April 9, 2015 Member Letter

Dear Brethren,

On March 31, 1969, I was baptized in a large, built-in baptismal tub in the Redwood Building on the campus of Ambassador College, located just outside the community of Big Sandy, Texas. There was a small group of us—10 to 12, as best I can remember. As we were standing in the library portion of the Redwood Building, a minister we all recognized walked by and clearly knew that we had just been baptized. It was pretty easy to tell, since we were still soaking wet! He walked over to us and in a serious tone said, “I am not going to congratulate you, because you really haven’t done anything. The real work of being a Christian begins now.”

I’ve thought about that statement over the years and realized how right he was. Baptism is the beginning of the journey and not the end. When you decide to be baptized, you must repent of your sins; but it is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His shed blood that you receive forgiveness. It isn’t at all because of your righteousness. In effect, when you are baptized, you have done nothing but take the first step of a long journey.

The next night after baptism, I attended my first Passover service. When I returned from the service, I found a private place to think about all that had just happened. I decided to write a letter to myself to record my thoughts so that I would never forget how I felt on that night. I kept that letter for more than 20 years and pulled it out each Passover to read. Somewhere along the way, I lost the letter, but I still remember its content.

When I wrote that letter, my deepest desire was to change my life and live by the example of Jesus Christ. Don’t get me wrong, I knew that I would stumble along the way, but I wanted to do my best to live as Christ lived—to walk in His steps. As I look back on the past 46 years since that date, I am happy that, in spite of my shortcomings, God has been merciful to me.

As I write this letter, we are currently in the middle of the Days of Unleavened Bread, a time of reflection on a journey that began with our baptism. In Philippians 3:13-15, Paul provides some guidance for that reflection, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.”

I don’t believe Paul meant that we shouldn’t think back on major events in our lives, but that we must put the mistakes, the failures and the shortcomings behind us. We should overcome our sins and not dwell on them.

As members of the Church of God, we have a distinct advantage when it comes to our view of life as compared to that of the world around us. We seek God’s Kingdom as our No. 1 priority (Matthew 6:33), but we acknowledge that it isn’t here just yet. That means there are more things for us to do, more baptisms, more Passovers and more Days of Unleavened Bread.

The Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread teach us that anything is possible. They show us that we don’t have to be depressed or discouraged when we discover sin in our lives. Jesus Christ hasn’t forgotten us. and He hasn’t forsaken us (Matthew 28:20). In fact, He continues to bless us, individually and collectively as we please Him. Consider, for example, that as an organization we began in December of 2010 with virtually no voice for preaching the gospel. Today, four years later, we are projecting that 1 million unique visitors will come to our website, LifeHopeandTruth.com, in the month of April alone. This site did not exist until June of 2012. We are thankful for all the increase and the potential conversions it represents, but we continue to look to the future and make plans for expansion.

At some point in the past, each of us entered a stream, a pond, a swimming pool, a watering trough, a bathtub, a hot tub or some other receptacle for water and was baptized. Do you still remember how you felt that day? Tie that in with the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread; find time to reflect on its meaning; thank God for your life and your family; and commit yourself to being like Jesus Christ, walking in His steps.

In my letter from almost 50 years ago, I wrote about my desire to please God; but I had no clue in 1969 where my spiritual journey would take me. In regards to career, my desire was to be a civil engineer, so why was I at a religious school like Ambassador College? My initial reason for attending Ambassador was to learn more about this way of life. I have never regretted that decision. In my letter I wrote that no matter what I became—engineer, farmer, accountant or an attorney—my goal was the same: to overcome sin and live according to the example of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:22-25).

It has been an incredible journey for my family and me. I believe with all my heart that God’s Kingdom is coming soon. World conditions confirm that we are living in the end time. I also believe that each of us must prepare for that day by removing sin from our lives. We must be committed to examining ourselves continually—and not simply once per year at Passover time.

I hope the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread for 2015 have been among the most meaningful of your spiritual journey. Remember the day you came up out of the baptismal water and began this new life. I hope you have no regrets and that you are “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.” And I hope you are pressing “toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Sincerely, your brother in Christ,

Jim Franks