My Life As A Non-Linear Thinker (Among Other Things)

Don't worry, it's not every detail....read on for the good parts...

Contrary to popular belief, not all ministers have lived the straight and narrow life since birth. In fact, my life reflects nothing familiar to the typical sterotype associated with men of the cloth. Previous to the beginning of my relationship with Jesus Christ, drugs, engineering, excessive alcohol, mathematics, and football dominated my seemingly successful life well into my studies at a university. I suppose I could dwell on how bad I was, but I'm sure there are those reading this worse than me. Anyway, it didn't seem so bad at the time. After years of one night stints in jail, losing my license for a while, fights, and general bonehead activity, nice university majors of Electrical Engineering and Mathematics started dominating my time and efforts. An early eighties bad boy turned good success story? Not quite. University life was a dream come true for me....drugs aplenty, women galore, and institutional food abounding. Believe it or not, a dream come true.

In the midst of my blissful state, realizations began to flood my conscience thought. Every endeavor and challenge before me was faced and overcome, and yet I wasn't satisfied. I was successful in my studies, and yet I wasn't happy. I couldn't even define "happy", much less figure out how to achieve a consistent state of it.

One Sunday evening in my dorm room while laying on my top bunk, a proposition flooded my thoughts. Try God! My first thought was....how cheesy. I didn't even believe in God, but found myself doing something very strange and unfamiliar. I actually began to speak with the Supreme Being like I would another person, sharing frustrations, thoughts, and desires. After a few minutes of this irreligious conversation and tirade, for unexplainable reasons I asked God to come into my life and be a part of my daily existence. To my utter amazement, he did and I knew peace for the first time in my life. Real Peace. The next words out of my mouth are also still a mystery to this day. God, fill me with your Holy Spirit. Immediately I could feel a flood over my body like running water as I lifted my hands toward the ceiling of my room. My mouth openned, and a language I had never heard nor spoken began to spew out at my will. Nothing in my life could have prepared me for this moment. At the same time confusion and bewilderment were overcome with a realization of a supernatural occurance in my life. It would be weeks before my research revealed what had indeed taken place.

God had reached into my life and changed it forever. It wasn't perfect and I certainly didn't switch my brain off to achieve it. It was as natural as anything I had ever done, and as supernatural as it needed to be to break through the walls built through years of intellectual pursuit and bitterness.

God can do the same for you. Invite him into your life today. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Just make it a matter between you and God. No salesman will call, and all who seek him will find him. No one is beyond this offer of relationship with him.

Questions?

Contact me personally at:

andy@ucf.org