So you may be wondering how I got the name for this blog. It came straight from my favorite bible verse, which is John 16:33. This verse says, "I have told you these things so in Me you may have peace; in this world you will have struggles, but take heart, for I have overcome the world". This is just a really awesome verse that allows me to go day to day knowing that God has my back and He will carry me through the hard times.
I don't think any blog, book, or article about Christianity would be complete without the author's testimony, so here it goes. When I was younger, I never really went to church. A lot of my friends did, but it didn't really seem like the place for me. When I was fourteen, I switched from a big public school to a small Christian school. I only knew a handful of kids and had no idea what to expect from the whole Christian school idea. The first year was eighth grade, and that was pretty tough. The school work wasn't too hard, and I made friends pretty easily, so obviously neither of those were the problem. The thing that made the new school hard was the fact that I had no idea how to read a Bible! I couldn't tell the difference between a chapter and a verse, and for the longest time couldn't figure out why there were random numbers in the corners of every page (I finally figured out that it was like a dictionary in the sense that those numbers were the first and last verse on each page). I got through eighth grade at the new school, but heading into freshman year, the whole concept of Jesus was still kind of foreign to me. Not long into freshman year, I started hanging out with a group of people who went to church every Sunday and loved God like nothing I've ever seen. I still didn't think the whole idea of church was for me, but after months of them twisting my arm to come with them, I decided I would give it a try. It was a very modern church that had a 4:30 service exclusively for teenagers, which was refreshing, because the couple times that I did go to church when I was younger, I went to a traditional Baptist church, and I'm not
sure that there was one service that I made it all the way through without falling asleep. This new church seemed pretty interesting, so I decided to come back a couple more times. After about four months of regularly attending, our first retreat was coming up. I had a lot of friends going, and I was really starting to get accustomed to this new church, so I decided to sign up. I wasn't sure what it was going to be like, but I knew there were going to be four services in two days, and I wasn't really sure if I was going to be able to handle that much Jesus at one time. I got through the first three, and really began to think about my life. I knew the fourth service was really just about 45 minutes of worship songs, so I decided to really listen to what the upcoming songs had to say. They cleared the entire auditorium of the chairs so it was standing room only, opened the doors, and about 2,000 high school students just like me flooded the room fighting for the best spots up in the front. We got almost all the way through the worship service, and I was feeling pretty good. I learned who Jesus was, but still wasn't 100% sure if the whole Christianity thing was for me. At that moment, another song came on, and it was called This is Amazing Grace. I hadn't heard it before, but it sounded good, so I decided to listen. Actually, I did more than listen, I really took the time to understand what the words were saying. We got about halfway through the song when I realized my hands were in the air for praise, and I was crying my eyes out. It wasn't one of those things where your eyes start to water and you can blame it on the dust. No, this was a real sob, like I had no control at this point. It was at this moment that I decided I wanted to give my life up for Christ and pursue Him with everything that I have. It has been almost three years since that moment, and never once have I thought about going back on what I decided that night.
As I write more posts, I really encourage you that if you are scared, or just don't feel like Christianity is for you like I felt, don't turn away from this page. Read these messages with comfort and know that I am not trying to shove my religion down your throat. But hey, what kind of selfish person would I be if I thought there was a way to eternal life, and I didn't try to share with everyone.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you make your way back here every other Sunday when the new blogs will be posted.
As I write more posts, I really encourage you that if you are scared, or just don't feel like Christianity is for you like I felt, don't turn away from this page. Read these messages with comfort and know that I am not trying to shove my religion down your throat. But hey, what kind of selfish person would I be if I thought there was a way to eternal life, and I didn't try to share with everyone.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you make your way back here every other Sunday when the new blogs will be posted.
