Faith & Insight: Do you know Jesus?

Sept. 10 was Grandparents Day this year, and I was thinking about my grandma. I’d see her a couple of times a year growing up and occasionally had to share a bedroom with her. With a four-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom house and eight kids in the family, when grandma came, someone had to bunk with her.

Much of what I remember about her was when she would nudge me at night for wiggling around too much and she’d say in a rather grumpy voice, “Be still and go to sleep!” As I thought about grandma I thought about when she received the Lord. I had assumed she had opened her heart to Jesus’ years and years before. But she hadn’t.

In 1994 in California, I attended a youth conference with our son, his wife, and our first-born grandson Johnny who was just over 3 years old at the time. We had a free afternoon, and we were very close to where my grandmother lived. I hadn’t seen her for quite some time.

Since I last visited, we had lost our son Johnny to cancer, my brother Billy to being hit by a car, my dad to a heart attack in a nursing home, and my mom (her daughter) to lung cancer – all within two years. So, with our free afternoon, it was time to visit grandma. I took grandson Johnny with me to meet his great-great-grandma. She was 93 years old.

Grandma answered the door and when she saw me, she started to cry. She hugged me and welcomed us in, thankful we came. She wanted us to stay for lunch but said she needed to go to the store for supplies. We got in her car, and I was shocked when she drove right over the median to get across the road instead of taking the “long” way around. I prayed that she still had a driver’s license.

When we safely arrived home, she made us lunch and we talked and reminisced about family and loss. She was sitting on the couch and Johnny was sitting next to her. She was very sad missing her daughter, my mom, especially. My grandson Johnny looked up at her, stared for a moment, and asked, “Do you know Jesus?” She said with tears in her eyes, “No, but I want to.” Johnny touched her face and her hand and said a prayer for her to have Jesus in her heart.

Her mother and daughter had prayed for her many years, but they never saw the fruition of their prayers. But on that day, grandma opened her heart to Jesus because a little boy, her great-great-grandson asked her the most important question. “Do you know Jesus?”

We must not assume someone knows the Lord just because they are sitting in church or hanging out with other Christ followers. Say “yes” to Jesus today. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He gave us life so we might have life, be forgiven, healed, and embrace all the promises he has for us. If you want to know him, say this prayer:

“Dear Jesus, please forgive me of my sins. Wash me clean. Come into my heart. Be my savior and Lord. I believe in you. You are the son of God and that you died for my sins and rose from the dead to give me eternal life. Lord, I need you. I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Rev. Peggy Locke is assisting minister at Reno Hillside Foursquare Church, specialized chaplain.