Have you ever had an encounter with God? I mean a real encounter where God invades your universe and actually interacts with you? A Damascus road
experience, like Paul had? I have.
I claimed to be a Christian. At least from age 12 or 13 on. I went to church camp that summer. From there I went to more camps, got involved with
the Methodist church youth program. I was even president of the district youth counsel for about a year before I graduated high school. I read my
Bible, listened to Christian music. I went to confirmation class and got baptized (sprinkled) into the Methodist church. By all outward appearances, I
was a believer.
But the reality of it was a different story. I came home from every camp with a new girlfriend. My true motives weren't to learn more about God or
to serve the church, my mission in life was to meet girls. Before long I was mess. I'm pretty sure I wasn't fooling anyone, everyone could see that my
true mission in life was sex.
Later, I went to college, got married, and started a family. When the Internet became commonplace, it just fed my addiction. God was no where to be
found in my life, except as a topic of philosophical conversation or as something that was explained away by science.
That all changed in the summer of 1999. Some friends of Anna and I lost thier son in a terrible accident. Anna had known this couple since high
school. They had helped us out for a while when we met hard times and let us stay with them until we had a place of our own. Later, we moved, but
still kept in touch. Eventually they split up and it was her new boyfriend that caused the accident.
We went to the funeral. It was there that God made Himself really real to me. We were sitting there when I heard a Voice say "You could have saved
this boy." Now maybe it was part of a conversation I had overheard, maybe even something from the next room. But I know what it was. God was telling
me the truth.
It was then that I realized that I had never been what I once claimed to be. If I had truly been a Christian, I could have saved this boy. Maybe,
if I had told these friends of ours about Jesus, maybe if I had been a positive influence on them they would still have been together and thier son
would be alive today.
That was the beginning of my journey. God had spoken to me, but which God? Jehovah? Allah? Krishna? Budda? For 5 months I looked at all the
evidence. It wasn't until I opened my Bible again, after such a long time, that I found I had the truth at hand all along. No prophet getting a secret
revelation in a cave, no 600 lb guy talking about self control, just the facts.
A short time later I was baptized, for real this time.
If you've never met God, contact me. I will share with you the truth I've found. In spite of all the bad things I've done, I know I've been
forgiven, and I've found peace. Real peace. Let me share it with you.
