Image via WikipediaThe greatest thing that ever happened in my life is when
Jesus Christ became the Lord of my Life. A lot of wonderful things have happened to me. I found the greatest wife in the whole wide world. Her name is Joy and she is my Joy from the Lord.
God has blessed me with two beautiful little girls, Leona and Angelina. I love my family with all of my heart and I am very grateful to the Lord for this amazing blessing. But of all the blessings that God can bestow on any human being nothing is as wonderful as his Son Jesus Christ.
I was born into a Catholic home both parents and all four grandparents were practicing Catholics. When I was two years old my parents got divorced and because my mother could no longer receive communion she stopped going to church. When I was five she remarried a man who was an atheist. My new father soon became an alcoholic and my mother soon followed suit. I was separated from my father’s parents and soon had no contact with that side of the family. Unfortunately my stepfather’s family was no practicing
Christians.
Although I still had a close relationship with my mother’s parents who were serious Catholics I was not exposed to church very much. My grandparent’s talked about Mary, and St. Jude, but didn’t talk about Jesus. And even though I went with them to church as a small child the Mass in the 1960’s was entirely in Latin.
But even though the dice were stacked against me God had different ideas. Even though I didn’t go to Church my heart was fixed on God. My earliest memories were of playing in a room in my grandmother’s house with Jesus sitting on the floor talking to me as I played. Now understand it may just have been my imagination, maybe Jesus was my imaginary friend but it is entirely possible it was him. This was a memory from when I was less than five prior to my mother remarrying and I was living with my grandparents.
Another early memory from that time was coming out to the living room during the Easter season. On the T.V. was a movie The Greatest Story Ever Told. When I found out it was about Jesus and I was all excited because it was about my friend. When they got to the part about the crucifixion I freaked out. I got mad and yelled at the T.V. and said “Don’t you know who that is? He’s the Son of God.” For weeks I tried to figure out how to make a time machine and go back in time and bring some U.S. Marines to take care of those Roman guys.
When I was about 6 or 7
the Holy Spirit started to convict my soul and I would cry myself to sleep because I knew I was a sinner and if I died in my sleep I would go to hell. Apparently I had reached the age of accountability and needed to get born again. Now please understand no one preached the gospel to me. I knew that Jesus was somehow the answer but I didn’t know how. I tried to read the scripture but was lost because I could barely read and of course where do you start to read a book. In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth. After I read the first few chapters of Genesis I was completely lost.
My grandparents put me in Catechism study so I could make my first communion. I was convinced that once I had taken this step I would finally be saved. But of course I was disappointed to realize that I underwent a ritual but that was not enough to get me right with God. So as a child I went from Church to Church in my community looking for salvation. At about 8 years old I would ride my bike to a different church each week looking for salvation. Unfortunately no one took a little boy seriously may God have mercy on them on the
Day of Judgment.
When I was 11 years old we moved to a different town and just before my 12th birthday I was walking down the road. A man drove down the road and stopped his car. He rolled down his window and called me over. He said “Has anyone ever told you about Jesus and the plan of Salvation?” I said “No. I have been looking my whole life to find the answer.” He told me the plan of salvation and right there in the middle of a dead end street I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I don’t remember if I have ever seen this man again. But that day a stranger led me to the lord and I became Born Again.
For a while I attended a
Baptist Church, then Assembly of God, then some variety of non-denominational churches. And for about 7 or 8 years I even attended a Messianic Jewish Congregation. And now with my wife I once again attend a
Catholic Church because that is were she feels comfortable.
It doesn’t matter who variety of church you attend what is important is that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Religion is nice but doesn’t bring salvation only the life changing personal relationship with Christ. So If you haven't yet made Jesus the Lord of Your Life I urge you to do it today.
Image from WikipediaAn unbeliever once asked Rabbi Akiva, "who created the World?"
