Salvation comes through gratitude

"You cannot persuade a person to conversion by instilling a feeling of guilt. No one ever made a permanent commitment based on guilt. If all it took to be saved was feeling guilty, then everyone would be saved, for we have all experienced guilt at one time or another. No, salvation comes through gratitude, recognising and acknowledging the sacrifice that was paid by Christ to take away not only the guilt, but the sin which caused it."
-- Lionel Hartley, The Beatitudes, Philadelphia Publications, 1977

Chronicles in the Life of Peter Blank, Part 9

Episode 9: Outback Evangelism
A pilot and an evangelist planned an outback evangelism campaign and asked Peter and two young ladies to assist. A small Cessna aircraft airlifted the team to Mungindi, Collarenabri & Burke. At each venue, the campaign was much the same with the young ladies singing at the beginning, and Peter singing during and at the close of each programme. Although the mission was successful, for Peter the trip was memorable for a few events of apparent greater magnitude than the campaign.
For example, at Mungindi, the airstrip was (and maybe still is) on an isolated part of the property some ten miles or so from the homestead. However no-one was there to meet the team when they arrived. With no way to get to the homestead, they waited patiently for some hours until the lengthening shadows warned that maybe they had better start walking. This was not a welcome prospect as they carried a certain amount of luggage in the form of musical equipment, a large slide projector & screen and a public address system, as well as their personal items. It was about this time that the pilot, who had been examining the condition of the airstrip in closer detail, invited the others to uncover an old rusting truck he had discovered in the long grass to one side of the runway. Miraculously the truck engine responded to a little coaxing and the team began the bouncing ride towards the homestead. As the sun set the team sang their way across the open plain and the truck made it without incident. The unbelief of the locals when they were told of the journey by truck educed a story of how that, many years earlier the truck had "died" and was abandoned to the elements. None could understand how the vehicle could have possibly worked after all those years, and the sight of the vehicle in daylight reinforced that belief. Even Peter was at a loss to explain (apart from Divine intervention) how a decayed vehicle with most of the engine parts rusted and seized could possibly have been driven the night before. And yet, there it was! The lesson for Peter is not finished yet.
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Collarenebri, being a small community, was hand-billed door to door by Peter and the evangelist in a single afternoon - they having divided the town according to a map and taken half each. One household is well remembered, for as Peter reached a hand over the gate to unlatch the fastening, a tiny dog - no larger than a kitten - chomped at him. Although no skin was broken, the dog refused to release it's treasure and as Peter raised his hand to investigate, the dog hung suspended in mid-air.
Peter, with his hand still fastened in the clutches of the little dog's mouth, proceeded to open the gate with the other hand and venture up the path to the house. It was a most astonished householder who opened the door to view Peter's up-lifted, out-stretched, puppy-dangled hand, and Peter asking, "Does this belong to you?" Amid profuse apologies and poorly concealed mirth, an invitation to the meeting was given.
That night, a couple came up to Peter after the meeting and with a gesture resembling that of Peter's out-stretched, puppy-chomped hand asked, "Remember us?" How strangely God works to bring people to hear about Him! The lesson for Peter is not finished yet.
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Collarenebri is better remembered by the pilot. For it was there that the team found, to their dismay that a new fence had been built (that very day) around the perimeter of the rear of the hall - and the only key that had been provided to access the hall was for the rear door within the fence. A padlock, left presumably by a workman, secured the gate and made entrance an almost impossibility. Almost, that is, excepting that the pilot was of a disposition to emulate youthfulness and climb the fence. Access to the building was gained and a front door opened for the rest of the team to enter a little more gracefully.
Following a most successful and Spirit-filled meeting, the equipment was brought out to the footpath and the pilot returned to the building to lock it up for the night and to climb the fence once more.
As the team waited in the semi-darkness for his return, the evangelist pointed out a supposed alcoholic crawling along in the darkness on his hands and knees. It was mentioned that the presence of such poor souls in that town reinforced the importance of the soul-calling work the team was doing. Then, as the figure moved into the light, it became immediately necessary to change the course of the conversation, for the figure was none other than the pilot! And, rather than it being inebriation which had rendered him prostrate, a broken ankle following a fall from the fence explained this out-of-character behaviour.
Upon return to their lodgings, the ankle was ice-packed and a splint applied. However piloting a plane the next day with a broken ankle was not a comforting prospect. Nevertheless, come morning, they all boarded the plane and prepared for a return journey. Peter recalled the sincerity of the prayer for safe travel which preceded the journey that day, and the pilot not only flew the plane, but simultaneously gave instructions to the evangelist in the co-pilot's seat as this untrained reluctant assistant operated the foot controls for them. God brought them home safely - but the lesson for Peter is not finished yet.


-- Lionel Hartley, Not Finished Yet -- Chronicles in the Life of Peter Blank
"This serial saga, although novel, is not a novel. It is merely a series of true-life episodes highlighting the extraordinary working of an extraordinary God in a very ordinary life. Each episode contained a lesson for Peter Blank, a lesson we can all learn, from a lesson-book life that is not finished yet."
As first appeared in FreEzine Magazine July 2000 ff