It's a Billy Sunday, Sunday

As I write this, the time has officially sprung forward to 12:00 am, so technically it is Sunday...no matter what the timestamp is when I post this (hey, this is a key point in order for my title to make sense, and be an awesome pun!).

So, I bought a book today, and if you haven't already guessed, it is a biography of the "old time religion" evangelist, Billy Sunday. I didn't know a whole lot about him before I started reading today, other than that he was a professional baseball player turned preacher who spoke extensively for the abolition of alcohol. In reading through the recount of his life so far, I get the sense that he was just an ordinary, country, hard-working man that the Lord chose to use in a mighty way. He had a humble beginning, and had to overcome some tremendous adversity and difficulty in his childhood, but underneath it all was a man that was searching for what was right. When he found the Lord, (He was actually drawn into a church service by a group of musicians that were singing hymns on a sidewalk), it was as though things began to click into place from all the many years of difficulty and preparation. He developed a relationship with the Lord that reflected who he was, and reflected his understanding of who Jesus was.

Now, my assumption and conclusion is that this authenticity and deep love for the Lord, brought a very bright light into those he came in contact with. I have not finished reading of where the Lord brought him throughout his ministry, but I am aware that his name is still referred to today in regard to "those old-time religion" preachers.

So this leads into me. My heart often zones into old-time religion, and even though I have only been around for 26 years, the desire to return to this simplicity often haunts my very core. I sit and ponder the humility, the simplicity, and the authenticity of wooden church pews, ice-cream socials, men who wear hats and remove them before entering the threshold of the building, and ladies who observe and occasionally giggle quietly over the hair brained antics of a few "rebel rousing" young men in the congregation. I don't know, the idea sounds quaint, and maybe too simplistic for many.

Picture this: A small one room church house with a steeple, sitting in the middle of thousands of wild flowers on a sunny Sunday afternoon in April. The men dressed in suits and hats, the women with extravagant hats, and colorful umbrellas. The doors to the church open and you hear the sounds of a few hundred voices singing the hymns that are so deep, rich, and meaningful. Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, Hallelujah, Thine the Glory.......and a preacher......a preacher that stands in front of them preaching truth to their hearts. Afterwards, everyone files out of the small one room meeting house, and shares in fellowship as they converse about the week that just passed, and the days that lie ahead.

I don't know.....I am a romantic at heart, and this is my idea of romance...simple, authentic, real, love. I pray that my walk is authentic, and that through Christ so is my love. When I met Him and really understood who He was, the things in my life started to become, of all things, much simpler. Clarity grew, and my worldly desires gradually began to fade. I began to ache, for the simple......slower, less complicated, more authentic reality of truth, and my desires for the fake, complicated, false lies of deceit began to fade. He brought that simplicity that I had longed for, the hope I had been seeking, and the peace that I was so desperate to find. From that, my desire to keep it simple, still remains. He is Lord, He is Christ, He is God, and I am forgiven by His blood. "He was pierced for my transgressions" because He loved me. So, I understand love, and I desperately want to show Him that I love Him too. Without Him, there is nothing worth getting excited over, and with Him, excitement seems to grow day by day. The good times are better than I could have ever imagined, and in the bad times there is always the truth that He is there to carry me through.

So that's all I have. Simpley, I am a man that loves Jesus. The man who first loved me.