Aaron
What was your life like before you came to Christ? Where did you find your significance?
I accepted Jesus Christ and was baptized at age 8 at an old-fashioned Revival Meeting. At age 16 while working at Detroit Metro Airport I became attracted to the worldly influences around me (drugs, alcohol, women, violence, etc.) and put the church behind me. I joined the military at age 18 which became an extension of the life-style I started earlier. For many years, I did whatever I pleased though I knew better. I purposely stayed far away from the church but I made sure my children received Bible training from a young age through their teens.
What and/or who was instrumental in bringing you to a place of surrender and faith?
At age 30 my mother and stepfather died, four month apart after both had suffered extended illnesses. My mother was a praying woman and she focused on me and my wayward path in life. After I called and told her I was going to Vietnam in 1967, she had a heart attack and died, alone. I was empty and depressed after losing her; and after years of floundering and an aborted attempted suicide I called upon Jesus Christ for help in my desperation. I realized why my mother prayed and I turned to Jesus Christ to restore my love and obedience to him that I had a age 8.
What was life like after you came to Christ? What changed? How did family and friends respond to your new faith?
My family took to the change in me in great joy. I slowly began to feel the unction of the Holy Spirit in a variety of ways. My most memorable change was the peace of mind I enjoyed in the assurance that I was in the care of a faithful God. Everything did not always go well from a worldly prospective, far from it; but I learned to submit my life and family’s welfare to Christ in faith. He has never failed. After I began my renewed walk with Christ, my best friend, with whom I attended college while we were both in the Air Force once said to me: “You are an educated man and leader in the US Air Force. How could you believe in that Bible crap?” I tried to bring him to Christ for the next thirty years until his death, even though we lived in different cities. The longer I live the greater my need and joy of being in the will of God.
I accepted Jesus Christ and was baptized at age 8 at an old-fashioned Revival Meeting. At age 16 while working at Detroit Metro Airport I became attracted to the worldly influences around me (drugs, alcohol, women, violence, etc.) and put the church behind me. I joined the military at age 18 which became an extension of the life-style I started earlier. For many years, I did whatever I pleased though I knew better. I purposely stayed far away from the church but I made sure my children received Bible training from a young age through their teens.
What and/or who was instrumental in bringing you to a place of surrender and faith?
At age 30 my mother and stepfather died, four month apart after both had suffered extended illnesses. My mother was a praying woman and she focused on me and my wayward path in life. After I called and told her I was going to Vietnam in 1967, she had a heart attack and died, alone. I was empty and depressed after losing her; and after years of floundering and an aborted attempted suicide I called upon Jesus Christ for help in my desperation. I realized why my mother prayed and I turned to Jesus Christ to restore my love and obedience to him that I had a age 8.
What was life like after you came to Christ? What changed? How did family and friends respond to your new faith?
My family took to the change in me in great joy. I slowly began to feel the unction of the Holy Spirit in a variety of ways. My most memorable change was the peace of mind I enjoyed in the assurance that I was in the care of a faithful God. Everything did not always go well from a worldly prospective, far from it; but I learned to submit my life and family’s welfare to Christ in faith. He has never failed. After I began my renewed walk with Christ, my best friend, with whom I attended college while we were both in the Air Force once said to me: “You are an educated man and leader in the US Air Force. How could you believe in that Bible crap?” I tried to bring him to Christ for the next thirty years until his death, even though we lived in different cities. The longer I live the greater my need and joy of being in the will of God.