I remember at age 8 my good friend, Charles Stone, went forward at the invitation and accepted Christ as his savior. That afternoon, I sat in the living room with my parents and told them that I had asked Jesus into my heart. My Dad prayed with me and after meeting with our pastor, I walked the aisle the next week.

I wish that my life since accepting Christ was one that was a great example but that would be a lie. Until the age of 16, I was a model kid. Active in RA’s, and youth groups, it seemed that life would be easy. However, looking back I realize that I was not maturing as a Christian. I began to make bad decisions about relationships, then alcohol. Because of the prior years in church, it was easy to hide this double life from everyone that I felt did not need to know. But through the end of high school and into college, even though I continued making bad decisions, I knew that everything I was doing was wrong. I also knew that I was not hiding from God. When you are in a situation like I was, you rationalize that you can continue what you are doing, fitting in with your friends, and then “get right with God” later on. I had a roommate in college that had no time for Christianity. He said that the church was full of hypocrites. I would argue the need for church and Christ, but then do everything contrary to what I was saying. I was blind to the fact that my roommate was right about how he felt about Christians because I was the perfect example of that hypocrite. A few years after college, the roommate that would argue with me about Chrisitianity died suddenly. I had not stayed in touch and still have no idea if he had accepted Christ or not. It was then that I began to recognize that how I was living was completely different from what I proclaimed was important. My guilt and shame moved me to ask God for forgiveness and to help me change the way I was living. Thank God that although I could turn my back on Him, He never did on me. My wife, Sarah, and I became more active in our church, but our real growth began when my career moved us to Spartanburg and into the family of believers at First North. God is so amazing that He can use a failure like me to teach in Adult Bible Fellowship. Paul understood this as well as anyone and the words he wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:7 speak to me like no others. He wrote, “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.” This jar of clay is thankful that God has chosen to save and use me and I desire to draw closer to Him each day.