I haven't always been who I am now. That seems a bit trivial, as no one ever is,
but by this I mean that I am a completely different creature. Let me tell you
about it. I was not, generally speaking (and those who knew me then will think I
should have left out this qualifier), a well-tempered child. I was always on the
lookout to get the best I could for myself and stick anybody who stuck me. I
knew what I wanted to do in everything; namely to impress as many people as
possible. Then, when I was about eight years old, I did something different. I
had been in church from the time I could be carried, and had missed church
services only for fire, famine, or sickness that kept me from moving. My parents
were Christians, and I learned about God from early on. I knew for a few years
that I wasn't living as I should, and it bothered me. I knew what I had to do to
be saved. One morning in church, I decided it was time. During the sermon, I
quietly zoned out of the preaching, and prayed to God. I asked Him, as I had
been taught, to forgive me for my bad life, and to come and live with me. That
same morning, I shared the decision with the church and with my family. I was
baptized the following week. You'd think I'd learn, even at that age. Well, as
boys do, I sort of drifted away. I went for several years putting God in His
corner of my life and generally going back to my old ways. Still tempermental,
still after my own ends. I was bothered by this for, I guess, about six years.
Finally, I got the idea that I needed to make things right. While I'd thought
about it for years, I finally was decisive enough to do it at a church camp.
After a moving sermon, I went off alone and prayed. This time I was older, and
in complete control of my thoughts. I talked with God and told Him that I knew
there was a lot about me that needed to change. I asked Him to take me back,
after years of straying from a committment that was initially made by one too
young to understand it. And, thank God, He did. Since then, there has been a
drastic change in me. A lot of it may be written off by some people who saw it
as simply growing up, but I was closer to it than anyone, and I can pinpoint the
moment it happened. Now I live for God. I do fail still. I'm not perfect by any
means (again, those who know me can bear witness). But I am a new creature,
alive both now and forever in Christ.