Come By And Pick Me Up
By Larry Coleman
From the earliest memories I have always believed that a God existed. I was neither raised in the church or had any family member offer to take me. I was raised, like many of you by a single parent who did her best to make sure I had a roof over my head, clothes to wear and food to eat. However, that thing which I really needed was absent. Love.
Growing up in a dysfunctional home amidst verbal and physical fights left me feeling that there was very little chance that I might experience what I truly sought. I looked to relationships, drugs and other quick fixes to compensate for my own feelings of disconnections. I remember, crying out one night to this God I didn't know, " Lord if you let me live to Sunday, I'll give my life to you." Needless, to say I spent that Saturday night whooping it up with sex and drugs. However, even while I participated, I had the innate sense that something had changed in me. I remember saying to someone," Don't you think there's something more than this?" Of course, they looked at me like I was crazy and went on about their business.
But inside I knew. There was already to pull from the Holy Spirit. I remember that no one wanted to take me home that Sunday morning so I walked about 5 miles to get home. Once in the house I called a friend of mine whose mother was a piano player at a small church. I said, "When you go to church this morning, come by and get me." He laughed, and said, " Are you serious?" I assured him that I was and later on, they picked me up.
I don't remember much about the sermon because I was crying too much. However when the Pastor extended the invitation there was a pull to get up and walk down the aisle. However, I struggled with "monkey mind" - you know, those thoughts about whether or not people would be looking at me. But all that changed when I saw my friend going down the aisle. Just seeing him gave me the encouragement to go.
That was over 20 years ago and my friend and I are still on this journey in Christ.
