…but what exactly?
Lucmus, a small suburb of Curahuasi, is in the middle of the countryside and has two things going for it: an old church and a swimming pool. The latter looks lovely but its water is freezing cold. Even those of us who really want to go in have to give ourselves an extra push. But yesterday morning 8 people did exactly that: 2 pastors and 6 Curahuasinos, driven by a particular motive, but more on that later. Hopefully these bold people did not catch a cold in the process.
10 minutes before entering the water they had testified in front of a congregation of about 60 that their lives had been totally transformed – some of them used very drastic words. As a sign of their radical reorientation they wanted to be publicly baptised. Interesting.
Nothing is harder than to change one’s life’s railway tracks on which one has travelled for such a long time. New Year’s Resolutions are often forgotten quickly once the daily rat-race starts up again. We just cannot get out of our skin. The people who are heroes of the wine-bottle, who beat up their children, who live solely for financial gain or who regularly are economical with the truth, quickly notice how strongly our past influences and has power over us. At times it seems that escape is impossible. Many actually think that we are downright damned to be as we are.
Back to those six in Lucmus who boldly and even willingly formed a very close acquaintance with Arctic-cold water. How do these Peruvians explain their “new life”? All of them said that God was the reason for this change. They were no longer as they used to be, thanks to the supernatural power of God, which became visible in Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago.
If the six in the swimming pool are right, then this power is an option for all of us. For me, it is the only perspective that offers everlasting success. Since, if we trust Christ, we are given the perspective of eternal life, which starts today. Perhaps it is worth thinking about this. /KDJ
