Monday, 20 August 2012
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A Life of Looking for Something Real: My Testimony
I wonder what would have happened if I had been raised in the church. As it turned out, I was a sometimes Catholic. Sometimes I went -- more often not.I went to two Parochial schools and failed both. I was self-centered and felt the world should revolve around me.
I was born in 1934, almost a year before my mother was first married. I grew up gaining and losing seven step-dads. A kid really needs a dad, and there were no authority figures in my life. We traveled so much that I felt at home on the trains that plied the West coast and knew most rail schedules by the age of 12. I got to be an accomplished shoplifter by the age of 8. I didn’t need to steal and can’t tell you to this day why I did. I started smoking grapevine by the age of 12, and stole a car at the age of 14. I was going to drive south, but drove instead into a man’s garage and pushed his car into his back yard, so I went to jail! From that time on I was on probation continuously. At barely 15 I put a bullet in a fellow teen’s arm. The judge put me in foster care.
The foster home was five miles beyond the electric lines in the logging country of Washington State. I learned to cut trees over eight feet through -- at least as long as we still had those huge trees. I carried all the water from the spring to the house. I learned to plow using logging horses. Believe it or not, I seemed to like it. I believe now that this was the beginning lessons in discipline.
I went to church there, but I never listened to what the pastor talked about. He seemed to be talking above the kid’s heads. I really couldn’t reach the concept of a personal God.
I was paroled home at the age of 16. One year later, at my probation officer’s “suggestion” I joined the army. I was a demolition man in the Korean War.
I went to a Billy Graham meeting in South Carolina in 1951 and went forward to accept Christ. I think I really wanted the Lord then, but there were things I didn’t want to give up. I didn’t want to appear different from my friends. Within six months I was back in my former habits. I just wouldn’t listen to God. And God was a gentleman, as always; he didn’t force me.
After the army, I went to a Protestant church in Southern California and was rebaptized. I only thought I was serious, so I started playing church, but God knew.
Nothing went right so I went into the Air Force, still running away from myself. I was sent to the Far East and tried to drink it dry, but failed. I was transferred back into the U.S. and found a beautiful Texas girl and we married. Lo and behold, her father was a Pentecostal preacher. Then the change started. I didn’t know that Christ was closing in on me while I was still playing church. We spent three years in Chateauroux, France, a couple of years in Reno, then off into civilian life.
After the Air Force, I had one job after another: salesman, aircraft worker, deputy sheriff, truck driver... One day, working as a life insurance agent in Seattle, my financial world started coming unglued. We had been attending a church close to our home, so I went to see the pastor. I poured out my problems for about 30 minutes. He listened and then, with tears in his eyes, he said, “Bruce, God sure must love you.”
He explained that sometimes God lets our little house of cards get knocked down to show us that He is the One to turn to. So, there with Pastor Jim Nicholson and God, I gave my life to Christ. In prayer I asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me.
Oh, I lost the job that I had, but God had a better idea. Soon after that, at home, my wife, Joy, and I received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and a new prayer language.
I realize now that in all those prior years of running wild I was looking for something real. When I stopped playing and came to Christ and let Him have my life, I found that something I had been looking for. You know, I don’t feel unwanted anymore.
Christ is all I need. Praise the Lord.
Are you running around looking for something real? If you've accepted Christ, when did you finally run into Him? How has accepting Christ changed your life?
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- From: touvant
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Comments (3)
That was good, so very good indeed...!
Can't thankyou enough for sharing all & now, when most needed...may God richly bless you & yours...meet you in the Rapture Brother...!!
Here Jesus is setting things up for an extremely important lesson on prayer. Note that many religions and traditions have specific prayers for specific situations and even locations. These are set down in designated orders and are to be rigidly followed. The prayer we refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer” is even used as such, at times. In those places where many present may not be believers, this prayer can be used to draw people together and thus open someone in the group to the gospel. “The Lord’s Prayer” is a model prayer that can be used to lead one, to start with, but amplify and expand on, as needs dictate. We sometimes resort to excessive verbosity in our prayers.
There is nothing wrong with those who can express their petitions in eloquent prose. I can’t. And, in that, I have found myself queried and frowned upon for my short prayers. In fact, some of the prayers that have been answered the quickest have been not much more than, “Lord, help.” Joy and I visited a small, struggling church one Sunday morning. When you are new to an area or town and don’t know who is who, you startby visiting the unknown. We had heard a little about this church so decided to stop in on a normal service. The Pastor had gone through a church splitand was doing what he could to bring healing to his little flock. As things turned out, the message to be given later that evening was an answer to his questioning prayers. The situation developed that the church’s Pastor would not deliver the Sunday night message, I would. The morning service was a good one. The Pastor gave a great message on forgiving and going on in the strength of the Lord. It was a message the people needed. After the service, the Pastor asked me to bring the evening message to the flock. “You have a message from the Lord,” he said. “We will be grateful for whatever you are led to say.” What a shock! At the time, we hadn’t planned to return, and, at that moment, I hadn’t the foggiest notion of what I should say to the church. But, if he thought I had message, I would submit to his authority as Pastor of that flock and at least pray about it. Well, we went home and had lunch. Then I tried to settle down and study, as I prayed, for a message. The more I prayed about it, the less I felt like any message was coming. Well, nothing would jell in my note pad so I leaned back in my chair and took a nap. something would come by way of a dream. Well, why not? It happened in the Old Testament. I woke up without anything. It came time for us to go to the little church. I still had nothing. Well, maybe on the way
something would come. Nothing. I walked into the little church with no idea. Had some polite conversations with the people, still hoping for something. Nothing. Was escorted to the platform and given a chair. Nothing. Sat through the music,,et al., still nothing. Then the Pastor came to the pulpit to introduce me. I figured that if I didn’t have a message, I would just have to get up and admit
it. After all, you must be honest when behind that sacred desk. If there was nothing, then what one does is be honest and admit it. Maybe some one in the congregation had the message. Then, with only a minute left, a scripture popped into my head. I had no idea what it was about. It took me a few seconds to look it up. I had just finished looking up the scripture as my name was announced. It was time for me to deliver what, at this last minute, the Lord had given me. It was Matthew 14:29; Peter got out of the boat. The message, this last minute Light from The Word, was not about walking on water. The message was not about faith, lack of faith, a hand extended by the Savior, or even about the storm or the water lapping up around Peter‘s feet. The message for that church, for that moment in time, was about making a commitment. In getting out of the boat, Peter made a commitment. Peter was following through on a vow. Peter was following words with
action. Later James would write; “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead,” James 2:26. As things turned out, I had delivered a message that was a direct answer to the Pastor’s prayers. As the message proceeded, he knew what he and the church had to do. The Pastor made his
announcement right after the message that there would be a church meeting to talk about whatever the direction the church was to take. Not being a member, Joy and I didn’t stick around. Our task was finished. The message had been delivered. This was the first time such had happened to me. I would yet have more times when a teaching, or a message would come at the last minute. I have yet to get over the feeling of apprehension when it does happen, I feel greatly humbled that the Lord would use me in such a way. Yet, in Mark 13:11, we find that we are given the words to say when we are called into a court, should we not expect the Holy Spirit to give us the words when we stand in the presence of our church brothers and sisters? If that church needed to learn about
commitment, shouldn’t we? I think so. Lastly, I show about learning about praying for safety. What about praying for safety? Well, let me recount an incident.“I saw the other driver’s face. It was the face in my dream!” That face, the face of one who’s actions,
predisposed as they were, would find the final results altered by an unseen force in such a way as to prevent harm to innocent people. And, it was all because of prayer. Heartfelt prayers uttered by the family who had been warned in a dream. Actually in three dreams. Dream one. “I saw the car turning right in front of me and I couldn’t stop.” Such were the words of my father-in-law. He was bringing us up to date on dreams and events occurring within these past couple of months. “The second dream was just like the first one,” he continued, “I couldn’t stop in time.” His face reflected emotional pain as he recalled the two dreams and the accident. “When I ran into the side of his car, it was just like the dream.” Then he dropped the other shoe; “And last night, I had a dream about another auto accident, but this time with a different car and driver.” At that, we all put our coffee cups down and, at someone’s suggestion of “Well, we better
pray about it this time, “ we proceeded to do just that. Two dreams about the same car crash, and in advance at that. Now this third dream. You bet “we better pray about it.” And pray we did! I don’t remember the exact words. That probably doesn’t
matter at this point in time. We all prayed; we all added at least a sentence or two into the prayer. We all had heartfelt concerns about the situation. We knew God could change things. We all have had experienced such. We prayed for all concerned, including the other driver. Later that month, we were again in father-in-law’s kitchen when he recounted the past day’s
happenings. He was driving to the store when he saw the other car. He recognized the car as the one in his dream. Just as they were approaching each other, the other car made an abrupt turn. The difference this time between the now and the dream was that there was more space between them. My father-in-law, this time, had time to stop. Could it have been heaven’s intervention? Could
it have been an angel keeping the two cars apart? Just a couple of the questions that raced
through my mind. After recounting the event, he said, “ I saw the driver’s face,” he said. “It was the one I saw in the third dream.” I stopped my coffee in mid-sip and put my cup down. Then without prompting, we all
started praising the Lord for His warning, for the safety of both drivers, and, well just because God is God. Since that family lesson, in Lubbock, whenever a family member, or a friend, recounts a dream that may spell harm, we pray about it. Oh, I know there are folks who don’t believe the dream part, and certainly they wouldn’t consent to praying about it. Well, all I can say is, “When it happens; when you or someone you love is harmed, do you kick yourself because you didn’t pay attention?” Or, pray attention? Thank about it! Could your prayers have prevented it? “……The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16.