11/28/20 HOW MANY “STEPS” DO YOU NEED? — Years ago Sam (name changed to protect someone or something…), a young man in my church, called me on Saturday afternoon. He wanted us to visit a friend who had just been released from jail. The friend’s name was Ed (same as me!).

Ed had a serious drinking problem. As I introduced myself to Ed, Sam looked into every nook and cranny of Ed’s tiny trailer. Wherever he found alcohol, he poured it down the sink and threw away the bottle or can. All the while Ed was moaning, begging me to get him into some kind of 12-step program.

I told Ed that what he really needed was a 1-STEP PROGRAM: he needed to surrender control of his life to Jesus Christ. He said he might think about it. As we were leaving, I told him the most important question he needed to answer was this: How many more days are you satisfied to live as a hell-bound sinner? I told him to call me when his answer was zero! To my utter amazement, he suddenly fell to his knees and, with a little help from me, confessed the many sins of his totally messed up life and asked God to forgive him and make him into a new person.

The very next day, Sunday, Ed showed up at our church. Poor guy—he was wearing a white shirt, collar buttoned tightly and a dark coat which was several sizes too small, with a narrow tie nearly choking him to death. Every pore of his body still reeked of alcohol and tobacco. But he told everyone how thrilled he was to be a brand-new believer and that he intended live the rest of his life for Jesus. We talked about when we could baptize him.

But one week later Ed was dead, killed in a car wreck. Like the thief on the cross next to our Lord, he never had a chance to be baptized, to join our church, to tithe, to mature as a Christian or to serve in God’s kingdom. But no longer a hell-bound sinner, he died a heaven-bound saint, a child of God and a brother of his Lord, Jesus Christ!