“Eventually, the drugs paid a lot better than carpentry, so I left that behind. As I look back at all the things I did in the decades to follow, I don’t know how I am still alive today. I shouldn’t be. I should be dead or in jail. I hurt a lot of people and I did a lot of awful things. I couldn’t have cared less about God because I believed that He cared less about me. I was messed up. I knew that since birth. So I didn’t care about the future. I was going to live for me as long as I could because, in the end, it was all about me. However, no matter what I did, I never felt happy and deep down the lingering guilt and sorrow still remained.”
“It got to the point where I was done. It was December 21st and it was my forty-sixth birthday. I didn’t have a huge party. I didn’t have any party. No one was there to celebrate anything with me. I decided that this was the day to end it all. I was born on this day and I would die on this day. Almost forty years had passed since Ralph died and I still could not get over the guilt and sadness of what happened. I wished over and over again that I was the one who had died in that fire instead of him. Well, now was the time to go. I didn’t know if there was anything in the afterlife, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything.”
“I decided that I’d get a drink before I followed through with it. I thought that getting drunk would also keep me from backing out of it. I wanted no more of this life. I went to a local bar that I was a regular at. People used to stiffen up when I entered and I liked that. My reputation preceded me. I wasn’t a guy to mess with. I sat down at the bar, ordered a whiskey, and told the bartender to leave the bottle. They normally didn’t do that there, but they didn’t argue with me. I grabbed the shot glass and had brought it up to my lips when suddenly I saw someone out of the corner of my eye standing in the doorway to my left. It was Jack McKenzie.”
“In shock, I turned and looked at him. He stood there in his overcoat clutching his hat with his hands in front of him. His dark hair was now gray, but I could still easily recognize who it was. He looked a tad nervous, but mostly it was a look of relief. Unlike everyone else, though, he was not the least bit afraid. I sat there stunned. I didn’t know what to say or do. I instantly felt like I was eight years old again and I felt like getting off of the stool and running away. However, I just sat there quietly.”
“Jack walked up to me. With a smile touched with a bit of sadness he said, ‘Hello, James. I glad to finally see you again. Could I sit down here for a moment and talk to you?’”
“Still stunned, I replied, ‘Ok. Sure. What are you doing here?’”
“‘I came here to say to you that I’m sorry.’”
“‘Sorry for what?’ I said stupefied. ‘What wrong thing did you ever do to me? You and Marie were the nicest people I ever knew? Why would you ever say you’re sorry to me?’ I felt a mixture of sadness and anger. I was the one who was wrong! I was the one who killed Ralph! I am the one who should be sorry!”
“‘I’m sorry that my wife and I abandoned you. You were a little boy in a terrible household and we didn’t try harder to rescue you. We were so grieved after losing Ralph that thinking of you only heightened our pain. We were weak. We were wrong. You are worth so much more than you have ever been told you are and we weren’t there to tell you.’”
“‘Now you just wait a minute!’ I said in brewing fury as tears began to fill my eyes. ‘I deserve everything I got! Ralph died because of me! I brought a lighter over from home that night and we were lighting leaves on fire in the garage. When we were done I threw the smoldering stems in the trashcan, which later caught fire. None of this would EVER have happened if I had not been there! Everything was my fault, so don’t you dare say to me that you’re sorry! I ruined your life and I don’t even deserve to live!’”
“The bar wasn’t that full, but I noticed there were less people in there. People didn’t hang around when I got angry. Jack, however, didn’t flinch.”
“‘I want you to know something, James,’ Jack said calmly but seriously. ‘I knew you guys burned some leaves that night. I saw on the garage floor a partially burned leaf that you guys must have stamped out before you came in. I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. I figured that you guys had some matches or something and I was going to talk to you in the morning about the danger of it. I never thought that there was going to be a fire from it. That night was a terrible accident and I should have checked the garage better, but I didn’t. You guys were eight. You were kids and you didn’t know better. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. We ultimately have to be able to accept that sometimes terrible accidents happen and we can’t live the rest of our lives with the guilt of it.’”
“‘You mean you knew about how it happened?’ I asked. ‘How do you not hate me?’”
“‘We’ve never hated you, James. Never. Like I said we were weak and we took way too long to find you. We have been praying for you for years, but I knew that I had to find you. You may not want to have anything to do with God and you’re probably angry at Him for what you have gone through, but I want you to know the reality that He is the loving Father you never had. He is the reason you still have life today. He never has left you even though you wanted nothing to do with Him. I believe He sent me here today to finally bring you to Him and to change your life forever. He loves you and Marie and I love you too. It’s time to come home’”
“Tears ran down my cheeks and I didn’t know what to say. That was the first time in my life that I genuinely heard someone tell me they loved me. I heard drunken friends and former girlfriends say it, but they always said it to get something out of me. Jack said it because it was real. ‘Why are you wasting your time on a fool like me?’ I said stunned. ‘I have nothing to offer but a broken life. I’m nothing.’”
“‘You’re not nothing to God and you’re not nothing to me. I know you didn’t go to church with us very long, but do you remember what I said about Jesus dying on the cross?’”
“‘Yeah, he died for our sins so that we could go to heaven with Him.’”
“‘I wasn’t telling a fairy tale. There really is forgiveness for all you have done.’”
“‘You have no clue about all I have done’”
“‘I don’t, but God does. He will forgive you and I believe He sent me here to let you know that. Don’t end your life. Change your life today.’”
“‘How did you know that I was thinking about ending it all today?’”
“Jack just smiled and pulled out an envelope from his coat pocket. The front of it said ‘Happy Birthday, James!’ and it was in Marie’s handwriting. ‘Happy birthday,’ he said.”
“I was silent. What was happening? I expected the world would blow up sooner than what had actually happened that night. ‘Thank you,’ I said.”
“‘I’m going to leave you alone for now, but I really hope you’ll keep in touch. It really is great to see you James. God’s not done with you yet.’”
“He reached his hand out and with a trembling hand of my own I shook it. ‘Have a good night, James,’ he said and then turned around and walked out of the bar.”
“I looked at the envelope and opened it up. I pulled out a card and a picture was in it upside-down. As I pulled it aside I saw a message in Marie’s handwriting. Written on the card it said: ‘Happy Birthday, James! We’ve missed you and we want you to come home! Love, Jack and Marie McKenzie.’ Underneath the message was their address and phone number as well. I couldn’t believe what I was reading and it took me a couple of moments to realize that I was still holding a picture that I had yet to turn over. When I looked at it I began to weep. It was the picture of Ralph and me in our suits of armor that we wore on Halloween night thirty-eight years ago. We each had the biggest smiles. He was the best friend I ever had and I missed him so much.”
“I quickly got up. I never took a sip of the whiskey in front of me and I haven’t ever since. I walked outside, got in my truck,
and cried like I had never cried before. All of the emotions I kept bottled up for close to forty years came out. I didn’t want to be the person I was anymore. I looked at the address on the card and started up my truck.”
“About fifteen minutes later, I pulled up into the McKenzie’s driveway. I cautiously got out and walked towards the front door. I had no idea what to expect. I wanted love so bad and I was so scared to be rejected again. It was lightly snowing outside and Christmas lights were lighting up the neighborhood. I could see their Christmas tree, big and bright, in the front window. I walked up the stairs onto the screened in front porch when, suddenly, the front door swung open and Marie McKenzie came out towards me with a huge smile.”
“‘James!’ she said as she threw her arms around me. She had no coat on and she didn’t care. ‘You’re here! You’re here! Oh, how we have missed you!’ Tears ran down her cheeks as she yelled into the house. ‘Jack! James is back! He’s come home! He’s come home!’”
“Jack came out and threw his arms around me as well. We began to laugh. With tears in our eyes we laughed with a laughter that only true joy could produce. I had truly never been that happy in my life. I was lost and they had found me. I had come home. We turned and went inside and to my amazement I saw that they had been expecting me. There was a birthday cake sitting on the table.”
“That night, we talked as we sat together at the table for hours. During that conversation, Jack had once again brought up Jesus and His importance in our lives. Jack told me about the reality of sin and the reality of the punishment we deserve for it. He also told me about the promise of forgiveness and how it was made possible through the death and resurrection of Christ. That night, with Jack and Marie, I believed what they said and I gave my life to Jesus. I prayed for forgiveness and I confessed Him as my Lord and Savior forever. Afterwards, I felt a burden lift off of me that I never thought I would be rid of. I now felt like I had a future and that life was worth living for the first time. I felt literal indescribable joy. I was accepted and I was loved. God wasn’t mad at me and neither were Jack and Marie. I did absolutely nothing to deserve any of this and yet God loved me and saved me anyway. That’s what grace is.”
“That night, Jack and Marie told me that they wanted to help me better my situation in life. I told them I had skills as a carpenter so they encouraged me to try to find some odd jobs at first in order to get some honest work and build a good reputation. They also had a downstairs apartment I could move into if I wanted and within a week I took up their offer. They never charged me rent, but I gave to them generously anyway. They literally saved my life and I owed them everything. I’ve been with them around two years now and it has honestly been the best two years of my life. Also, after that night, I decided that in order to show that my life had taken a new direction, I needed a name change. I didn’t want to be known as ‘The Madman’ anymore. I wanted to be known for Jesus. I wanted to be known by my conversion to Him. Therefore, I called myself ‘The Convert’ and I’ve gone by that ever since.”
“So in closing, I’ve shared all of this because I want you to know Jesus too. My hope is that many of you know Him, but the reality is that many of you are still lost. Jesus died so that we don’t have to go to hell. I know that’s kind of blunt, but it’s just reality. If Jack hadn’t of walked into that bar, that’s where I would be today with no hope for the rest of eternity. Jesus doesn’t want you to go to hell and I don’t want you to either. Some of you here may think that God doesn’t exist. That’s a lie from the devil to keep you from salvation. Some of you think God doesn’t care. That’s just another lie. He sent His Son for you, to save you. Some of you may think that what you have done is too awful to be forgiven. I tell you the truth, no one here has done worse things than I have and God forgave even me.
“Jesus said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by me.’ Jesus is our door to heaven. A book of the Bible called Romans says, ‘That is you confess with your mouth that “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that He has risen from the dead, you will be saved.’ We all need to be saved and God turns no one away who comes to Him. Today is the day of salvation. Tonight is your time. If you pray to Him tonight and ask forgiveness for your sins, He will forgive you. If you believe that He really is God who came to earth as a man and that He really died and rose again, you can be saved. If you confess Him as Lord of all creation and of your life, you will be saved.”
“I know I took up about a half an hour of your time and I thank you for the respect you have given me. My life is now about showing others what Jesus did for me and I hope tonight that He will change your life as well. Thank you and may God bless all of you.”
18
Convert stepped back from the music stand, which held his notes, and looked over to his left as Aaron made his way on the stage. There were almost two hundred people in the gym and you could have heard a pin drop. Convert looked out to the crowd of students and could see them all staring back at him. He also noticed that many of them had tears in their eyes while others couldn’t stop looking at the floor.
Aaron had a lump in his throat as he walked toward Convert. It was everything he had hoped for and he could see that the kids had genuinely listened. He approached the microphone and said, “Thank you, Convert, for pouring out your heart to us tonight. I can never hear that story enough and I am privileged to call you my friend. To all of you out there, I can see that with many of you it has touched your heart as well. I want you to know that this is why we do these things for you. We want you to know that there is hope in life and that hope is in Jesus. Before we finish tonight I want to extend the invitation to you that Convert talked about. If you have never put your faith in Jesus, you can do so now. There is space up front here for anyone who wants to pray and make that commitment tonight. Convert and I will be here. Other leaders will be here too. Don’t be afraid or ashamed. Please come to Jesus.”
As soon as Aaron stopped speaking, a young man came forward quickly followed by a couple of young ladies. Others got up and came forward as well. Eventually, over forty students came forward to receive Jesus. There were both tears and laughter as people felt burdens lift off of their souls. Convert couldn’t help but tear up as well. He was continually amazed that God would use a person like him for His kingdom. The event couldn’t have ended better. It fulfilled every hope that Aaron had.
At 11:30, the students began to leave in order to make it home in time for the Galesburg curfew of midnight. Jordan, Josh, Trent, and Mark had a great time as always and made sure to thank Aaron and Convert. Once they did that, they quickly ran to their bikes so that they could all rush over to Josh’s for their sleepover.
Aaron was elated by how the night went and he went around saying goodbye to all the kids who came and thanked all the leaders for their hard work too. Once the kids were all gone, he started to help put everything away from the event. Convert volunteered his help as well and was warmly thanked for what he said by all of those who were there. They could all tell that the Holy Spirit had done something really special and they were glad to be a witness to it.
“This was amazing wasn’t it?” Aaron said to Convert joyfully. “We saw over forty kids give their lives to Jesus tonight. This could mean a genuine change in the student population of our high school. Just think about how this could spread to our community!”
Convert loved Aaron’s enthusiasm for God’s work. “It was an amazing night and I’m humbled to even think about it. Thank you for getting me up there to talk. I guess I was more nervous than I let myself think I was, but I am so happy to have done it.”
“I knew you would do great. I never doubted it.”
They continued working together gathering things up. Aaron took a couple bags of trash and left the gym to go throw them in the dumpster. He saw that the clock on the wall said 11:38 right before he looked out the door window and noticed that it had be
gun to rain. It wasn’t just a light rain either, it was coming down hard. “Wow,” he said to himself. “I hope the guys on bikes made it home before this rain hit them.”
He set the trash bags down, turned, and started walking back. As he was nearing the gym a terrible thought popped into his head: Jack McKenzie is dead.
Startled, he quickly spun around to see if someone had said something to him. No one was there. “What?” Aaron said.
No response, but what he thought in his mind still rung in his head as if it was spoken to him. Did I just hear that or was it in my mind? Aaron thought.
When he got back to the gym he asked around to see if anyone had yelled something to him down the hall in the hopes that he had simply misheard something. No one had said anything to him. Although a little confused, Aaron decided not to think about it anymore. Too much good had happened tonight and he was going to celebrate that.
19
Emma was lying in bed watching television as she thought about the fun night with Lisa and how exciting it was to see Aaron again. Not only was it great to see him, but it was also great that they seemed to have picked up right where they had left off even though it had been six years. She thought about his event tonight and how excited he was for it. She remembered to pray for him and it was her genuine hope that those students would come to know Christ. Aaron had always been someone who wasn’t ashamed to be a Christian and out of everyone she knew he was the most outspoken about it. That was one of the major reasons she was attracted to him. She had been seeking a Godly man and he was someone who truly wanted to please God with what he did.
She was watching the end of a late night talk show when her cat, Bosco, decided to jump up on her bed. Bosco did not like storms and he could tell that the rain was about to fall. “What’s wrong ‘Fraidy Cat’?” Emma said as she scooped him up. “Afraid of a little rain? It’s a good thing that I’m here to protect you!”
The Scarlet Plan Page 7