“Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Cor. 16:14 ESV)
Ann Kiemel
I became a Christian in 1970 during the “Jesus movement”. God touched a lot of young people everywhere at that time. Huge Jesus events sprang up everywhere and young people would attend them by the thousands. My wife, Susan, and I were among them. One of the popular speakers at those events was a young youth leader by he name of Ann Kiemel. She moved millions with her simple faith and desire to share Jesus. Her books, including I’m Out to Change My World, I’m Running to Win and I Gave God Time, sold more than 20 million copies. She inspired crowds at conventions, retreats, churches and coliseums.
The following story by Ann Kiemel, and published by Heritage Builders Association, is excerpted from her book, “I’m Out To Change My World”. In it, Ann tells how she and her youth group worked together in an experiment to see what love could do for a troubled teenager named John. The following is what she said happened.
John
“One kid, his name was John, walked around with his head down all the time. He never looked you in the eye, and if you ever got close to him, he shuddered. One day John wasn’t there, and I said to the kids, “Let’s try an experiment. Let’s really love John, I mean, really love him, as we’ve never loved anyone before. Let’s just see what love can do for John.” He was the most inhibited, insecure kid. I had ever seen in my life. From that moment on we asked Jesus to help us love John. Every time he came into a room, everyone wanted to sit by John. We sent him letters. We wrote notes during the week. We stopped by to buy him a coke.
After six months of loving john the kids started to get tired. “Gee, Ann, you don’t know what it’s like to love John. You call him at home to see how his week is going and he says ‘m-m-m, OK.’ John, you say, I really have been thinking of you and I love you and he just grunts.” But I’ll never forget the morning we were all gathered together and suddenly John smiled. We had never seen John smile. He really smiled. And two weeks later when he laughed out loud it nearly blew our minds. No one wanted John to notice but they were all trying to signal me— “Had I noticed? John laughed, he really laughed.”
Three weeks later his mother, who was a non-Christian— the whole family was non-Christian— called me and said, “Ann, last weekend we were in the mountains camping. John is 16 and I haven’t seen him cry since he was five. But he started to cry and bawl and sob. And after four hours I was almost frantic and I asked him why he was crying like this. All he could say over and over was ‘I’m such a failure, mom, I’m such a flop.” and finally I said, ‘It’s that church you’re going to, they’re not treating you right.’ and he said as he shook his head, ‘No, no. It’s my only hope, mom. They love me over there.’” And she said, “It seemed like the minute he said that, the minute he came out and shared that with me, he began to dry his tears, and he straightened his back and held his head up and it’s strange, he’s never been the same since. And in the group he began to laugh a lot, he began to share in conversational prayer when we prayed. He began to bring a friend on Sunday, and two friends the next Sunday and he became the best softball player we ever had. For the first time in his life he had the courage to play ball.
Love changed john’s life, just love. you can do one of two things in your world. You can build a wall or you can build a bridge to every person you meet. I’m out to build bridges, are you? Come and build bridges with me. Sir, can I take your hand? Or yours ma’am? Can I pick you up little boy and hold you in my lap and kiss your cold face even if it’s dirty? Can I love you to Him? Can I love you so much through thick and thin until you learn that Jesus really cares for you? Can I love you until you feel hope for your world and your tomorrows? That’s my hope. that’s my story and it can be yours.”
This is Mike again. Wasn’t that a great story that Ann Kiemel told? Why was love so powerful in her story? Hasn’t the word “love” been overly used by many without this kind of results? Love has been used as the theme for countless books, songs, and movies? There seems to be a lot of confusion about what love actually is. The Beatles had a famous song called, “All you need is love”. But looking at their use of drugs and how they lived, you can see they didn’t understand the true meaning of love. And then there was Tina Tuner, who sang, “What’s love got to do with it? What’s love, but a second-hand emotion?” Obviously she didn’t have the answer, either. So, where do you find the correct answer that explains clearly about what love actually is? The answer is the Bible! The Bible says that God Himself is love (1 John 4:8). That’s right, if you want to know what love is, check out what the Bible says about God. John 3:16 says about Him: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Then there’s First Corinthians 13, commonly known as the love chapter, which defines what love is in verses 4-8: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” And, that’s the kind of love that changes lives! That is why John’s life was touched and changed dramatically in Ann Kiemel’s story. Ann and the kids in her group actively demonstrated God’s kind of love to John! And it worked wonders. And it’s how we all should love!
Therefore:
“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Col. 3:14 ESV)
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 ESV)
