ESTHER COHN PARKER

When my parents married, they decided to not have disharmony in the house trying to raise their children in my father's Jewish faith or in my mother's Christian Science faith. So they came up with the idea of waiting until we were old enough to choose for ourselves.   Even so, my brother, Bernie had a bar mitzvah at the age of thirteen and I attended a Jewish girl's group, while also attending Sunday School from time to time with my maternal grandmother. Did this give me any clue as to what "religion" I wanted to follow? A big NO to that. It only added to my confusion.

When I considered, did I want to be the "dirty Jew" the kids were calling me when I was young, OR did I want to be like the people who were calling themselves Christians while calling me names, sometimes making me cry and ashamed, I really was confused. I couldn't understand what was so terrible about me and I did not comprehend that all non-Jewish people were not always Christians, even if that is what they called themselves.

Then one day, when I was almost thirteen years of age, a neighbor who was the mother of one of my playmates, invited me to her church, Calvary Baptist in the Burbank/Glendale area. I liked the "idea" of being able to socialize with these people and have them treating me like a real human being. They smiled at me and said wonderful things. Wow! This was something I could get used to, and my parents didn't seem to mind that I went to this nice place with nice people. The Message might have gone over my head, but I didn't care. I even was invited to play croquet after church with the other kids. These things meant a lot to a "love-starved" little girl, and to my parents who had seen me coming home in tears long enough.

One Saturday night the church group attended a Youth For Christ meeting in North Hollywood. I was invited to go along. Still, the Message of Salvation went over my head, but everyone had a grand time singing and smiling so I kept going back each Saturday evening.

Then, one wonderful and glorious night, instead of the Words going high and dry, they hit the target of my heart. When Bob Manning preached, I listened intently. When the invitation came, I didn't even know that my chair had "springs" in it....it threw me out and I was walking down the aisle before I even knew what hit me. When Bob said "if you take it, it will never leave you," I grabbed on to my salvation like a life preserver.

But the story doesn't end there. With no other Christian in the home I did not mature. I KNEW I was the Lord's child just as surely as I had invited Him into my heart and life, there was no growth. I stayed a babe, even after I invited my brother, Bernie, to go to church with me and he was born again.  I joined every group at church that I could, going almost every night or day that there was some activity I could attend, but something, unnoticed by me, was missing. This was a church of "don'ts"....but not a growth provider. What do I mean by this? "Don't dance, don't wear makeup, don't associate with Catholics, don't, don't, don't." More confusion? You better believe it! 

Nothing in my life really changed, except that I knew I was a Christian and I loved the Lord. I knew I would go to Heaven when I died. And that is all I really knew about my faith.  This went on for many years until I was married in 1965 at the age of thirty. At this time we joined the First Baptist Church of Van Nuys, CA, and under Dr. Harold Fickett, I really grew. We had a son and when he was thirteen he accepted the Lord and my husband, son and I were all baptized as a family. After eleven years in Van Nuys, four years after our baptism, we move to the Desert Hot Springs area. We attended many churches for awhile, but did not find one that really suited us. My 81 year old mother also moved to the desert, still unsaved.

When my husband was 54 years old he passed away from kidney disease. Shortly after his passing I joined Grace Evangelical Free Church, and when they were having a Seder celebration at Grace, one that showed the difference between the Jewish law and Christian freedom, I invited my mother to attend. She was so taken by the Jewish/Christian man that made the presentation that when I invited her to a Sunday morning service led by our Pastor Joe Lombardi, my mother gladly accepted. She also accepted the Lord, inviting Him into her heart at the first Communion Service she had attended. PTL! She was baptized at age 82 and passed into Glory at age 84, but not before she saw my sister invite the Lord into her heart during this same time period. What about my father, you ask? We are not sure, but we think that he accepted the Lord while in the hospital from a heart attack. We pray this is so.!

A post-log to my story: I remarried after two years, to a retired minister who also was widowed. We attend Grace Evangelical Free Church in the Fall and Winter months and Our Savior's Baptist Church of Federal Way, WA in the Spring and Summer months. Yes, we are "Snowbirds." Bob was and is the answer to my prayers for a new companion in life. We work, side by side, for the Friends of Israel Ministry, serving the Messiah (STM) while we travel from one home to the other. PTL! I am still growing, and prayerfully will continue to do so until He calls me Home.