Now What...

I wasn't sure what all of this meant. I was raised in a Christian home, my dad was a pastor for the first ten years of my life, so I knew full well how a lot of Christians lived. I had rejected Christianity partially because I didn't like the restricted lifestyle. So, I decided I had better get some things straight between the Almighty and me. There were three core issues that I was not going to compromise on, one was attending church, the second was, giving money to a church, and the third was not following other Christians around and trying to act like them. I knelt down and prayed, declaring to the God of the universe, that I was not going to attend any of his churches, and I was not going to give any of my money to any of this churches. And as far as the bahavior thing goes, I knew I was just going to be avoiding most Christians anyway, so I wasn't worried about that.

Then I thought about what I did want to do. I had never read the Bible all the way through. I had never had any kind of a prayer life. These two things became the center of my getting to know Jesus. Reading about Him and praying to Him. Everyday at breakfast time I would open my Bible, spend some time reading and then before going off to work, spend some time in prayer. It took me three years to read through the whole Bible. During that time, I found that God was revealing Himself to me through His word. I know it sound kind of funny if this has not been your experience, but the more I read, the more complete picture I was able to piece together of God. At the same time, I was becoming more and more aware of a stark difference between what I was praying for in the morning and how I was acting throughout the day. Again this was God's word, working it's way into my mind and into my prayers.

At this point, it has been over three years since I was saved. It is the summer of 1994. My brother Monty called me and invited me to a men's gathering that was being held at the Los Angeles Colliseum. He also invited our dad to go. I had never been to an event like this. It was called Promise Keepers, and it was a gigantic event. Over 65,000 men gathered to participate. I came away from that event, challenged to start living a Christian life that was visible. My brother and my dad were encouraging me to grow. It was the turning point in my walk with Jesus.