I never thought my “testimony” (the story of how I came to be a follower of Jesus Christ) was worth telling because it seems so boring. I wasn’t saved out of years of drug abuse or violence or anything like that. But, I’ve been listening today to people’s testimonies on the Watchman River YouTube channel (@WatchmanRiver) and they are all so varied and beautiful, each in their own way. Maybe my story will be useful to somebody out there.

I grew up in a nominally Christian family; that is, if you asked them my parents would have told you they were Christians. And they might have been; they each had exposure to the gospel as children and raised us kids with good moral values. But for their generation in America, being a Christian was equal with being a good person, whatever that means. We were not a churchgoing family. I asked my Mom once why we didn’t go and she said, “only religious fanatics go to church every Sunday.” I said, “but we don’t even go at Easter or Christmas” and then she changed the subject. So I grew up with basically nothing from my parents . . . Except . . .

…Except I was given a children’s Bible, the old Golden Books version, which told Bible stories from Genesis to Revelation, and also a book of stories about Jesus called “My Good Shepherd Bible Story Book.”

As far as learning anything from them goes, I was left to my own devices. I skipped around the Children’s Bible, reading stories that looked most interesting, but I pored over every page of the Good Shepherd book. It was through the pages of that book that I first encountered Jesus and, even though I really knew nothing at all about God or the faith, I knew that I wanted Him. I was captivated and drawn to him by the time I was nine years old. Did that make me a Christian yet? I’m not sure but I certainly thought I was.

Other things planted seeds in me along the way, like stories with strong Christian themes (the Narnia books and others), and even music. Not “Christian” music per se, but music that had something in it that was beautiful, that planted in me a desire for something beyond itself. It’s hard to explain, but CS Lewis does a pretty good job when he talks about joy. For me it was mostly Bach and the Moody Blues, but I’ve learned over the years that God can and does use just about anything to reach people. He knows how we are wired and what it takes to get to someone’s heart of hearts.

When I was a teenager I spent a summer with my oldest brother and his family and went to church with them. One day at Sunday School the teacher said that you can’t just feel like a Christian, or think you are one. You have to say it, you have to actually make a commitment to Christ. If you haven’t said it, you haven’t done it. I was a little offended by that, because I felt like a Christian. But when I went back home I mulled it over in my head for a few weeks. Then, one hot and sunny August afternoon, I was going about my day, then suddenly decided to go ahead and do the deed. I went up to my bedroom, knelt down, and prayed something—I have no idea what I said—and officially gave my life to Jesus. Then I got up and continued going about my day.

I was a typical American happy-go-lucky teenager when I knelt down that day, no particular sins weighing on my heart at the time. I was about as clueless and frankly as shallow as a person can be. I don’t know what I was expecting after that; I don’t think I was thinking about much of anything at the time besides Shaun Cassidy and the dread of starting a new school in a couple of weeks. But, even so, that was the day I came alive and God began the long, slow, agonizing process of growing me up.

That was many, many years ago and today I don’t know how much growing up I’ve actually done. But my life has taken many twists and turns I never expected that August. I had little concept of sin and its consequences then. I have a very good concept of it now. Through the experiences I’ve had and the choices I’ve made, I have learned exactly who and what I am both without Christ and with Him. In my own nature I have broken every single commandment in either thought, word, or deed. It’s the truth and I have spent many long, painful nights having to face the absolute worst aspects of myself. But in Christ I know what true love is, and giving, and what it means to care about others and listen to them, and the value of praying for others. Anything good in me is all Him, it is not from my own nature.

I know the hell that I have been saved from. I know what I would be and where I would be for all eternity if I had not been saved by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ on that cross nearly 2,000 years ago. God himself came to earth, entering into his own creation and uniting with it, becoming the man Jesus and living a perfect, sinless life. Then, of his own free will, he laid down that life to save mine and yours. He took all our sins upon himself. He was nailed to a cross, his blood and life poured out on our behalf. He paid the full penalty for my sin and for yours. He died, and was buried. But, being sinless, death could not hold Him. On the third day he rose from the grave into new life, eternal, incorruptible.

Everyone who believes in Christ and lets him be the Lord of their life is born again. Our wicked nature and all our sins were crucified on that cross and died with him. If we put our faith in him, then our spirits are immediately made new, and one day our bodies will follow suit and we, like him, will also rise from the dead with new bodies that are perfect, sinless, eternal, and incorruptible. And we will be with Him forever and ever and know perfect life, love, joy, and peace, and fellowship with Him and one another.

I know the sins I’ve committed and what an ugly person I am without Christ. But I am not weighed down by them, because I have been forgiven. God forgives sin, then he forgets it. The Bible says our sins are cast as far away from us as East is from West, and God will remember them no more. The knowledge, hard won over my long life, of what I am without Christ and what I am with him, only makes the salvation he gave me sweeter and more precious with every passing day. I wanted him at nine, I made a commitment to him at fifteen, and now at sixty I can truly say that Jesus is the love of my life and my best friend, as well as my Lord, my God, and my Redeemer. 

It’s been a wild ride, but so worth it. One minute with Jesus is better than a lifetime of earthly riches and pleasure. And that is a fact. And that is my boring testimony.