Those were the days...

“Back in my day…” as I began, my grandson smiled. He leaned forward to listen. Enoch was my youngest grandson. He was fond of me and spent a lot of his time with me.

                 I regaled him with many of the stories of yesteryear. My childhood stories, for instance. The world has changed so much that these stories I shared acquired a fairy tale quality to Enoch. Or so he told me.

                 “Back in my day,” I continued, “there were a lot of buses. But the streets were not so busy with traffic jams. We used to walk to school with our schoolbags on our backs. Walk all the way to school and back too! Those were the days…

                 A few of us kids in our neighborhood would get together and walk together, crossing the streets and leisurely sauntering. We would start much early and reach the school before the Assembly started.”

                 “How was it Grandpa?” queried little Enoch, “did you all get up very early? What sort of alarm clocks did you have?”

                 I smiled at the thought of how we got up from our beds way back, then, and I answered him. “We had the natural alarms in the form of birdsong. Early in the morning, the birds woke us up by their twittering. We used to get up early and get ready. Those were the days…”

                 “How wonderful! Would the birds come into your bedrooms to wake you up?”

                 “No Enoch. We used to sleep outside our homes, most of the time. We could hear all the bird songs and calls. In the night, if we had difficulty in sleeping, we could hear the hoots of the owls too!”

                 “But what about the mosquitoes? Didn’t you get bitten by them?”

                 “My mum used to rub some neem oil on our bodies to protect us from the mosquitoes.”

                 As Enoch sat silently, I knew he was imagining the sights and sounds of those days.

                 “Let me share a memorable thing that happened to us when we were in high school,” I began, “I was in a boarding school for the first time in my life. I used to miss my Mom, and our home, a lot. It took some months for me to get used to the hostel life.

                Suddenly one evening they asked us to pack up our belongings as they were shifting our school to a new place. We were quickly hustled off into an open truck. So many of us were jammed on the back of one truck and the truck rattled off.

                 I was right at the back and some of us there started to slip away from the truck. We were about to fall off onto the road. We started screaming our heads off. ‘Stop. Stop. Stop.’ ”

                 Enoch became excited. “Did you fall off onto the road?”

                 “No Enoch. We almost fell. But by God’s grace our cries reached the driver and he stopped. ‘No trucks for us’, we thought and we trekked all the rest of the way. Our teachers didn’t like this. They tried to persuade us to board the trucks again. But we resisted and walked.”

                 “Didn’t your legs pain a lot after you finished your long walk?”

                 “Yes, Enoch. We suffered a lot. For the next two or three days, we were struggling to walk properly.

                 Enoch hugged me and sat on my lap. He said, “Grandpa! Tell me how you came to make the most important decision of your life. You were telling me, the other day of some camp you attended while in high school?”

                 Smiling, I recollected my past. “Surely my dear Enoch, I will share.

                 Actually, it happened to be, a Youth For Christ (YFC) Camp I almost missed! I was all set to go for the camp. One of the brothers of YFC came to fetch me to the Railway station to catch a train. By the time we reached the station, the train had left. I felt terrible. This was the first time such a thing happened to me.

                The brother who had fetched me, Samson was his name,  said, ‘Come on, get on the bike, we will reach to the next station on the line. I have a feeling that we can catch this train there as it is a slow train. On we went and reached there. I was able to catch the train and go to attend the camp.”

                 “What happened in that camp, Grandpa?”

                 It was a good camp with good speakers who reached out to us. There were a lot of activities we were involved in. I was in high school and was just beginning to know myself. One of the preachers spoke clearly about sin and salvation. I felt convicted of my sin.

                 Going to that preacher that evening, I told him how I felt. As the sun was setting on that hill, he and I knelt down. He explained how I have to repent of my sins and ask the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour to come in and cleanse me of all sins.

                 I remember that day and that twilight when I made that decision, now almost half a century ago. My spiritual life since then has seen its ups and downs. All said and done, I am continuing to be a ‘forgiven sinner’ in God’s sight. Not because I deserve it. But because He loves me.”

                 “Wow! It is scary to see that you almost missed that camp. But God planned for you to be there to meet Him!”

                 “Yes, Enoch. It is true. The best thing that has happened in my life, indeed!”

                 “What about you Enoch? Did you also make a decision for Christ?”

                 Smiling radiantly, my grandson replied, “Yes Grandpa It was during the last Vacation Bible School. The teacher told us clearly about sin and how we all need to be forgiven. I walked up to her. She explained further and led me to the Lord. I thank God for that. I too am a forgiven sinner since that day! Praise and thanks be to God indeed!”

                 “Back in my day, Enoch, we were encouraged to go to the Church or assembly and share what happened to us. It was called Testimony sharing. I think you too should share what happened to you in our family prayer this evening. Will you, Enoch?

                 “Of course, I will, Grandpa! Count me in!”