Testimony Curtis Rook

Proverbs 4:20-27 (NIV)
My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

On August 17, 1997, I became a Christian. I then became a member of New Exodus Fellowship in Cockeysville, Maryland. The men of New Exodus were planning a trip to a Promise Keepers rally in Washington DC and they were encouraging me to join them. I really wasn't interested, and whenever I was approached about going I fell back on my fool-proof excuse, "No, I can't make it, I have to work that day."

I heard about the rally on August 24, and I was not interested. I heard about the rally on August 31, and I was not interested. On September 6, I was listening to the worship leader talk about the upcoming rally in front of the congregation. As he was talking, I suddenly thought to myself, "I might like to go to that rally." I had no idea why I had the sudden change of heart. At the same moment that thought was crossing my mind, the woman seated behind me tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a note. The note read,"If the Lord moves you to go, I will help you with the cost." My wife was seated next to me, read the note, and waved at me as if to say, "you're going, good-bye." For three weeks I had determinedly stood my ground against going to the rally, and now, in an instant, I was going to attend. I rearranged my work schedule and made my plans to attend.

It was a beautiful Saturday, warm and sunny, when the bus arrived in Washington. It was a pretty good walk from the bus to the mall, at least a mile. There were about twelve of us in our New Exodus group and one of the men, Wayne, was having trouble walking. He had a problem with his foot and it was quite painful for him to walk. The result was, the group would string along ahead until someone said, "let's wait for Wayne," and everyone would stop, wait until Wayne caught up, and then do the same thing over again. This routine repeated itself several times over the course of the walk. When we arrived at the mall we stood as a group between two statues. We agreed that if we were separated, we would all meet at those statues and walk back to the bus together. They were expecting hundreds of thousands of men at the Promise Keepers rally and it seemed likely some of us would become separated from the others.

I benefitted from the rally, listening to the speakers and joining in prayer with hundreds of thousands. I felt humbled by the Spirit, realizing my need to draw closer to God as the head of my family. At one point we were asked to pull out pictures of our families from our wallets. We were asked to pray over the pictures and ask God about our responsibilities to our families. I felt a great tugging at my heart as I realized my weaknesses in serving as priest over my household. I learned there was much room for growth. At the close of the rally we were exhorted to step up and serve. It was a powerful call to action. We were encouraged to go to our pastors and ask how we could better serve the church. From the church, we would seek how to better serve our community. From the community, we would seek how we could better serve our state. From the state, we would seek how to better serve the country. From the country we would seek how to better reach a lost and dying world in the name of Jesus Christ!!! Man, I was pumped.

We met the others back at the statues. Once everyone had gathered, we agreed that rather than walk ahead of Wayne and stop, wait for him to catch up, then continue on, we would instead all walk behind him together, as a group. Everyone nodded in agreement and we began to make our way back to the bus. We had not gone far, maybe a hundred yards, when I realized that I had already begun walking ahead of Wayne instead of staying with him as we had agreed. I went back to him and walked with him the rest of the way to the bus.

Everybody was pumped from the rally. There were thousands of men walking along the road back to the bus lot. Those walking along one sidewalk would shout out, "I love Jesus, yes I do. I love Jesus, how about you?" Then those walking along the opposite sidewalk would retort a little louder, "I love Jesus, yes I do. I love Jesus, how about you?" All of the others in our group had gone on ahead. Occasionally one would drop back to help Wayne for a stretch, but nobody stayed with him. By the time Wayne and I reached the bus everyone was on board and as Wayne boarded they all gave him a big cheer.

Later that night, as I was readying for bed, I began thinking about what had been said at the rally. I was still energized by our charge to change the world. I was conjuring up all manner of grand thoughts as to how I might actively become involved in creating this new order. As I was contemplating these great things, God spoke to me. Now, when I say God spoke to me, I mean that he used the voice I think with, but gave it his words. How did I know it was God speaking to me? I just knew.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I was just thinking of ways I could help the church," I replied. "And then from there we are going to reach out to the community, and then the state, and then..."

"Okay, wait one minute," God said. "Why don't you tell me what happened today."

"I went to the Promise Keepers rally," I said.

"How long were you there," God asked.

"Almost all day," I replied. "From about 10:00 am to 4:00 pm."

"What happened when you were leaving," God asked.

"We met at the statues."

"You had agreed to meet at the statues," he asked.

"Yes."

"So you kept your promise, didn't you? You agreed to meet there, which was making a promise, and you were there at the appointed time, so you kept your promise?"

"Yes," I agreed. "I kept my promise." I felt very good about being to tell God I had kept my promise.

"Then what happened," God asked.

"Then we all agreed we would walk behind Wayne on our way back to the bus."

"And did you walk with Wayne all the way back to the bus?"

"No," I replied.

"Did you walk half way back to the bus with Wayne?"

"No," I answered, more weakly.

"How far did you walk before you left your brother Wayne behind?"

"About a hundred yards," I reckoned. By this time I was kneeling on the floor with my head bowed.

"You agreed that meeting at the statues was a promise kept, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Do you agree that leaving your brother behind was a promise not kept?"

"Yes."

"So, after attending a six hour Promise Keepers rally, you had not walked a hundred yards from the rally before you broke a promise."

"Yes," I agreed.

"How do you think you can do these things that are filling your head? How do you think you can change the world, when you can not control your own two feet. You could not keep your own feet from leading you astray and breaking your promise, your promise to walk beside your own brother."

My head bent low to the ground as the Lord continued.

"I don't need you to change the world," he said. "I will change the world through you. I need you to control your own two feet. I need you to walk a straight path. I need you to not stray to the left or to the right. I need you to control your own two feet, your own actions, so that you can be a man of your word, a man of honor. I need you to walk with the Lord your God in mind. Then you will see what I shall do. Then you shall see great things come to pass."

It has been over eight years since that evening. I have struggled to stay on a straight path. I have not found it to be easy. I often find myself starting after my own wants and desires. But I strive to bring myself back in line, because I long to see the things God will do in this life.