Thinking of a clever, catchy title for my testimony isn't easy. "Testimony" sounds boring so I thought I'd try to explain how I got this way. "What way?" you may ask. Well, when I first accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, I was told that I shouldn't become a fanatic! People asked me, "What do you want to do, be a minister or something?" To them, anyone who was as committed to something as I was had to want to go into full time ministry. But I had been saved from the law of sin and death and to me that was worthy of devoting everything I was (and am) to...
It was October of 1978 (the 28th, to be exact) and a friend and I had gone down to San Diego to look at San Diego State University. We were both considering going to college there and were checking it out. I had a childhood friend, Terri, who lived down there in El Cajon, CA with her husband. My mother was (and is) dear friends with Terri's mother and although we had attended the same church as children my mother informed me that Terri and her husband, Ronn, had something "new". At the time, I thought I was going down to San Diego to check out the college but God had another plan in mind.
We visited Terri and Ronn and almost upon arrival I had asked them about their "new" thing. I knew it was somehow religious and I had always been curious and seeking answers to my deepest questions. What is this life all about? Why does time pass so quickly? What is my purpose? Is there an answer to the heartaches and tragedies that I see every where I turn? Does God really love me? Can Jesus change my life?
Ronn began telling us about heaven and hell, the rapture, the millennial period, (these topics were extremely popular in the 1970's even to the general public due to a number of "End Times" books that were released), judgment day, and how Jesus Christ had come to set us free from the law of sin and death. He told us about heaven and how its streets were paved with the purest of gold. He told us about Jesus dieing on the cross so that we could have eternal life. He told us about the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now both my friend, Tina, and I had been raised knowing about Jesus, but I had never had it made personal before. Suddenly, Jesus was someone who cared about me so much that He had suffered greatly for my sake.
I had been seeking answers for several years prior to this moment but I still hadn't understood how personal this was. I had been reading the gospels. I had been searching and asking and talking but no one had been there to give me the information I needed. The truth of the gospels just seemed to make me feel guiltier and I didn't know how to get out from underneath the weight of that guilt. I knew how selfish I was. I knew who I was on the inside, and I didn't necessarily like what I saw. I knew I needed a way to be different. I knew that I couldn't do it on my own. I now realized that Jesus wasn't just God way out there; I now saw Him as a real person as well as God, the God who lived here on earth for a time but lived a different, sinless way of life as our example. I saw Jesus as someone who could show me the way, the truth, and the life that I so desperately wanted to live.
I found myself jumping out of my seat shouting, "I'll go! That's for me! That's what I have been looking for!" And from that moment on, I never looked back. Oh, I had a lot to learn and am still learning how to do things His Way, but my insides felt different immediately. I had hope for myself. I had hope for this life. And no matter how quickly time passed, I knew that now my life would count for something, no matter how brief it was, no matter how ordinary it was, I now had in my possession the Extraordinary Love of God.
Thirty-two years have nearly passed, and I am still following Jesus, I am still wholly devoted to Him, to His truth, to His love. It has been a long road so far and hopefully it will stretch out into the future and I will continue to be transformed into His image. There are many bumps and potholes along the road of this life but for me then and now, "To live is Christ." Philippians 1:21 And that's how I got this way...
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
"Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!" Romans 5:10 (The Message)
"It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life." Ephesians 1:13-14 (The Message)
"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:16 (NASB)
Dear Lord, Thank you for Your indescribable gift of salvation through Your Son, Jesus Christ.
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