If you were to ask me to tell you today's date I would say it is irelevant. It seems like it was yesterday when I was walking the halls in college and pondering what my future would look like in five years from then. I studied music theater performance in college, and left early to return to a life that was more normal than a life in the performing arts. At this stage in my life I look back over 20 years ago and think in ways that reveal to me how dream-like my life was at 20. In fact at that point in my life I was living my dream I was working towards something that would fulfill my deepest longings as a human being. I like to tell myself that money or material success doesn't define happiness. I learned throughout the years to cope with the let downs in life in a way that brought my life a little bit of happiness, despite what it seems like forfeiting my acting ambitions. I was a different person then and I am a different person now but my soul is still searching for that elusive thing whatever it may be that will fulfill my deepest and most urgent aspirations.
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A glimpse of heaven.
The concept of heaven for me as a college student was elusive. You could say I had no concept or I lacked a realistic idea of what heaven could be. Because I was a self determined person my heaven must include the concept of free will in it. How could heaven be heaven if we were not able to act in ways that we act when we are on earth. I studied the gods of the Greeks in one of my classes in college I could understand how human beings could create stories about God and worship divine beings to their liking.
What changed my concept of Heaven was a little book called the New Testament that I received in the halls of my college one afternoon. I begin a search to find out who Jesus is and why the New Testament talks so much about him. I was carried along by the stories of Jesus life and his ministry and his miracles. This little New Testament was bringing me to an understanding of reality that I never knew existed. I believed I was a good person and I didn't feel threatened by what I was reading in fact I wanted to know it all. My concept of heaven at this point was beginning to incorporate what the Bible teaches us about heaven. Although I still had more questions than answers this little book that I was reading created a curiosity that could not go unquenched.
I found God in Jesus Christ.
I can see it like it was yesterday alone in my room and for the first time discovering what the Bible says about Jesus Christ and believing it myself for the first time. What I understood is that I needed to respond to the Gospel not just believe in it with my intellect, I was excited at the prospect that God was calling me to a deeper and meaningful life. When I confessed with my mouth that Jesus was lord and believed in my heart that God raised him from the dead (Roman 10) I knew something miraculous was happening in my own life. I believe at that point that I found God in Jesus Christ or to say it another way that Jesus Christ is God. Not to be confused he is also the son of God not God the father but he is God manifested in human flesh. I believed in the Gospel, that Jesus died to pay the penalty for my past present and future sins and I also believed that by trusting him as Lord and Savior that I would go to heaven when I died. I found God in Jesus Christ until this day Jesus Christ remains the shepherd of my soul who will ultimately (I'm sure) usher me into the presence of God.
A glimpse of heaven.
The concept of heaven for me as a college student was elusive. You could say I had no concept or I lacked a realistic idea of what heaven could be. Because I was a self determined person my heaven must include the concept of free will in it. How could heaven be heaven if we were not able to act in ways that we act when we are on earth. I studied the gods of the Greeks in one of my classes in college I could understand how human beings could create stories about God and worship divine beings to their liking.
What changed my concept of Heaven was a little book called the New Testament that I received in the halls of my college one afternoon. I begin a search to find out who Jesus is and why the New Testament talks so much about him. I was carried along by the stories of Jesus life and his ministry and his miracles. This little New Testament was bringing me to an understanding of reality that I never knew existed. I believed I was a good person and I didn't feel threatened by what I was reading in fact I wanted to know it all. My concept of heaven at this point was beginning to incorporate what the Bible teaches us about heaven. Although I still had more questions than answers this little book that I was reading created a curiosity that could not go unquenched.
I found God in Jesus Christ.
I can see it like it was yesterday alone in my room and for the first time discovering what the Bible says about Jesus Christ and believing it myself for the first time. What I understood is that I needed to respond to the Gospel not just believe in it with my intellect, I was excited at the prospect that God was calling me to a deeper and meaningful life. When I confessed with my mouth that Jesus was lord and believed in my heart that God raised him from the dead (Roman 10) I knew something miraculous was happening in my own life. I believe at that point that I found God in Jesus Christ or to say it another way that Jesus Christ is God. Not to be confused he is also the son of God not God the father but he is God manifested in human flesh. I believed in the Gospel, that Jesus died to pay the penalty for my past present and future sins and I also believed that by trusting him as Lord and Savior that I would go to heaven when I died. I found God in Jesus Christ until this day Jesus Christ remains the shepherd of my soul who will ultimately (I'm sure) usher me into the presence of God.
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