Chapter Eighteen; God's Purpose
The next morning Harry, Jenny, Lily, and James got up and got ready to go to church and Harry had decided to drive them there. Once they had done their usual morning announcements the pastor had them turn to page 335 and it had turned out to be one of Lily's favorite hymns. Everyone stood up and started to sing.
Blessed assurance Jesus is mine.
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.
Heir of salvation, purchase of God.
Born of His spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song!
Praising my Savior all the day long!
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
They sung as the pastor thanked them and told them that they could be seated. "Now I want you all to turn your Bibles to the book of Matthew, or you can just follow along with me as I read." He told them as Harry opened up his Bible and started turning through the pages. "In chapter fourteen of Matthew verse twenty-two starts talking about when Jesus went up on top of a mountain to pray after He had realized that there was a storm coming. However we are going to start with verse twenty-five instead." He told them before he started to read.
"Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him they were terrified. But Jesus immediately told them who He was and to take courage and not to be afraid. Then Peter said to Him, Lord if it truly is you, tell me to come with you out onto the water. Then He told him to come as Peter got down out of the boat and found that he was able to walk and started walking right towards Him. However when he saw the wind he was afraid and started to sink.
Jesus heard his cries and reached down His hand and caught him. Then He said to him, you of so little faith, why do you doubt?" The pastor stopped reading and closed his Bible along with everyone else before they looked up at him again. "Now as I come before you this morning, I ask you, how many of you sitting here today sometimes feel that you're like Peter? How many times do we go through this life trying to walk but wind up sinking in the end?
As soon as Peter put his faith in Jesus he was able to walk, but that one second that he turned away from Him he started to sink. Now I'm not saying that this life is easy by any means, there are times in your life when you're going to sink, when you're going to turn away from God. He understands that, He knows that we're all sinners. That's what the cross was for. But it is through the blood of Christ that you're forgiven." He said.
"Amen." A lot of people in the crowd said as Harry nodded and echoed them.
"Now we're told that Jesus had a little brother. A little brother named James. Can you imagine how much pressure that poor James must have been under? I can't." he told them with a shake of his head. "I can't possibly imagine having the Son of God for a big brother. Someone who was always perfect and never made mistakes. But the good news is ladies and gentlemen that if we have Christ in our hearts and trust Him to be there for us and help pull us back up to our feet, we're already perfect in God's eyes.
And it doesn't matter if we're male, it doesn't matter if we're female, it doesn't matter if we have black or white skin, it shouldn't even matter if we can do magic or not. Because there's only one who can perform true miracles, and there's going to be a day when every knee will bow, and every knee will confess Him as Lord. We're all going to be exactly the same, perfect in every way, praising His name for ever and ever."
"Amen." Harry said loudly with another nod.
"Now the Bible talks about a lot of miracles that Jesus performed. Not only did He walk on water, but He also raised the dead, made the blind see and the lame walk. However I think the greatest miracle of all is when He suffered and died on that cross. He didn't have to, but He loved us enough to give us all the option to spend an eternity with Him in Heaven. Now the Bible also talks about that whosoever does good and believes in Him will never truly die.
There is a lot of time in this life we seem to forget that though. We miss our loved and dearly departed loved ones so much that we would just give about anything to spend one more day with them. Don't you think they feel exactly the same way about us? What wouldn't they give just to spend eternity with us in their presence? That's all what God's purpose is for us and that's why He sent His Son. He loves us all so much and He wants us all to go to Heaven to be with Him. The question that now remains is do you want it?" The pastor inquired.
Silent tears were now rolling down Harry's cheeks as a moment of silence fell. He understood everything that the pastor was saying and it hit him like a ton of bricks. "Let us bow our heads and pray." The pastor said as Harry sniffed and wiped away his tears before he closed his eyes and bowed his head. "Heavenly Father, we come before you today Lord to thank you for your many wonderful blessings. Thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ to die for us so that we may one day have a chance to be with you and all of our loved ones who have gone home to be with you before us.
Thank you for this chance on getting to know you and your Son. Please forgive us for all of our sins, and please be with those who need you whether or not they realize it and heal the pain inside their hearts and continue to bless them throughout the day. This we ask in your name, amen." He said.
"Amen." Everyone chorused together.
"Amen." Harry whispered with another sniff as he wiped some more of his tears away.
"Now let us all stand and sing a verse of Amazing Grace before we close." The pastor told them as everyone stood up and started to sing but Harry just simply turned around and walked away. Jenny watched him and followed him outside. Harry sniffed again as he sat down on the front steps before Jenny joined him and sat down beside him.
"Are you alright?" she asked him.
"No." Harry replied with yet another sniff. "Everything that he was saying in there, I knew all of it but I just forgot it." He told her.
"That's alright." She reassured him as he glanced up at her through his tears as they continued rolling down his cheeks.
"No it's not, this is all my fault! If I wouldn't have been so selfish on wanting to get my parents back with me then this would have never happened!" he cried as he looked back down at the ground.
"No that's true, but then we would have never met. Besides, your parents really haven't left your side anyway. They've always been watching over you, and they've always been right in here." She told him as she placed her hand on top of his chest right underneath his cross. "Isn't that why your mum told you to wear your cross in the first place? To remind you that?" she asked him.
"Yeah," he began with a nod while wiping his nose on the back of his sleeve. "I just never thought that it would be this hard to remember it." He told her as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight embrace while resting her head upon his shoulder just like Hermione had always done. More tears rolled down his cheeks as he started thinking about her. "I want to go home." He began as he suddenly broke out of the embrace.
"It's not that I don't care about you, you're brilliant and last night was one of the best nights that I ever had in a long time. It's just that I don't belong here." He sniffed.
"It's alright I understand." She began. "And since it looks like you're finally willing to move on with your life you should be able to." She told him when suddenly out of nowhere Hermione and his father appeared right in front of them.
