Testimony

A big part of being a Christian in community is testimony. The who, what, when, where and how of being saved...some might say "you missed the "why?"" well I don't think anyone who has been saved knows just why Jesus saved them, we only know we asked to be saved and by His grace He said yes. It is also part of membership, which as I mentioned the last blog my wife and I will be doing soon, the deacons will be asking us about it. And in general I think it's good to be able to relate your "story" when you speak to someone who is not a Christian who maybe interested.
 I hope my testimony is a pretty good one, but most importantly it is the truth, without embellisment or hyperbole. The coolest part is that God chose to save my wife and I at the same time through our son, we didn't know it at the time but looking back we now recognize that is exactly what happened.
 We moved to our town about three years ago buying our first home, a small suburb in a fairly affulent town, very family oriented, and it instantly felt like home. We were keen on getting involved in our community, I coached a season of Tee Ball for our son, our daughter seemed to fit right in and make friends fast, and my wife was volunteering at the schools. We really wanted to find a church, for community, for the kids, and in my case (to be honest) someplace to send my family so I could sleep in and watch football in peace.
 Sure I would go from time to time to make it look good, but mostly I was looking forward to the alone time on Sunday. I was pretty much an agnostic, I was a good person, better than I ever had been in fact. I quit smoking, quit drugs, was pretty honest about most things, I was polite and a pretty hard worker. I almost felt like a defacto Christian, I just didnt read the Bible or go to church or have a savior. If I was going to Hell well that was Gods fault not mine, and I could deal with it.
 So after asking around alittle my wife decided to give the Baptist church a try, it was Mother's Day. I was working delivering flowers as a side job, easy cash. She wanted to go but was not sure, finally our 9 year old son said he would go with her, our teenage daughter was in bed sleeping still.
 Apparently the service was pretty powerful, the pastor's wife had recently had a miscarriage which he shared with the congregation on that day, yeah no doubt powerful. The congregation is a mix of wonderful people from all walks of life, all suprisily welcoming and not in a creepy way. Later that day my wife shared it with me and I'm sure I was like "yeah whatever"
 The only concern she had was how few people were in church, maybe 20 people. Otherwise she really enjoyed it, "yes! football here I come!" I thought. Well the following weekend my wife was working and I was off. I took my son to his baseball game and on the way home he asked if we were going to church. I was, unfortunately, discouraging. After all he was still in his baseball uniform, I was tired, I had other things to do, like take a nap. Then he dropped the bomb on me.
 "But Gods more awesome than you." he said.
Just like that, out of the blue, "really?" I said.
"Yeah" he said.
So we went. It was ok, alot of songs I did not know. A sermon I would shortly forget. But at the end I felt good, we went down to the fellowship after and I had people who knew my son from the previous week coming up to me and talking like they knew me, it was pretty cool. So we kept going as a family including my teenage daughter, it was ok and I was learning. The sermons got more interesting, seemed to make sense, almost like watching an historical show about "biblical" times. So when men's bible study was announced starting on Wednesday night, with womens bible study as well, seperately, we decided to go.
 So now I have to start reading the Bible, and I did. It was ok but a little hard to understand, so I figure its good to be with someone to explain it. The first night at Bible study.....well thats to be continued....