In the early 1960s, I think it was 1961, I remember sitting and talking with my Sunday School teacher, Mrs. White, at Tulsa Bible Church back when it was on 6th Street near McClure Park.

She patiently talked to me about Heaven and Hell. Using the Wordless Book, she explained that the black page stood for the sin that separated people from God. The red page indicated that Jesus went to the cross the sacrificed Himself to pay for our sins. The white page showed that our hearts were “white as snow” if we would only trust Jesus and accept His forgiveness. Gold was for the streets of gold and the promise of eternal life in Heaven with Jesus.

Even at that young age, I knew that I wanted to avoid going to Hell and I really wanted to go to Heaven when I died.

My mother died in 1959 and my grandmother and grandfather died in 1962 and 1963. I was well acquainted with the idea of people passing away. I truly believe that they all had trusted Jesus and that someday I would see them again.

So I told Mrs. White I believed in Jesus and I wanted to go to Heaven. We prayed together and that changed my life.

At about age 10, I understood more about what it meant to be a Christian and I asked the late Pastor Bob Kelso if I could be baptized. (Incidentally, all three of my children were baptized in the same facility decades later because Memorial Bible Church at that time didn’t have a baptistery in its building.)

I loved going to church. It was my extended family. Some loving families in that church took me under their wing and encouraged me in every aspect of my life. Bill and Bea Juraschek, John and Marilyn Gatewood, Dr. and Mrs. Perry Crawford, the Rev. Williard and Ruth Heck, the Cline Family, and too many more to name were instrumental in me keeping on a straight and narrow path. They helped my four brothers, too.

When I got into high school, I was torn. I wanted to play and have fun and yet everywhere I turned I looked there was hard work and struggles. Bud Peterson was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary and the summer before I went to The University of Oklahoma, he spent a lot of time with me talking about spiritual issues.

Bud said that everyone has to make a choice. Would my faith be important to me and would that be reflected in all of my life or would I just go to church on Sunday and live for myself the rest of the week?

This message burned in my soul as I went off to school. My first roommate, Dave Ritz, had met with Bud, too, and was convicted by the same challenging message.

So, I got involved with a Christian discipleship group called the Navigators. My apartment was next door to the OU Baptist Student Union and I became a regular part of that group. Max Barnett, the retired director of the BSU, not only gave me some great personal counseling but he brought in weekly speakers that helped me grow in my faith and knowledge of the Bible.

God blessed me with a wonderful Christian wife, Susan, and three great kids who are all believers and walking in faith. As a bonus, I now have a Christian daughter-in-law (she’s a peach) and son-in-law (a music minister) and a new granddaughter (who will turn 1 in May). And there is another grandbaby on the way.

Jesus changed my life forever. Without Him, I am lost. I am a sinner saved by grace. I make mistakes and I make poor decisions. But I read my Bible every day, I pray every day and I am privileged to be part of a church family (First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow) who, like my church growing up, loves me, prays for me and encourages me constantly.

This Easter would be a great time to get straight with God. As I grow older, I understand more and more the fleeting nature of this life on Earth. None of us is guaranteed another day.

It doesn’t matter how bad you have been or how old you are, Jesus is waiting with open arms.

Tulsa is full of churches, like First Baptist of Broken Arrow and Tulsa Bible Church, that would love to wrap their arms around someone just beginning that spiritual journey or a wayward soul that wants to get back in fellowship with God.

Don’t let this opportunity to pass. Jesus will change your life.

It’s time to turn the page on the Wordless Book to gold.