When I was a boy at Lincoln Lake Camp, I used to ask continually if it was possible to lose my salvation if I sinned. The answer usually included something that sounded like this, “No, Kenny, if you are genuinely saved you will sin less, but your sin will not take your salvation away, it will just break your fellowship with God. Over the years a dark distortion crept into my soul. I did not realize the weight of the tragedy of living out of fellowship with God. I didn’t realize the danger of living out of fellowship with God. I didn’t see the scandal of living out of fellowship with God. I didn’t realize how living out of fellowship with God crippled my Christian walk. It never occurred to me that a Christian out of fellowship with God is presenting to the world a horribly disfigured image of Christ, a grotesque mis-representation of the beauty of Jesus. Never, never, never learn to be satisfied with living out of fellowship with Jesus. Never.
My Grandfather Pierpont grew up near Chatham, Ohio in the days when cars were a novelty of the rich. For staples and supplies that the family couldn’t grow on the farm they would take a buggy to the village store. He often told the story about what happened on one of those trips to town. It was winter. The river was frozen and the ground was covered with snow. The trip to Chatham would be an adventure that winter day. They would use the sleigh. The whole family clamored to go.
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