Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS THE LORD TOOK HOLD OF BUGBROOKE
gets saved, and goes round spreading the good news. Somehow
it really touched Rufus.
He was glad when Noel and John Thom appeared. They
would sit on orange boxes and sip herbal teas with Rufus and
Jess. On one occasion they prayed and God’s presence filled
the room.
The crunch came three weeks later when Rufus devoured a
swiss roll at his mum’s place. That was macrobiotic sin. He
came away despairing and, in a burst of anger, slammed the
dog against the wall. The dog followed meekly after. Rufus
turned and asked Jess whether she still loved him. ‘Yeah!’
she said. Rufus felt like he was falling apart.
Back home, he ran upstairs and shut himself in an empty
room. There in the darkness he saw it all so vividly. The Tibetan
Book of the Dead, the I Ching, the mantras he had
chanted, the mandalas he had looked at, the numerous yogic
postures he had learned, the kohans he had read, the mescalin
and acid he had taken — they all seemed to be laughing at
him. Rufus broke down and out of the darkness, he cried out
to God: ‘I can never get to you, Lord. You’ve got to reach
down and pick me up.’
In a moment he knew: it was Jesus. He went downstairs to
Jessie. ‘Jess, what if we left everything and went round just
telling people about Jesus. Would you come, Jess?’
She paused. ‘What — with the baby — just telling people?’
‘Yeah, with the baby,’ said Rufus.
‘Yes — I’d come,’ said Jess.
Rufus went out to the phone kiosk. ‘Look, Noel,’ he said, ‘I
know I’m a sinner. I just want to find Jesus.’
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