Josh from North Carolina

When I was at the YMCA here in Charlotte I was about 3 years old and I wanted to know where my papou was (a.k.a. grandfather in Greek). My mom said 'he is in heaven' and I wanted to be with him but I didn't really know that much about God.

So my mom told me how to get saved and I thought that getting saved was, for example, if you were falling off a cliff God would come and save you.

But in kindergarten I was in class and my teacher told me about God and heaven and all about becoming a Christian. She said: 'If you want to be saved come to the front of the class and we'll pray together and ask God into our hearts'. So I did that and now I know that being saved means 'to go heaven when you die'.

My favorite Bible verse is Joshua 1:6 which says 'Be strong and courageous for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them'.

Now that I am a Christian I try to tell people about God and to tell them that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and how to become a Christian.

(Pictured above, me playing poker for rocks with my friends.)

Rob from North Carolina

I don’t remember the exact age when I received Christ’s gift of salvation but I remember the evening vividly. It was my first year at a church sponsored summer camp, one full week away from home, for my first time. I was in the lower elementary grades, I think probably somewhere between grades 1 and 4.

Near the end of the week, during our evening cabin devotions, my cabin counselor read from the New Testament scriptures which discuss separation from God and the reality of hell. Christianity was new to me at this point in my life but I knew for certain that I did not want to spend eternity in hell. The counselor spoke of the opportunity that we all have to be certain of salvation and what the Bible teaches about those who give their lives to Christ. That evening I sat outside with my camp counselor, on the concrete step going into the restroom, and he led me in a prayer asking Christ for forgiveness and salvation. I was very young.

I believe that night at camp was the first significant event in my life where Christ drew me to himself.

Many other things happened during my younger years that were further extensions of God’s love. There was the care and support of my brother, Goob. There was the investment that two of my church youth leaders made in my life.

I’m kind of embarrassed to say this but I was a pretty well behaved kid growing up. I was generally a good kid and I had a desire to obey God. I did mess up from time to time. I was sometimes selfish and I sometimes sinned, but generally, I had made up my mind to try to obey the Bible …until I reached high school.

After entering high school I quickly became very disillusioned with Christianity.

This was primarily because of the conduct of other teenagers in my church who I thought were Christians. I became very discouraged, largely because I felt alone. I felt that I was an odd ball, trying to be obedient to the Bible. I felt like I was the only one.

Eventually I made a decision that having friends was going to be my number one priority. I would do anything to be accepted by others, even if those actions were contrary to God’s will. Throughout my freshman, sophomore, and junior years in high school I was on the fence. I’m sure at times I appeared to be a good Christian kid. But my closest friends knew what I was really like and what my goals were.

At some point during my junior year of high school, a pretty wild kid named Steve started attending my church and coming to youth group. Steve eventually turned his life over to Christ and there was a dramatic change in his lifestyle.

There was something about Steve’s change and life that flipped a switch within me.

I don’t know if it was seeing the power of God at work in Steve’s life or realizing that I, in fact, was not alone.

I remember the warm New England day when I was throwing a Frisbee with my friend Mark and listening to him tell me about Steve. Mark was likely not aware of this but my mind and spirit were spinning. Maybe I could live this life. If God was powerful enough to change Steve, then God must be powerful enough to take care of me ….. even when I felt like I was standing alone. I made up my mind that day that I would follow Christ, not matter what, even if I felt like I was the only one.

That day was another turning point in my life. I won’t lie and say that I never made a mistake after that. But I had made up my mind that my life belonged to Christ. I was His and would not walk away again. That day of decision occurred in 1980, 27 years ago. There have been a ton of life changes that I have experienced since then and Christ has been with me every step of the way, teaching me and caring for me.

Recently I think the Lord has been trying to teach me to trust Him more. I am a checklist kind of person, a doer. In the past I’ve believed that God’s love for me was contingent on my performance, on the things that I accomplish for his kingdom. Recently though, I’ve learned that ...

God’s love for me is not based on my performance but on my identity as His child.

I can stop doing and start resting in Him.

I’m blessed. Because of God’s great gift of love I can live my daily life with Christ. He is with me always. John 15:5 is my favorite Bible verse. Jesus said: "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”