Only believe

I’m going to speak to some 15 year olds today at a school and the subject will be how I was able to overcome some serious obstacles in my life and achieve success. I love this subject because it gives me an opportunity to talk about Jesus Christ. Before Jesus was in my life I was penniless, addicted to drugs, lonely, paranoid, miserable, and I did not have a single person that I could call a friend. Today my story is just the opposite and the ONLY difference is that today I have Jesus Christ in my life and back then I did not.

Countless of my friends have expressed to me that they wish they had strong faith in God like I do. My strong faith can be attributed to Jesus transforming my entire being and then me doing my part to study His word and through prayer and petitioning God, to strengthen my faith every day.

While it was terrible when it was happening; I consider myself very fortunate to have the life experiences that I have had, (and particularly fortunate to have lived through them; many of my acquaintances at the time did not). Those experiences give me a snapshot of where I was without Jesus Christ that is indelibly burned in my mind. I was on my own floundering along trying to find happiness in a mean and evil world, versus the snapshot of today with God, family, church and friends in my life. It is a no-brainer for me to have faith.

As I look back to those dark days I recall that my mission in coming to Atlanta, where I did not know a single person, was to either get my life on track somehow or commit suicide. I desperately wanted to find a better way to live or just die. I wanted to be happy, but did not know how to achieve happiness. I had a fateful car crash and was seriously injured and hospitalized in Grady Hospital a charity hospital in Atlanta. I nearly died there. I read many books as I recovered from my serious injuries. I noticed the Bible was the best- selling book in the world and I decided to read it, (more to disprove it than anything else). As I read it, God opened my eyes to His Son and His love for me. I was particularly enamored with the parts about His unconditional forgiveness even for people like me.

When I accepted Jesus, my life immediately began to dramatically improve. Today my friends find it hard to believe that I ever lived such a lifestyle, much less that I was in jails throughout the country and even once in prison for possession of heroin. I was thinking about this the other day and I realized that I have been a Christian far longer now than a non-Christian; however it seems that the part of my life that dominates my thinking is those dark days. I think that comes from God. He never wants me to forget where I came from and how I got where I am today, and importantly He wants me to share those experiences with others in order to convince others that God can miraculously heal and comfort even the most wretched. I think God wants that commitment from all of His children including you and your story.

Most folks are not wretched and do not take drugs or beat someone up in a fight just because they are mean; however many are sad, unhappy, lonely, and disillusioned with what their current life apart from God offers. If God can forgive and heal a miserable wretch like I was, then logic alone would indicate that most people’s problems would be a cake walk.

The Bible states that there cannot be real joy unless it comes through God. Jesus Christ stands ready to forgive and forget and bring that joy into our lives. He will heal your wounds and make you whole and replace unhappiness with sheer joy. I have enjoyed keeping my two little twin granddaughters over the last few days and visiting with my children. I am experiencing sheer joy and happiness that I would have never known had it not been for God’s saving grace and that is but a tiny example of what is in store for those who love our savior

Yes my friends, God is real and His love for us exceeds our ability to understand it; nonetheless it is there just for the asking. I urge you to go to church this Sunday and begin the healing and reconciliation process and immediately begin to enjoy the benefits of a loving Father.

Col 1:21
And you who once were alienated
and enemies in your mind by
wicked works, yet now He has
reconciled
in the body of His flesh through
death, to present you holy and
blameless, and above reproach in
His sight –