

Evelyn and I spent many hours a week just talking and making hand-made greeting cards. I started attending church with Evelyn when I was only 4-years-old. On Sunday mornings, I would sit at my big living room window and wait for her garage door to go up, which was my sign that she was ready for church. I would run across the street and get in the car headed to Englewood Baptist. Every Sunday April through October (she was what we Missourians call a snow bird and would head south to Florida for the winter,) I would go to church with Evelyn and sit with her during the service.

Granted, some Sundays I would fall asleep with my head on her lap.  Other days I would be coloring in a notebook.  But occasionally,  I would help Evelyn look up the verses in the Bible. On the way home, I would ask questions about was the pastor said. I never went to children’s church but I still absorbed some of what was being taught. When I was eight, Evelyn started getting really sick.  At one point, she didn’t remember who some of her family members were.

I recall going to see her at the nursing home and she had to type so that a computer could talk for her. I started to ask my mom and other adults around me why God would hurt my best friend. When no one had an answer for me I decided to find out for myself.

My dad and I have always enjoyed long walks together. I remember the time we walked past a Baptist church and I asked my parents if they would take me one Sunday.  When they said no, I went by myself. I walked in, and with no fear, I asked the first man I saw in a suit why God lets our friends get sick. Turns out, that man in the suit was the youth pastor at Linden. Even though I was only in 5^th grade and not 6^th like everyone else in the youth group, he invited me to come upstairs. He had me call my parents so they knew I made it safely. I felt like I belonged.

Three weeks before summer break that year, Evelyn passed away from Alzheimer’s.  I was so mad and hurt that God would take my best friend that I decided to take a break from church. Stephen the youth pastor would call and check up on me. He even asked if I needed a ride to church.  But my 5^th-going-into-6^th-grade heart was broken. So I was just not feeling it.

Once school started back up, so did the Wednesday night meetings for the youth group. My friend Stepho and her parents started coming and picking me up. I continued to go to youth group all through 6^th grade.

The summer between 6^th and 7^th grade I went on a camping trip with the youth group. They did a survivor themed camp in teams. Each day,  we would have to complete challenges every day to earn things like extra food (sweets) or extra game time. Every night around a fire we would do devotion and quiet time. One night after our quiet time, Stephen readied to close the night out in prayer, just as he had done every night before. But this time, he asked if anyone that had not accepted Jesus into their hearts, to look up and make eye contact with him.  So I did. After the prayer was over, Stephen sat with me for three hours talking to me about all my questions. We then said a prayer, and that night on a log by a lake at 11:45pm I became a Christian.

When the week was over, I was so excited to head home and tell my parent all about God and the amazing things He does. My parents were very “Meh” about the situation.

I continued to get rides or walk myself to church all the way through my 13^th birthday. On my birthday my parents asked what I wanted.  I told them both that I wanted them to stop smoking and to come to church with me just one time. My dad has been cigarette-free for 15 years. And since then, both my mom and dad have confessed their life to Christ.

Both my parents go to church most every Sunday now, and I can’t help but think that Evelyn had her hand in that. Without our Sunday outings and our handmade greeting cards, (which always had a Bible reference in them,) I’m not sure I would have ever found Christ or realized that I had the need and desire in my heart.

The Bible tells us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15.)

In Scriptures like Mark 5:19 and John 15:27, Jesus gives us examples that tell us we are to share His story as well as our own. “…He said to him, ‘Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.’”

 You never know what God will use to bring others to him. We are to share our testimony the good, the bad, the ugly, the sad, the joyful, because He can use it, ALL of it, to save others. He can use our stories of finding our faith to bring about the glory of God to others. “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” ~1 John 4:14

I find this calling very hard sometimes and uncomfortable at others, but then I think about the little girl who had no fear… just questions and concerns. The little girl that walked 1.12 miles to find out what was missing, and just who this Jesus guy was.

The lost don’t care about your box of comfort.  They care about the who, what, when, where and how of salvation. Everyone’s story is different, but everyone’s is important and useful. “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.” ~Psalm 105:1.

Tara was born in Gladstone, Missouri (Kansas City.) She attended Hannibal Lagrange Collage in Hannibal, Missouri for criminal justice administration. Tara is the owner of Tara Hayes Photography, an army wife of 8 years and mother to three boys ages six, five and two.