For years, I was hesitant to share my testimony with people because it was so unusual, and because it was such a precious memory for me. I did not want to have to put up with people making fun of it. Also, it was a long, messy and complicated story.
Then last year my son talked me into joining a week-long missions trip to Guatemala. One of my assignments during this trip was to share my testimony with several groups of elementary school children. This forced me to prayerfully condense my first meeting with God down into a four minute presentation that was suitably G-rated and simple enough for young children to understand.
So I invite you to pretend that you are a Guatemalan third-grader, and join me on this very compact trip down memory lane. I warn you, this story sounds strange. But I swear this is just the way it happened.
When I was growing
up, I often wondered about God. How could anybody really KNOW if God was real?
How could you KNOW if He heard your prayers? I could not imagine how it was
possible to know such things.
I got married when
I was 18 years old. My wife and I were too young and immature. We argued all
the time.
We tried to get
along, but it was not a happy marriage. After being married for seven years, we
had our first baby. She was a cute little girl who we named Stephanie.
After Stephanie was
born, my wife and I argued even more. When Stephanie was 8 months old, I
finally decided to move out. I did not know what else to do. I did not want to
spend my whole life arguing all the time.
I went to live with
a friend of mine named Dennis. I was very upset. I felt so guilty about leaving
my baby girl. I felt like my life was a failure.
On Good Friday on
April 4, 1980, I was trying to go to sleep. I kept thinking about all the
problems in my life. I was afraid that God would never forgive me for the sin
of divorce.
I did not know if
God was real, or if He even heard my prayers. But I cried out to Him in my
despair. I was tired of living. I asked God to please just kill me and get my
life over with.
Suddenly I felt
these huge fists pounding all over my chest and stomach. It felt like some big
strong man was beating me up. I thought, “God really is going to kill me!” I was terrified. I did not understand this at all. I thought that maybe I was losing my mind and
imagining things.
This beating lasted
for about a minute. When it stopped, I was afraid to move. Finally I looked
over at the clock by the bed. The time was midnight on Good Friday. I thought,
“That is strange.” Then I fell asleep.
When I woke up the
next morning I was in a daze. I wondered what had happened to me. Was it just a
bad dream? I just felt dead inside my heart. I do not remember very much about
that Saturday.
I went to bed that
night and quickly fell asleep. Then early on Easter Sunday morning, about 4:00
a.m., the telephone rang and woke me up. The telephone call was about a friend
of mine who was in big trouble. He needed my help right away.
I could hardly
believe this was happening. I already had so many problems on my mind. Now I
had to get up and go take care of my friend. I got dressed and went outside to
leave.
As I sat down in my
pick-up truck, I felt like the most miserable man on earth. I laid my head on
the steering wheel and cried out in despair, “God, I just can’t take it
anymore! I give up!”
Suddenly the love
of God just flooded over me. A wonderful ecstatic joy filled my heart. I felt a
warm tingling vibration throughout my whole body. I felt like God was hugging
me!
All of my anxiety was gone! All of my fears
just disappeared! God had instantly washed away the shame of all my sins. My heart
was at peace, and my mind was clear. I had never felt so alive before.
Instantly I knew
that God was with me. I knew that He loved me. I heard His comforting voice
speak deep down into my heart. He quietly said, “It’s all okay.”
After dreading
God’s judgment for so long, it felt so wonderful to know that He was not mad at
me. I had actually met God! And He was being nice to me!
All of this was
such a surprise to me. I probably was acting a little crazy. I did not really
understand what had just happened, but I sure was happy!
The next morning I
went to my job. I worked with a kind woman there who was a Christian. I told
her about everything that had happened to me over the weekend. She was very
happy for me. She explained to me from the Bible that I had been saved. She
explained to me that when I gave up to God, He came into my heart and I was
born again.
She explained that
being saved is more than just believing things ABOUT God. She said you must
SURRENDER your heart to God to be born again. When I had told God that “I give
up” He was merciful enough to accept that as my surrender.
It amazed me that
God had such a sense of humor. He beat me up on Good Friday and then saved me
on Easter Sunday. I thought that was pretty funny. I have seen God do a lot of
other funny things since then.
For example, He got
me a good job as a mechanic even though I am very clumsy. When I was younger, I
did not like children. Now I help teach a Sunday school class for 2-year-old
children and I love it. God is full of funny surprises.
Since that day back
in 1980, God has been so good to me. He brought me back home to my wife. He
healed our marriage and gave us a good life together. He blessed us with
another baby, a little boy named Steve.
And now God has
blessed us with an extended family. When she grew up, my daughter Stephanie
married a good man named Ken, and they gave us a beautiful grand-daughter named Miranda.
God has also blessed us with a wonderful daughter-in-law, Andrea, who has given us
two sweet grandsons named Zeke and Malachi. I love my family very much.
Jesus has guided me
and blessed me for over thirty years now. I have made many mistakes along the
way. Many times God has had to
discipline me to teach me a lesson.
But His love never
fails. He always forgives me when I come to my senses and repent. I would never
want to go back to the life I had before I knew the grace and mercy of God.
The day that you
come to Jesus will be the happiest day of your life. He is kind. He is nice. He
loves you. In fact, He loves you so much that he died for you. He is waiting for you to give up your life to
Him.
