Joe's Story

"The best way to describe my life before I became a follower of Jesus Christ would be the word, 'unfocused.' I didn't have a sense of overall purpose. Even though most people would look at my life and consider me successful, I didn't think so. Sure, I had graduated from college and was having a successful career in the Air Force. But I had nagging doubts about my life's meaning and quality. My ambitions and goals didn't seem to have an ultimate purpose to them. On top of it I led a rather hedonistic lifestyle. Having been raised in the Roman Catholic Church, I had a sense of moral right and wrong, so I could never fully enjoy my sin. At the same time I was unwilling to let Jesus Christ be the boss of my life. I was too religious to enjoy my sin, and too sinful to enjoy my religion.

"As I mentioned, I was raised Catholic, but rejected the church at age 14. As a young man I got married, but was divorced in 1988. While separated from my wife in 1987, I attended a sunrise Easter. I learned from the sermon that 500+ people saw the resurrected Christ, and no one recanted their Christian beliefs in spite of incredible hardships, even torture. This Easter sermon made a profound impact on my questions about Christ: who He was and why I should believe in Him... yet I still did not accept Him or commit to regular church attendance.

"I remarried again in 1990 to Debbie, my wonderful, terrific wife. Sad to say, I was a negative influence on my wife's spiritual life. Because I didn't go to church, she stopped going. I casually and infrequently led our search for a church through the 1990s. Worship was not a part of our family's life... until our son became a teenager. Our son's teenage life, my search for meaning in my own life, and our lack of an authoritative and spiritual basis from which to guide our children, led to a determined search for a church where God was honored and the Bible was taught.

"We finally found a church like this, and over a period of time I came to understand and accept Christ as the central focus of life itself and for my life. This was not sudden, but gradual. God used several resources to bring me to the point of making Christ the boss of my life: My emotional connection through worship at our church; Many respected friends who told me about their faith in Christ, and encouragement to give my life to Christ; My reading of books that explained and weighed scientific/theorem-type facts: if this is..., then that is so and therefore... My reading and re-reading of The Case for Christ was critical since it gave me answers which significantly helped lead to my intellectual acceptance of Christ.

"Eventually I did give my life over to Christ. I have not regretted it. I experience more joy and appreciation for a purposeful life and the wonder of eternal life yet to come. I also gained an intensity to teach my kids and other kids about Christ, and also reach out to my extended family with my beliefs. It has been quite a transformation. I fairly consistently re-examine my life and my works in light of what the Bible teaches. I have an increased desire to share my Christian faith with others (though I'm somewhat scared of others' reactions to my expression of my faith beliefs). I have a more sincere and life changing sorrow for my sins.

"One thing Jesus said is a theme in my life: 'For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?' Mark 8:35-36"