June 12, 2021
How a chance encounter led to a full life.
IIn 1976 I worked as a sales representative for a health food retailer. While I was working there, our company attended a major weekend event with a booth in the DePaul University fieldhouse in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was very well attended by many people who went from stand to stand and tried samples.
During my first break, I discovered the booth was selling two slices of vegetarian pizza with non-dairy cheese and whole grain breads away from mine. I had recently become a vegetarian and was always looking for new foods to go with my new diet. I had never heard of non-dairy pizza before but it smelled and looked so appetizing! A little later I finally got the courage to buy a disc and after a bite I was convinced. It was the best i have ever eaten!
On Sunday, after the end of the fair, everyone dismantled their displays and packed up to go home. When I finished cleaning up, the woman from the pizzeria came over to me and handed me a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread and said, “Here, we wanted you to have this.” I was a little surprised because nobody in Chicago gives away anything for free !
Then she said: “You should come and see us sometime; we live in Michigan. ”I asked carefully what would it cost? She replied: “Nothing. Just stop by and enjoy more vegetarian food. You’ll love it. “I asked when, and she said,” In two weeks, come on Friday evening and stay until Sunday afternoon. “I heard myself say,” OK, two weeks … I’ll be there. “After getting some directions and contact information she returned to her booth and left me dazed.
What have I consented to? I thought.
Healthy eating serves as the opening
I decided not to go alone so I invited a friend to go with me. He asked another friend and two weeks later the three of us drove to this place called Oak Haven. We were driving from Chicago to Pullman, Michigan, arriving around 8:00 p.m. Friday night. We walked past those great arches and then down through a wooded wooded area to a secluded looking building where people had gathered.
Little did we know it was the beginning of the Sabbath or what that meant. We went into a room where about 50 people were sitting in chairs facing forward and a man in suspenders was talking happily about someone named Jesus. At the end of his talk, he said, “Let’s kneel in prayer to close our Sabbath meeting.” Confused, I wondered what kneeling in prayer was all about. I turned to my two friends and said, “We’d rather kneel because we’re their guests!” They refused, but I knelt and for the first time in my life I listened to someone praying.
We stayed in one of the houses in Oak Haven this weekend and experienced a lot of new things. The vegetarian food was fantastic and there was plenty of it, although the two meals a day took some getting used to. We left Oak Haven Sunday night and drove back to Chicago.
My head was filled with all sorts of questions. “Who are these people? Where does her happiness come from? ”I was attracted to her healthy lifestyle, especially the vegetarian food.
For the next nine months, I “invited” myself to Oak Haven once a month. I would do these trips alone as my friends were not interested in learning more about these “strange” people. In the next few months I got to know a lot of interesting people.
Once, in Oak Haven, I was sitting in a rocking chair after lunch when a girl came and sat down next to me. In almost every sentence she added the phrase “Isn’t that a blessing?” Over time, I began to understand what God’s blessings were about. I heard from many of them about Cindy, a girl I lived with in Oak Haven. Cindy blessed me by inviting me to her church, and soon I was there regularly. The North Shore Seventh-day Adventist Church family was welcoming and friendly. I felt at home with her pastor, Stan Cottrell. Cindy encouraged me to keep studying the Bible.
Experience an inner peace
Another blessing was learning to pray. At the entrance to Oak Haven was what was called the prayer gate; when people arrived or left, they would stop at the prayer gate and ask or thank God for the safety of their journey. The people didn’t just pray at the gate; they prayed at dinner, at meetings, in their rooms, while walking – it was a real part of their lives. They would address God as their friend and thank Him for everything! Their prayer life was a wonderful example to me and because they prayed for me too, I soon had an inner peace that was very different from what I was used to.
As I was leaving Oak Haven one Sunday evening to drive home, I approached the prayer gate in my car and was suddenly impressed to stop and pray like everyone else. I stopped, got out, knelt by the side of the road, and prayed for the first time in my life. I thanked God for the wonderful weekend I had experienced and asked for security on my way home. When I finished my prayer a voice came out of nowhere and said:, “Jayney Marie Scandiff, do you love me?” I jumped up and looked around; There was no one in sight so I thought I was just hearing things. I knelt down and started praying again. Suddenly the voice spoke again, and this time I was sure I had heard it! I looked around and still couldn’t see anyone, so I shook my head to clear my thoughts and decided to pray again. As I began to pray, the voice spoke louder and clearer, “Jayney Marie Scandiff, do you love me?” This time I jumped up, sure I heard the voice of God! I replied and said, “Yes, God, yes, I love you!”
When I got home, I called Pastor Cottrell and asked to be baptized on Saturday (Sabbath) as soon as possible. That was 45 years ago, and I’ve been doing the job God asked me to do – health education. What a blessing to be a Seventh-day Adventist! What a blessing our health message has been to me!
My story is really about the power of God reaching me. I often think about where I would be today if it wasn’t for the people in the dressing room two away from me. God invites each of us to share the good news. My “birth” lasted nine months; For others, it can take years or a day, and it starts with telling others what Jesus did for us. I was given the true “Bread of Life” through that one loaf of bread that was given to me that Sunday afternoon in 1976 at DePaul University. When we have an experience of God, we feel the desire to share Him with others.
The original version of this story was published on the Lake Union Herald.
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source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/adventist-review-online-do-you-love-me/
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