TENTH

As a child, I grew up in a church with my parents. But I never knew who God was. Around 6th grade I totally rejected the church that I was at, God and church were totally meaningless to me. At school I found friends who didn't believe either, and we (6th - 8th grade) made fun of churches and declared them pointless. We even tried to bring up philosophical arguments against the existence of God. But in my heart I was unsure of that. I eventually challenged God, and asked Him to prove himself to me.

I was the odd kid in the classroom, I had always thought nobody liked me and nobody wanted to know me. Over time I grew to be a lonely person. Which made it all the more amazing to me when this girl in my class asked me out on a date. Well, I didn't really know the girl, but accepted anyway. We went to a few places, and I started going to church with her. She asked me if I believed in Jesus, and I responded 'No'. "Do you want to?" she asked. She gave me a week to think about it. At the end of the week I told her that I wasn't ready yet. She asked me every day from then on. After a month I finally relented.

It was a Sunday night after evening service. My feet had been burning when the pastor was preaching. My girlfriend asked me again, and I said "yeah, I'm ready". We walked to one of the rooms and prayed. I told God that I didn't know much about Him, I was a sinner (I didn't even know what that meant), but I wanted to believe. I accepted Him, and over the next few months my eyes opened and I saw exactly what I had been missing. I finally knew Jesus as the sacrifice that He had become, all the miracles that He had done, and that if He didn't come to save me, then my sin made my destination unmentionable.

I grew and grew with the encouragement of my girlfriend and a group of high school guys that I became a part of. We encouraged each other and loved each other, and I learned more about who God was from them than I have from anywhere else. I began reading scripture and praying, and my heart was encouraged. I never had to be lonely again.

On that note, one of my favorite verses would be Hebrews 12:1-2. Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that holds us back and the sin which so easily entangles us, and run the race with endurance, always looking to Christ Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. He, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despised the shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.