I began college at a Community College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I went there because I wanted to play baseball and they offered me a scholarship. I could have gone to a Nazarene school in Ohio but it was too far from home and I was still tied to home for various reasons. I was put in an apartment with two other guys from the baseball team. It was hear that I was first exposed to pot smoking as one of my roommates was a real piece of work. God did use this time in my life to knock out the foundations I was basing my life on. Baseball lost all enjoyment for me and I was miserable. I don’t think I ever went to church although I do remember turning to the Bible during the darkest days.
Note: What a hard test the first year of college is for a teenager.
At Central Michigan, I was visiting some friends and stopped by to see an aunt who lived there. She said that I could come live with her if I went to Central so that is what I decided to do. She was the most wonderful person I have ever met. She was a much better "person" than any professing Christian that I knew even though she didn’t practice Christianity in the form I was familiar with, going to church, reading Bible, etc. When talking with her one time about it, she said, "Why would I go to church? I work with a bunch of people who go to church, and they are liars, lazy, etc." It was tough to argue that point.
I lived in relatively complete darkness for a year. I abandoned the Christian faith in all but profession. I went home in the summer and partied every night only to sit in Sunday Services because of my mother guilting me into it.
Eventually, my brother John came to Central and moved in with me at my aunt’s. He started going to church immediately and really didn’t desire to participate in my partying or wild life. He lived Christianity in front of me and got me to start attending church. I don’t remember all the details, but after a few years, I was teaching Sunday School and Junior church and preaching on occasion. I renounced most of my former friends at college and began to spend most of my time with John. Although for quite a while, I was in a transition place where I still tried to spend time with my friends to evangelize them and ‘win them for Christ.’ I soon realized that that was not going to work. Probably because I didn’t understand how to articulate the gospel to them as it was difficult to explain to them that I had been a Christian all this time, just not living like it.
In the college hall, I saw a flyer about doing your student teaching in Australia. I attended the meetings and decided to "Carpe Diem," Seize the day and go for it.
The Lord used this time in my life to again, knock out from under me my faulty foundations.
Note: What a hard test the first year of college is for a teenager.
At Central Michigan, I was visiting some friends and stopped by to see an aunt who lived there. She said that I could come live with her if I went to Central so that is what I decided to do. She was the most wonderful person I have ever met. She was a much better "person" than any professing Christian that I knew even though she didn’t practice Christianity in the form I was familiar with, going to church, reading Bible, etc. When talking with her one time about it, she said, "Why would I go to church? I work with a bunch of people who go to church, and they are liars, lazy, etc." It was tough to argue that point.
I lived in relatively complete darkness for a year. I abandoned the Christian faith in all but profession. I went home in the summer and partied every night only to sit in Sunday Services because of my mother guilting me into it.
Eventually, my brother John came to Central and moved in with me at my aunt’s. He started going to church immediately and really didn’t desire to participate in my partying or wild life. He lived Christianity in front of me and got me to start attending church. I don’t remember all the details, but after a few years, I was teaching Sunday School and Junior church and preaching on occasion. I renounced most of my former friends at college and began to spend most of my time with John. Although for quite a while, I was in a transition place where I still tried to spend time with my friends to evangelize them and ‘win them for Christ.’ I soon realized that that was not going to work. Probably because I didn’t understand how to articulate the gospel to them as it was difficult to explain to them that I had been a Christian all this time, just not living like it.
In the college hall, I saw a flyer about doing your student teaching in Australia. I attended the meetings and decided to "Carpe Diem," Seize the day and go for it.
The Lord used this time in my life to again, knock out from under me my faulty foundations.
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