Tim_Nesham
I was searching VERY hard for an answer so I could stop the pain Iwas in.
I had rejected Christianity when I was a teenager as being a crutchfor weak people. To me, I had thought that people were just avoidingresponsibility for their own lives. When I was 18 my mother died analcoholic. It was a shock to me. One that I couldn’t express verywell–especially to my own family. They had wanted the city of NewYork to bury her. One of those mass graves–something like that. Iinsisted and we paid for a grave site. The rest of my family wasn’ttoo sentimental since my mother had been very violent and caused yearsof grief to our family. But I had been the youngest and didn’t see alot of the troubles.
I decided to drop out of High School and work or join the Army.Anything to escape High School. I had usually skipped all that Icould get away with. Suicide was on my mind but I usually foundescape through Science Fiction, music or chess. When I turned 19 Ientered a Community College and made Dean’s List. After a year thereI transferred to Miami University of Ohio. It was too lonely for meand I dropped out.
When I got back home I got a job as a slag grinder making $7/hr.I had started to meet new people and those new people introduced me todifferent drugs. After a year working, taking drugs and a few affairsI was almost wasted. I got into Eastern religions and Timothy Learytype enlightenment.
I was searching VERY hard for an answer so I could stop the pain Iwas in. I decided to quit work and join some friends westward to livecommunal-style. The bus they acquired broke down not far from thestarting point and my girlfriend at that time went with me in her carto Washington state from Northern Ohio in Jan. of ’78.
After a few weeks in Washington State, Tamara and I decided tohitch-hike to Los Angeles to visit her uncles. I had a different planthan the one I let Tamara in on. I wanted to visit a famous Zenmonastery in San Francisco and leave Tamara with her uncles in LosAngeles since we had been fighting to an intolerable degree.
The trip was exhilarating as we saw the Cascade mountains dwarf us.We did not find getting a ride to be easy. Many were short rides.That day we made it down to mid-Oregon and camped out the night in apup-tent I carried. In the morning we left our site and saw a carwith California plates parked at the rest stop. We asked the driver,a Vietnamese person, for a ride which he allowed. His English wasn’ttoo good but beggars can’t be choosers. He told us he was going asfar as southern Sacramento but when he pulled the car off the highwaynorth of Sacramento I became worried. I asked him where he was goingand he told me to a free phone to call his girl. What he said made nosense so I had him take us to a motel. Tamara and I went to aGreyhound bus stop the next day–a little pessimistic withhitch-hiking.
At the bus stop we met some ‘nice’ people. They invited us to adinner in Berkley. I was tired and free food sounded good. Tamarathought so too so we had dinner there. There were a lot of peoplethere and they invited us to their farm for the night. Again itsounded interesting so we went with them in their bus to a farmoutside Booneville. They told us at the farm that we couldn’t sleeptogether which annoyed Tamara but I didn’t mind. I slept on a woodenfloor in a barn with a bunch of others spread about. The next dayTamara wanted to leave but I was interested in the goings on at thefarm. Nonetheless, we left and arrived in Los Angeles later that day.
Tamara’s uncles were interesting but they had a lifestyle that mademe feel uncomfortable. They gave me drugs I’d never tried beforewhich messed me up. I decided to get away from them and go back toBoonville to figure out why those people were so ‘nice’. I went toSan Francisco and notified the ‘nice’ people that I was there. Theytold me to come over the next day. I did but I had mononucleosis anddidn’t know it except that I was extremely tired.
When I got to their house in Berkley I looked for a place to rest.I wandered through their house for a place to lay down and ended up inthe basement. There I accidentally discovered pictures of Rev. SungYung Moon and his family reverently displayed. I realized I waswith the infamous ‘moonies’. Some of the moonies found me lookingthrough the books so I played stupid and they let me go outside. Iwaited for the bus to their farm.
When I got to the farm they paired us with ‘buddies’. The buddiesrarely left us alone. The more I was there the more I felt somethingwrong with the whole place. I finally cornered my buddy into a lie.I asked him for his real name and he changed it on the spot. Thewhole place took on a different meaning to me. One of evil. I hadplaced my trust in Buddhism and its reassuring doctrine of “good andevil” as being illusions and at that time my whole ‘mind set’ wasblown away. All of a sudden I knew there was evil and I knew therewas good. I also believed there was a God and I started praying. Themoonies loaded me into a bus the next day. I had spent the nightpraying and I was reduced to a praying vegetable. But I believed andall I could do was praise God for the things He made. I didn’t evenremember Jesus’ name. I prayed, “Father”. They were driving me awayand I didn’t care where to. I was praying. In my mind I saidsomething to God about getting off the bus and heading for a mountain.As soon as I thought that there were two large claps, the bus went offto the side of the highway and stopped. I left the bus and wanderedaround. I went inside a church and saw a picture of Jesus and staredknowing that was Him–Jesus! The pastor of the church contacted somefriends. They were born-again Christians in Novato. They led me topray to God the Son–Jesus Christ.
A number of years have passed since then–march of ’78. My lifedidn’t change into what it is today overnight. Jesus taught me, andteaches me, to trust ONLY in Him. Today I am a graduate of twocolleges and have a beautiful family. I owe it all to Jesus.
I condensed a lot of this testimony for brevity. But you, too,can know Jesus because He died for you–in your place that you mayknow His truth and His love. Ask Him now to forgive you of your sinsand be the Lord of your life.
Tim Nesham
– This is my testimony of how I came to know Jesus Christ.