jesuschangesschoolprincipal'smind

When I was about fourteen years old, I took a friend with me, and we went to our High School Principal’s office and knocked on his door.

“Yes. Come in. What have you done wrong? Who sent you here?” he asked.

“Sir, I haven’t done anything wrong. We just want to talk to you,” I said.

“Well, come in then,” he replied, somewhat amused at being approached in this way by a Grade 9 student.

“Sir, I’ve become a Christian, and I’ve had my life changed. First of all, I want to apologize for any trouble I ever caused any teachers before I was a Christian. Secondly, I want to ask your permission to use a room at lunchtime, so I can start a Christian meeting to tell other kids about Jesus, so they can have a chance to get their life changed too,” I said.

The Principal thought about it for a while. Then he said, “No. Everyone has their own religion. If I let you start a meeting for your religion, some parents may get upset, and it may cause division. So I’d rather have no religion at all in the school.” I thanked him for his time, shook his hand, then left.

I went and told my friends who had become Christians what the Principal had said. “But let’s all pray that the Lord will change his mind tonight while he’s asleep,” I suggested.

So that night before going to sleep, like we had all agreed, I prayed: “Lord, change the Principal's mind tonight, while he’s asleep.” And I turned the light out and went to sleep.

Then sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up. My bedroom was full of light. I wondered where the light was coming from. I looked up at the light-bulb, but it wasn’t on. Then I looked down, and I saw Jesus sitting on the end of my bed. His clothing and skin were shining, lighting up the whole room.

Automatically I was drawn out of bed without even feeling cold when I came out from underneath the bed sheets, and I sat on His lap. He held me in His hands. I looked at His face. “Oh...it’s Jesus,” I realized.

I saw the holes in His hands where the nails went through—still red, still an open wound. When I saw them, I felt love. I knew He died for me. I looked down at His feet, and I saw holes where the nails went through. His sandals were dusty—like He’d been out walking the streets. He was wearing a long white garment, but it wasn’t entirely clean either. He had slightly long hair and a beard.

As I looked at Jesus’ face, I thought to myself, “Gee, you’re not very good looking, are you Jesus!” He smiled. I could tell He knew exactly what I was thinking. But He didn’t get upset. He thought it was funny too!

But then when I looked into Jesus’ eyes, I remember feeling, “Oh—this is the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen in my life!” His eyes were like oceans of love.

Have you ever looked in water so crystal clear that you think you can touch the bottom even though it’s deep? That’s what Jesus’ eyes are like. You feel like you can see for miles into them, yet all you see is love. I gazed deep into His eyes, and all I could see was wholeness, gentleness, tenderness, purity, love.

It was so nice to be with Him. And He seemed to be even more delighted that He was allowed to be with me!

I could write a thick book about what I saw in Jesus’ eyes – without Him even saying anything:

I could see in His eyes that He never took His eye off His Father in heaven. Although he was delighted that the Father had allowed Him to visit me, He was careful not to stay one moment longer than His Father willed.

I could see in Jesus’ eyes that He delights in the Father’s will. It’s as if He is thinking: “Last time I chose your will Father, over my own, the result was so good - now I can hardly wait to do your will again!”

Another thing I could see in Jesus’ eyes is that He keeps loving even those who reject Him. He never withdraws, but keeps reaching-out with love, even to those who reject Him. It turned out I was to need that quality, if I was to keep preaching Jesus at School. He said to me, “So – you’re thinking of starting a meeting at Bremer, hey?” I said yeah, and we chatted about that.

The next day my friend who had accompanied me the day before was walking in the School grounds, and the Principal saw him. The Principal came running down the steps, “I’ve been looking for you boys all over," he said. "I’m so glad I found you. About that meeting you wanted to have – something’s happened to me overnight - I've changed my mind. Now I want you to have that meeting. Which room do you want to use?”

The Lord answered our prayer by changing the Principal's mind late at night whilst he was asleep. Then it seemed like before the Lord went back to heaven, He visited me for a quick chat - but He had to wake me up first!

I chose the best room in the School: it had carpeted floors, ceiling fans and audio-visual equipment. We started a weekly lunch-time Christian meeting. Many students believed and received Jesus. Some were healed. Many were filled with the Holy Spirit. Some of these went-on to become missionaries in later years. Sometimes over 100 people attended.

At that time I wrote this song from my heart:

Jesus my Saviour

Jesus the Living Word

Jesus my Helper

I love you with all my heart

With God’s help, I was able to preach Jesus everyday for the rest of my High School years, no man hindering me.

The Word of God says:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16)

You too can have everlasting life. Ask Jesus to come into your spirit today.

- John Edwards