Emphasis Preaching Journal

Erik had grown up in an unchurched family and had little exposure to the Christian message. Richard, his older brother, had become a Christian in college and had ended up as a pastor. When they got together, Erik, spiritually curious, asked about faith and the Christian story. Richard told how friends had invited him to come to church and how his own faith had grown, but Erik's key question, "I want to believe this. How can I?" went unanswered.

Then Erik's work as a stockbroker presented him with an ethical dilemma. His boss wanted him to sell some stocks that the brokerage firm owned to clients, feeling that the stocks had appreciated as far as they were going to go. "Just bury them in with some sure winners," his boss had said. "They'll never notice. A few stocks always go down anyway."

This moment of decision was pivotal. Erik refused, gathered his things, and quit that day. His goal of making money had been trumped by a deeper need to remain ethical. In the process, his orientation toward life took a turn and that which had been a mystery began to make sense. That which had been hidden to him in one part of his life was somehow inexplicably revealed to him in another.