The Little Green Book
B Minister Deborah D. Calhoun
I remember being a little girl living in the projects. My aunt Big Sister would come to our house to collect money for church, remind us what time services were, and encourage us to go to church. My mother would get me ready for church and I would walk to Aunt Big Sister’s Church, that was located close by.
God delivered us from the projects and the lifestyle that was there. However, the projects were still in me. I was large for my age, bigger than most of my peers. The children use to make fun of me and pick fights with me. God delivered me from myself, when I opened a little green book one day. It was a small pocket Bible full of words and wisdom just for me. As I read the little green book and understood it more and more, God cleaned my heart, which cleaned my mouth. Before opening the little green book I knew how to say words that I couldn’t spell and did not even know what they meant.
I have been an over-achiever all of my life. Once I accepted Christ and was baptized, I started preaching to my peers at age 10. I would tell them they were going to go to Hell if they didn’t accept God and change their lives. They called me Reverend Sister Bogart and most people were afraid of me.
My problem then was, I had been baptized with water, but I had not accepted the gift of the Holy Spirit. I was in college when the Lord showed me wisdom by using other Christians in my life. Because of the fellowship, worship and Bible Study, I accepted this relationship with the Holy Spirit. I accepted the gift of the Holy Spirit and I have never been the same since. I was still preaching to my peers, but my message was not about me, and what I thought, my message was about Jesus, it was about God.
My first sermon as a minister of God was in college during a vespers service when I preached a mini sermon, “God Never Fails and He Never Gives Up on You". Baptism is awesome especially when you have accepted Jesus Christ and His precious gift of the Holy Spirit. You will never be the same again.
