Steve_Luker
“As I went into my teens, I cared even less about what God wantedfrom me and I became more interested in being popular with the peoplemy own age.”
Because I am doing this on-line, I hope you will excuse me for mytestimony being short and to the point.
When I was about 7-9 years old, my dad made a profession of faith.He said he had been “born again”. I don’t know if his life changed allthat much, but he became really interested in reading the Bible andespecially prophecy.
Several times a week, he made the family (my mother, my youngersister, and myself) sit together and listen to him talk about theBible. We sat there and listened to his “sermons” and listened to allthe things that we were doing wrong. I thought I knew a lot aboutChristianity. I knew that Jesus Christ was the Savior and all about theend times. However, I just assumed that since dad was a Christian and Iacknowledged that what he said was true, I was a Christian too.
As I went into my teens, I cared even less about what God wantedfrom me and I became more interested in being popular with the peoplemy own age.
Because I was handicapped (Cerebral Palsy – I am not able to walk ortalk), it was really important for me to be just like the other kids. Iwas into pornography, heavy metal, and drinking. (I wasn’t reallygetting drunk yet.) I was even considering trying drugs. (Sex, drugs,and Rock and Roll. Hmmm.) I was going to graduate first in my highschool class and I was even being bussed to another school for classes(harder classes that would challenge me). By the time of my graduation,my grades slipped so far that I only graduated second in my class.
I had already made plans to go away to college so I could justparty. I registered at a school that I knew was good for partying eventhough it wasn’t that great for my major. I was all set to get awayfrom my parents’ rule and just have fun.
However, God had other plans for me. He sent a girl into my life. Westarted going out. One day, we started talking about religion and Ifound out that she was a Christian. I thought that this was great.After all, I thought I was a Christian. However, as we talked, I beganto realize that I wasn’t as knowledgeable as I thought I was. She askedif I read the Bible. I admitted that I didn’t. She encouraged me toread a little each day. And I saw that I was in BIG trouble because Ihad been deceiving myself. I don’t know the exact date, but I saw thatI was a sinner and was going to hell unless someone didn’t help me.Finally. I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. All of thistook place at the end of my senior year of high school (until I wentaway to school).
A week after I got to college, I found myself unable to drinkanymore (even socially). I got rid of my heavy metal cassettes. Well, Ijust became more aware of my sins and slowly got rid of what I saw thatI needed to.
I am still not sinless, but I keep
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he whichhath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of JesusChrist:
in mind. It’s a slow process, but thank God that He saved me.
Steven Luker