Volume 46   Number 10                                                           June 2004

Have you ever been around someone that just doesn't have anything good to say? Like you tell somebody 'Good morning!' and they say , 'What's so good about it?', or when it is the dawn of a new day and the birds are singing their song of happiness, this same person would tell these birds to shut up? Like these little creatures of God are really going to listen to you. Well, this person was me.

I also thought I had life by the horns until all my silly thinking started to backfire! I remember I would get down and out I would turn to God and pray for guidance. But you know it still seemed like something wasn't right. I still wasn't getting the big picture, until I started going through some real rough times in my life. I had to stop and ask myself what in the world was I doing? I found myself turning to the Lord again, I prayed to the lord for something to change my life around and it just so happens my prayers were answered. I met Beverly, and then she introduced me to her family, and that is when I started to find out more about Christian living. I remember when we would go to visit Bev's family that I would see all the love and fellowship that they had for one another and Christ that it really made me think about how I was living my life. So Beverly started back to church at the Old Lamine Church of Christ and she would ask me to go sometimes and I guess I still wasn't thinking right. Because I still thought digging fence post or mowing grass, or doing something on the farm was more important. So you see I wasn't thinking in the right direction yet. I did start going to church sometimes when Bev would ask me and that's when I would see the light glow in Bev's eyes, and I still didn't know what it was until I heard a lesson from one of the members of the church. I don't remember all of the lesson but I do remember he said something about picking up that good book that was laying by the t.v. guide which was the Bible and just start reading a few scriptures. So I listened to him and did just that and really got my eyes opened up on some things.

When I started reading more and more I found that to have the love for Christ that I had seen in all the brothers and sisters in Christ I would need to follow what I read in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15. And I also found out when Beverly got me to go to worship God about that light I mentioned that would light up her face. You can find this scripture in Matthew 5: 14-16.

And that is when I started attending church, and meeting all kinds of new people, and learning more about Jesus and what he did for us. I think what really opened my eyes was the scripture found in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.". So this got me asking how to become a follower of Christ and I was told to be baptized into Christ. Mark 16:16 says "He who believes and is baptized will be saved: but he who does not believe will be condemned." I do know this ! That the word 'condemned' sure didn't sound too appealing to me so I started studying the Bible and then I got baptized. Now don't think just because you're baptized that this is all you have to do because it's not. You have to really get a grip on things that you used to do and throw them away. But being able to resist doing the things that are not good gives you a sense of security that you can't have until you take Jesus as your Savior. In 1 Corinthians 15:57 it says, "But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." This is just a few lines to tell you how it is to turn your life over to Christ, when he wasn't there before. And you can always remember that, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8.)