My Testimony

Romans 7:24-25a (English Standard Version)

24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!


This is my testimony on how I came to truly know the saving grace of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

My early childhood was fairly uneventful. My mom and dad were parents that tried to do their best. Unfortunately, they divorced when I was six years old. However, they tried to provide as normal as an upbringing as they could. I lived with my mom after the divorce and visited my dad every other weekend and spent most of the summer with him.

I never knew God when I was younger. My mom, being a single mom, tried everything that she knew was "right" to give me a good upbringing. She took us to church for a short time, but it didn't stick. I'm not sure why. Maybe no one in the congregation showed the love of Christ to her, I'm not sure. However, it does make me wonder how many families come through the doors of our local churches that are lost in the shuffle? Families that end up leaving and giving up on that "religion thing."

My mom and I were very close. So when I decided to live with my dad during high school, it broke her heart. It was for the best, but it was one of the most difficult decisions a 13 year old would have to make.

Going through high school, I walked the straight and narrow. I never partied. Never really got into trouble. I truly drank 1 beer in high school, which is amazing considering my dad owned the concessions for a minor league ball team. Talk about access to alcohol! I truly praise God that I didn't have the desire to drink. Because seeing how things turned out in college, I would have been a raging alcoholic by the 10th grade!

I ended up attending the most prestigious and esteemed university in Virginia....That's right, I'm a Hokie. Starting a week in to freshman year, I let all those pent up years of not partying out, and let them out hard! There truly wasn't a drink, drug, or substance that I wouldn't try. I never heard or thought of God at school. Not once. Why not? You'd think that one of the largest universities in the state would have a vocal contingent of Christian students. Nope. Never had anyone ever ask me about the things of God. How many students today face that same scenario?

Towards the end of my stay at Virgina Tech, I took a semester off. I came back to Richmond and met the Earthly love of my life, Belinda.

Let me take a time here to state how important Belinda is in my life. She has opened my eyes so many times to what true faith is. She's stood beside me when no one, I mean no one, has dared be around. I love her dearly and am glad she puts up with my stuff.

So, Belinda and I start dating; we get pregnant; and I go back to school to finish up. From what I understand, that's not the typical order of doing things, but what are you gonna do?

B., our first daughter, is born. Belinda wanted to have her baptized. I had no idea what that meant or entailed, but I played along. I even professed my faith in front of the Methodist church in Highland Springs, without really meaning a word. However, that was the first place that I began to see the love of Christ in people through our pastor.

Two years later, we had K., our second daughter....life was good.

Two years later, we got pregnant again with C., my son. We had extra testing done on C.'s pregnancy. Things were fine.

One day the doctors asked Belinda to take an amniocentesis. She was dead set against it. I tell you the rest of this story to illustrate three points. One, how wretched and self centered of a sinner I was, and we all can be at times. Two, to show how big God's grace is. Three, to let you see how much poor Belinda puts up with. I essentially forced Belinda to take the test. I looked at her lying on the table and said, "Belinda, you need to take this test. If we have a special needs child, our marriage won't take it." God knew what was going on. The test came back fine. Think of that for a minute. God was completely in control. He knew the strife that a funky amnio test would cause. It came back clean.

Fast forward to present day. C. is here, no thanks to me, but to God alone. C. does have special needs, but my life would be so much less without him. He is my dude, and I love him. His special needs have also helped illuminate the passage in 2 Corinthians where Paul is talking about the thorn he has and God telling him that His grace is sufficient.

I've been baptized here at the Mount and thought I knew what being a Christian was about.

WRONG. Until I took Way of the Master, which I used to make fun of Belinda for taking, I never truly knew what it meant to have Christ in your life. What does that mean? Well, I'm not even sure. I know I was saved before recently, but I don't think I truly understand the awesomeness of Christ's sacrifice. I wasn't walking like the one leper of the ten that Jesus healed. I wasn't truly thankful for God's provision in Christ. I never truly understood that every person walking the face of this earth deserves eternal damnation. We are all sinners. But by God's grace through Christ's death on the cross and resurrection, we can come forth to a holy God without us having one spot or blemish, even if we've broken every one of God's laws. I am not a good person, but a person sanctified through Christ's holy sacrifice!

I recently chose 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 as my verse for 2009. I thought that whole process was sort of cheesy. Well, not so fast, Chris. A couple of weeks ago, a woman I've never seen at church tapped me on my arm during the collection of the offering and gave me this (show paper of verse now). When I went to talk to her after the service, she was gone. What she handed to me is a summation of the section of 1 Corinthians 13 that I chose as my verse for 2009. I guess God didn't think it was too cheesy a thing, huh?

Praise be to God. I am so glad to stand here today and to look each one of you in the eye and say that I love Jesus Christ. Now let me ask you, do you think you're a good person?