Before I accepted Christ, I was doing all the things that I thought would bring me enjoyment such as drinking, doing drugs, and hanging out with my friends in the bar. I had grown up in church but had drifted far away from my religious roots when I was 18 years old. My attitude was to have as much fun as I could and to just get by. I dropped out of college and then began to sell medicare supplements but once I made a few sales, I would take the rest of the week off and party. I had no goals for my life except to make just enough money to support my habits. This was an unusual attitude for someone who in High School knew what he wanted to do with his life and was on the National Honor Society. During this period of my life, I felt like I was walking through a fog not really knowing where I was going in life.
When I was 21 years old, however, I began to come under heavy conviction. My grandmother who always made sure I was in church when I was younger and who had been a pastor for over 30 years, prayed for me three times every day that I might accept Christ into my heart. No wonder I was under such strong conviction. She never gave up praying for me even when it appeared that I was slipping even deeper into sin. I remember being in bars and drinking shots of whiskey and I would have memories of when I was in church and God would speak to me that I did not belong there in that bar. The conviction kept growing until I was so afraid that I would die in my sleep and spend eternity in hell that I would keep myself awake at nights by drinking black coffee. The day I got saved, I had dark circles under my eyes from a lack of sleep. That is what I call serious conviction. God kept trying to show me the terribleness of sin and its consequences and my eyes were finally fully opened to this on New Years Eve 1983 when I was severely beaten up in a bar in the early morning hours. I was so drunk that I never saw the punches coming. I was so severely beaten, that I did not leave the house for about a week because I didn’t want anyone to see my injuries. It was a few weeks after this incident, that I finally relented and accepted Christ into my heart as my Lord and Savior. I had gone so low that the only thing I could do was look up and say God help me. Since I knew that it was my Grandmother who had been praying for me to be saved, I went to her house on a Sunday afternoon and she prayed along with me for Christ to come into my heart.
I still remember the joy and peace that came over me and the guilt of sin that was lifted. With such inner contentment and an assurance that God was my Father now, I began to sleep at nights again. My life immediately began to take a complete turn. That year I attended Bible School and began to preach in my local church. I would study the bible for hours soaking in what I read like a sponge. I began to attend church whenever the doors were open. I went on to get my ministers license and have now been a pastor for over 20 years. Since I can relate to them, I have reached out to and led alcoholics and drug addicts to Jesus Christ. I have been a Christian now for 30 years and these have been the most satisfying and happiest years of my life. It has been a wonderful experience in having that inner peace that the world could never give me, having God to call out to in the time of need, seeking God’s direction for difficult decisions and knowing that He would never steer me wrong, and knowing that God is by my side as I go about my day. There is no amount of money that I would ever take in exchange for what I have in my salvation experience. It has been the most wonderful experience and something that I never did find in the world.