My immediate family all accepted Christ before me, so my doing so was the beginning of our spiritual Journey as a family, and not the end of our problems as so many think it's supposed to be.

 Just as a child is born with little knowledge or understanding, so it was with us. The learning years can be rough, especially if you're born into a poor home - and my parents were born into spiritually poor homes.

At the time of my salvation, my dads parents and my moms dad had not accepted Christ. My moms mom is a Catholic who developed a relationship with Jesus through her religion, and my mom received Christ at an early age in the same way but was not fed and did not grow.

So the only exposure to God our family had had up to that point was the Catholic church - and naturally that's where we went when my dad accepted Christ in his car. He didn't know what had happened to him but he knew something had, and he was thirsty for knowledge and understanding.

So he freaked my mom out by reading the Bible and stumped the priests with his many questions about it. Then when he realized he wasn't going to get answers from the priests, he decided to look elsewhere.

I liked the catholic church. It was pretty and had great lighting, colors and atmosphere. I remember being at a service where there were several guitarists playing and singing. We were in the back and Mom held me up so I could see but that wasn't good enough so someone took me to the front. I don't remember who but I got down there somehow.

I loved the music and the guitars and I remember everyone being friendly and inviting. I felt loved in the that place but I was young and easily recieved and Dad wasn't getting fed... so we moved on. Next up... "The Baptist Years".

I accepted Christ when I was four years old.

I gave that it’s own line because you have to think about it for a second before you go on.  Some people have a hard time believing it but that’s what happened.  I still remember the huge auditorium with movie seats - I remember because Dad had to push the seat down so I could sit on it - that’s how little I was.  It was kind of a bummer because at four-years-old I hated to stay in my seat but every-time I got up the seat folded up and I had to get help to sit back down again.

Anyway, the traveling minister gave an alter call and unlike most four-year-olds I was listening to every word.  I understood what he was saying, I remember identifying with the built-in sin nature of man that he described and I wanted to do what was right and come let Jesus guide me.  The great thing about coming to christ at four is that you are still used to not being good enough or big enough to do things on your own, so it’s natural to surrender to a loving and trustworthy authority.

I wanted to go up there and give my heart to Jesus like this guy was talking about.  So I told my Dad but he thought I was too young and told me to stay in my seat.  I remember feeling anxious about missing what was being offered up there and I prayed for God to change Dad’s mind.  But then the minister gave another option - he said if you didn’t want to come forward you could just repeat this prayer inviting Jesus into your heart from your seat and you would receive him.  So I said the prayer and I felt warmth and happiness come over me and I wanted to tell everyone right away.

Do you know the Jesus story?  You know how the whole thing works with the sacrifice of the OT sheep to get blood for atonement, and Jesus becoming the perfect lamb and our salvation through death and resurrection etc?  Well I didn’t know any of that, I just knew Jesus was my heavenly father and he loved me more than anyone else did and was willing to take care of me and make up for my shortcomings.  Can you see how that would be enough to win a child’s love and acceptance?

So Dad was right, I was too young to understand - but Jesus took my heart anyway.  Isn’t that neat?  Our understanding doesn’t matter, it’s just who we believe and trust in and give our hearts to.  And you know what I think is awesome?  Although we are born into sin, God is our creator so as children our hearts are open to him.  I see this in my son already, how his eyes light up and his face glows when we’re worshiping in song, and how even though there’s little for him to do he’s often content at our church prayer meetings.  I can see him sensing the Holy Spirit in those settings and it brings him comfort and joy.

Do you hear the “interaction” part of what I’m explaining here?  The desire I had to go give myself to Jesus, the request I made that God would change my Dad’s heart, the tug of the spirt at my heart, the action of the prayer I prayed, the experience I had when God came in?  The response of my son to the Holy Spirit, him sensing and receiving joy and comfort?  It's called relationship and it's what following Christ is all about. 

But this is just the beginning of my story so drop some comments, hit the restrooms and get some popcorn but stay with me...

I've been thinking about and planing a transition away from traditional employment for a number of years and have tossed around many ideas and even run some small businesses on the side but I've yet to find that business idea that is just the perfect fit for me. So for a week I've pondered, soul searched and prayed to find just what it is that I'm truly passionate about and although I can't see how it's marketable, I think my greatest passion is introducing people to what a relationship with Jesus really is and exposing dead religion as a fake impostor that has nothing to do with him.

My thoughts on this topic are many and will fill my next several entry's so stay tuned cause there's much to be said and I'm anxious to read your comments!

thanks guys,

Jer