How did we get here? That is a question that demands a context in which to provide a correct answer. If you were reviewing that question on a road trip you might think of the highways or directions you followed to your current place. This might include a conversation of technical details of routes. If you were sitting in front of a marriage counselor you might think of the slow or persistent development of an issue between you and your spouse. This might include a conversation, perhaps difficult and painful, of many moments both ugly and beautiful. If you were explaining the answer to a mechanic or a body shop, you might tell a story of how one part of the engine started to go wonky and it was never addressed and then it snowballed into a bigger problem. If you were at a child’s high school graduation, you might think of the first time dropping them off at school and the feeling of excitement and nerves on their faces. (Last night I told Normandie that she would be in Highschool in two years and I immediately had heart palpitations) If you were sitting in a hospital room facing a life threatening cancer, you might recall your families medical history, lifestyle decisions along the way, or the first phone call you got from the doctor about, “…something that might be serious.”

It is a question worth asking from time to time. What brought us to having to make this decision? How did we end up with these choices? When did this start to develop? As a pastor, it’s a question I love to ask Christians, “When did Jesus become your savior? How did your faith in Christ come about?” I’ve received many different kinds of answers to this question. Some say there was a distinct point in time they became a Christian, (like the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, Acts ch. 9), while others say they can’t quite remember exactly when but it was gradual, (like the Apostle Peter). Some say they were looking for something more in life and they met someone who explained the gospel, (like the Ethiopian Eunuch, Acts 8). Some of you were the first people in your family to become Christian’s, (like Cornelius, Acts 11, or Lydia, Acts 16). Some of us, myself included, do not ever remember not being a Christian as were brought up in Christian homes, (like Paul’s apprentice Timothy, 2 Tim. 3). And still others of us were not really looking for Jesus but, through an existential crisis, rapidly stumbled into faith, (like the Philippians Jailer, Acts 16). Perhaps you are still weighing Christianity on an intellectual level, ( like those whom Paul addresses in Acts 17). Whatever the case, the book of Acts records “how people got there.” It is a continuation of Luke’s account of the work of the Christ, although Jesus barely appears in the stories. The book of Acts records the impact of the Holy Spirit on the lives of people like you and me, who never met Jesus in person, but their lives changed to faith and obedience to Jesus. This is a story of witness and testimony for those of us who follow Jesus, His people, His Church. Come this Sunday and be encouraged by the story of Jesus continuing, through the development of His Church, the Godhead building His Kingdom here on earth. The book of Acts is our story too, this is how we got here.

Ben Melli