Here's What Happened To Me
You know, when I was growing up I never cared about who God was. That preaching by my dad just went in one ear and out the other. I thought there was a God but I didn't know who he was and didn't care. But he knew me before I was born. At 15 I started to party like allot of teenagers. I smoked pot, drank, did acid, and just had a big ole time doing nothing. I didn't steal or kill anybody so I thought I was ok. I was also living with a girlfriend, and lived this way until I was 23. God was watching the whole time though, and watching over me in particular. There are several times in my life when I could have died. Two friends and I got stoned and were on a service bridge that went over the Mississippi river. We decided to climb up the overhead structure of the bridge. A tiny ladder went all the way up. We were above the bridge and the water, very high up and wasted. One slip and I wouldn't be writing this. God had a plan for me though and he has one for you too. When I was about 21 I was at an Almond Brothers concert at the music festival. I got separated from my ride and had to walk home through a very bad part of town completely wasted. At 2:30 in the morning I went into the police station to use the phone to get a ride. Completely wasted, I went to the basement to a pay phone. I only had a $20 so I had to leave. Not one person saw me there. If they had I would still be in jail. Then I proceeded to walk through this really bad part of town until I came to a little beer convenience store. I asked if I could use the phone and the guy says sure. In walks a guy who's bleeding on the floor from a wound. He gets a beer, brings it to the counter, and pays for it and leaves. Now my eyes are as big as plates. The clerk says that happens all the time. Then he says I'm surprised you made it down this road at this time of night because gangs are all over this street. They will rob you and kill you and wont think twice he says. But God was there too. I am pretty strong willed and probably could have started a fight in the situation myself, but God was there. This clerk gave me a ride home that night. I will never forget him. He probably saved my life. JUST THINK how weird that is. I walked into a police station SMASHED and never saw a soul in there. I could have been killed in that place late at night, but God provided a way for me. He was waiting for me. My mom died when I was 18 and I had a big hole in my heart. I partied allot from 15 to 23. There are many other strange things that could only be Gods work, but I won't go into them right now. So I am still partying and it's December 1993. I turned the TV channel to a preacher while surfing. He was Charles Stanley. He was saying things that caught my ear like why the world is the way it is, why bad things happen all the time, and why we are evil at heart. I thought maybe he's right about some things. THAT IS WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD FIRST TOUCHED ME. Then about a week later I was smoking a joint and a Billy Graham crusade came on TV. I was glued to the TV unexplainably. He told of how all of us are sinners and come short of the glory of God. He said that we were born this way because our parents are Adam and Eve, and sin entered into the world because they sinned against God, just as you and I would have. Billy Graham then quoted the Bible and said "the wages of sin is death". It must be paid for by death. Then he says "But Jesus Christ the Lamb of God died in our place to pay for our sin". That's yours and mine friend. THIS IS WHO JESUS IS. So Mr. Graham says if you are watching TV you can pray to Jesus and ask him to save you from your sins and HELL (the punishment for sin). So I did this. The next day my life was never the same. I had this unexplainable urge to read the Bible. I had never looked at it in my life. This was supernaturally the power of God drawing me to his word. NO PREACHER BRAINWASHED ME. I simply heard the good news about Jesus and asked to be saved, and he saved me from my sin and hell. HE WILL DO IT FOR YOU TOO MY FRIEND. Just pray to GOD and ask him to save you from your sins, and ask him to come into your life. FRIEND! I promise by the name of the LORD JESUS CHRIST that he WILL save you and begin to work in your life. We don't have to die for our sin, because He already has. It's a free gift from God the creator of all things. It cost him everything, and it costs us nothing to accept.
That's how much he loves you friend.