I am 28 years old. Right now I feel more comfortable in my faith than at any time in my life. It has been a long road and this is part of my story.
I grew up in a small church of about 150-200 people. I can remember the church owned a small house across the street and that is where Sunday School was held. My earliest Christian memory is sitting in a metal folding chair at the cheap 6' table in the back room, my feet barely touching the floor as I listened to the teacher explain Noah's Ark. There was a noisy air conditioner in the window and I had to struggle to hear what she was saying.
I was an inquisitive child. I remember being four or five years old and realizing Santa Claus had to be a fairy tale. If Santa Claus spent a mere few seconds at the homes of every family, he would spend the whole night just dealing with the medium-sized city where my family lived. My parents immediately fessed up about Ol' Saint Nick and it was not a big adjustment for me to accept the deception.
But that same inquisitiveness made me start wondering about the veracity of Noah's Ark. The next time I heard the story was during Vacation Bible School. I asked about the size of ark. The nice lady honestly did not know. Another teacher told me about the cubits but referred me to the pastor for clarification.
Our pastor at the time was the practical sort, never to turn down a question, so he found a man in the church (probably an engineer of some kind) to talk to me. I can remember going outside and there was a hot breeze without a cloud in the sky. He was a few years older than my father and had a mustache. The man had done his calcuations and marked off the area extending from the church over to the rundown strip mall across the intersection. Before he was halfway through his explanation I had that same sinking feeling. Two of each animal had fit on this vessel? It seemed about as far fetched as Santa Claus to me.
This was a very small thing but it was the first feelings of doubt. A couple years passed. Rather than run away from it, I ran towards the conflict. I read the Bible from beginning to end. There were more doubts. I found my reading of the Bible did not resemble many of the things adults had taught me. I felt some resentment and admittedly lost some respect for authority figures.
As I approached my teenage years, I kept a superficial faith but I spent most of my time exploring the world around me. I was good looking, I had a quick wit and I was outgoing. My teenage years brought me many enticements and I did not decline many opportunities to do what felt best at the moment. This continued through high school and into college. I want to remain circumspect but there was sexual promiscuity, drug use and other things you would expect from such a fast lifestyle.
I guess it would make a perfect story if I said that God turned my life around. But that's not how it happened. Around age 20 I began to tire of the empty lifestyle I was leading. Having sex with women whose names I could not remember and associating with people whose lives were even more pointless than my own was not making me a better person. I gradually started trying a little harder to make things more meaningful.
I re-focused on my studies and started making the Dean's List. Hey, it is a lot easier when you are not hungover or dealing with the fallout from whatever wildness happened last night. Even though I was still a Christian, I read the teachings of all the world's major religions. I began focusing on one woman at a time. I graduated college and got opportunities for graduate school. Things were going well but my Christian faith was still in the background.
As the haze cleared, around age 23, I simply picked up the Bible and re-read the whole thing. There were still some problems, and I have a scientific mind and realize the Bible is not a literal science book, but the philosophy and the mindset clicked with me. Words fail to describe it but somehow my worldview came into focus. I could see my past, present and future. I understand that many people would still consider me a very liberal Christian, but my faith allows me to make God a meaningful part of my life. He is my guide.
Professionally I am doing great right now. I enjoy my work and I still use my inquisitiveness to my advantage. Personally I have a steady girlfriend and I feel so much affection for her. She is so supportive of me and I want to help her grow to meet all of her own goals.
I also feel it is my responsibility to help reduce social problems and increase tolerance in my spare time. I do motivational speaking in a secular style that encourages people to find meaning in their life, take responsibility for their actions and various other themes. I have spoken in prisons, battered women's shelters and detention centers.
I am far from perfect and still have a long way to go. Above all else I try to make major life decisions in a way that is consistent with my faith.
I grew up in a small church of about 150-200 people. I can remember the church owned a small house across the street and that is where Sunday School was held. My earliest Christian memory is sitting in a metal folding chair at the cheap 6' table in the back room, my feet barely touching the floor as I listened to the teacher explain Noah's Ark. There was a noisy air conditioner in the window and I had to struggle to hear what she was saying.
I was an inquisitive child. I remember being four or five years old and realizing Santa Claus had to be a fairy tale. If Santa Claus spent a mere few seconds at the homes of every family, he would spend the whole night just dealing with the medium-sized city where my family lived. My parents immediately fessed up about Ol' Saint Nick and it was not a big adjustment for me to accept the deception.
But that same inquisitiveness made me start wondering about the veracity of Noah's Ark. The next time I heard the story was during Vacation Bible School. I asked about the size of ark. The nice lady honestly did not know. Another teacher told me about the cubits but referred me to the pastor for clarification.
Our pastor at the time was the practical sort, never to turn down a question, so he found a man in the church (probably an engineer of some kind) to talk to me. I can remember going outside and there was a hot breeze without a cloud in the sky. He was a few years older than my father and had a mustache. The man had done his calcuations and marked off the area extending from the church over to the rundown strip mall across the intersection. Before he was halfway through his explanation I had that same sinking feeling. Two of each animal had fit on this vessel? It seemed about as far fetched as Santa Claus to me.
This was a very small thing but it was the first feelings of doubt. A couple years passed. Rather than run away from it, I ran towards the conflict. I read the Bible from beginning to end. There were more doubts. I found my reading of the Bible did not resemble many of the things adults had taught me. I felt some resentment and admittedly lost some respect for authority figures.
As I approached my teenage years, I kept a superficial faith but I spent most of my time exploring the world around me. I was good looking, I had a quick wit and I was outgoing. My teenage years brought me many enticements and I did not decline many opportunities to do what felt best at the moment. This continued through high school and into college. I want to remain circumspect but there was sexual promiscuity, drug use and other things you would expect from such a fast lifestyle.
I guess it would make a perfect story if I said that God turned my life around. But that's not how it happened. Around age 20 I began to tire of the empty lifestyle I was leading. Having sex with women whose names I could not remember and associating with people whose lives were even more pointless than my own was not making me a better person. I gradually started trying a little harder to make things more meaningful.
I re-focused on my studies and started making the Dean's List. Hey, it is a lot easier when you are not hungover or dealing with the fallout from whatever wildness happened last night. Even though I was still a Christian, I read the teachings of all the world's major religions. I began focusing on one woman at a time. I graduated college and got opportunities for graduate school. Things were going well but my Christian faith was still in the background.
As the haze cleared, around age 23, I simply picked up the Bible and re-read the whole thing. There were still some problems, and I have a scientific mind and realize the Bible is not a literal science book, but the philosophy and the mindset clicked with me. Words fail to describe it but somehow my worldview came into focus. I could see my past, present and future. I understand that many people would still consider me a very liberal Christian, but my faith allows me to make God a meaningful part of my life. He is my guide.
Professionally I am doing great right now. I enjoy my work and I still use my inquisitiveness to my advantage. Personally I have a steady girlfriend and I feel so much affection for her. She is so supportive of me and I want to help her grow to meet all of her own goals.
I also feel it is my responsibility to help reduce social problems and increase tolerance in my spare time. I do motivational speaking in a secular style that encourages people to find meaning in their life, take responsibility for their actions and various other themes. I have spoken in prisons, battered women's shelters and detention centers.
I am far from perfect and still have a long way to go. Above all else I try to make major life decisions in a way that is consistent with my faith.
Maybe because they are a bit longer than some, or perhaps maybe because they don't have the "drama" that some do. I also have a nagging feeling it might be because we are both liberals and that comes across in our testimony. Or maybe it's just co-incidence. 
