By David Key
Lake Oconee Breeze
LAKE OCONEE — Augustine in his confessions wrote: I was weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart when I heard the voice of children from a neighboring house chanting, “take up and read; take up and read.” I could not remember ever having heard the like, so checking the torrent of my tears, I arose, interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book and read the first chapter I should find. Eagerly then I returned to the place where I had laid the volume of the apostle. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: “Not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not in strife and envy; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” No further would I read, nor did I need to. For instantly at the end of this sentence, it seemed as if a light of serenity infused into my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away.
What about for you? Have you had a conversion? Changing your life dramatically toward God.
Easter is a good time to reflect on your life and see if there needs to be a change. It is not too early to make your Easter Sunday plans. Please join me for the ninth annual Easter Sunrise Service at 7 a.m. at the Reynolds Plantation Pointe Pavilion. The Reynolds Chorus will sing, and everyone in the community is welcome. If that is not an option, feel free to join me at 9 a.m. at the Reynolds Plantation Lake Club or at 11 a.m. at the Lake Welcome Center. There will be special activities for children at the 9 a.m. service. Please bring your family and guests with you. Make this the year of conversion in your spiritual life. Wishing you much love and much light.
—The Rev. David W. Key, director of the Baptist Studies Program, is involved in recruitment, admissions, student life, counseling, placement, and development functions for Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. He teaches in the Contextual Education program. He is the founding pastor of the Lake Oconee Community Church at Reynolds Plantation. Contact him at (404) 727-6350 or dkey@emory.edu. His
column appears weekly in this space.
