Once upon a time there was a preacher by the name of Homerike. He loved serving the Lord and helping people be saved in Jesus and then grow into spiritual maturity. He knew that Christians needed to be strong in their commitment to Jesus and show it by the way they lived.
One of the members in the congregation by the name of Arnold Schwarzenchristian gave Homerike great joy. Arnie loved God with all his heart and showed his strong faith by the way he followed through with his baptismal confession to serve Jesus as Lord with all his heart. He lived by the motto: “When the going gets tough – the tough get going”. If he was exhausted from a hard week at work he was even more determined to be in Bible class and worship at 9:00 am. If the weather was cold and wet, he was even more committed to be with his fellow Christians. Even if he himself was under the weather, unless he was contagious, he was there when the doors opened. Arnold Schwarzenchristian sacrificed in his faith because he knew how much Jesus sacrificed on the cross for his sins.
Arnie watched for his friend Pee Wee (Half-hearted) Herman every Sunday so he could encourage “Halfer” to be strong in his commitment to Jesus also. Halfer only came a couple of times a month, and if the weather was bad, or he was a little tired, he would skip church that day because his heart was only half committed to Jesus. Pee Wee had deceived himself into thinking that he could cover the bases with God if he came to church a couple times a month. If he died, or Jesus came, he banked on Jesus the judge taking his half-hearted, lukewarm faith into consideration, and he could wiggle his way into eternal glory. He blinded himself from scriptures like Mark 8:34-38 and Rev. 3:15-16.
On a very cold December 4, 2012 Homerike looked across the foyer and saw Arnie grinning from ear to ear. Arnie was watching Halfer enter the building. In spite of the cold weather, Pee Wee had made the decision to come to worship with other Christians. Homerike overheard Halfer telling Arnold Schwarzenchristian, “I have been doing a lot of thinking about my relationship with God; I realize I have been lukewarm, half-hearted and a convenient Christian. All of that is going to change. I know just because I came to church when the weather is bad is not the entirety of my faith, but it is one of the pieces of the puzzle of my new strong faith”. Arnie was so excited he gave Pee Wee (Half-heart) Herman a new name. From that day forward Arnie called him He-man, because of his new found strength to serve the Lord. And they all lived happily ever after in God’s glory. THE END
….Mike