Almost my entire story is a far cry from what could be considered a “common” Christian testimony. I grew up in Moorestown, New Jersey, a suburb just outside of Philadelphia, and though I was (and still am) blessed with incredible parents, I was an atheist. I didn’t set foot in a church a single time during my K-12 years. I couldn’t have named for you a single book of the Bible and even so much as a passing reference to Jesus in pop-culture turned me off. To me, the name Jesus Christ was, at best, a name thrown around by unintelligent individuals during Super Bowl speeches and, at worst, something the world somehow needed to overcome to make itself a better place.
My hatred of Christianity wasn’t something I kept inside of me. I was outspoken against it. I wrote Facebook notes about the danger of religion and openly challenged Christians I knew about both the goodness and the reality of their fake God. I graduated High School in June 2009 as outspoken as ever and headed for the University of Alabama (a school I hadn’t even thought of applying to until the last second) to run cross-country and track and to, as I thought, bring “enlightenment” to the Bible Belt.
As I was preparing to enter freshman year, I was talking to a girl who was (and is) a strong Christian and though we got along incredibly well, the difference between our worldviews became, over time, more than just an elephant in the room. Finally, a few weeks before school started she told me that we could no longer talk if I didn’t hold the same values she did. Though I had been dreading that inevitable moment for months, when it came, I felt oddly relieved and oddly curious, and felt both such emotions to a high degree as I agreed to try. I view this now as the first of many instances of God’s work in my life and as a personalized example of 1 Peter 2:9, which describes God as one who “called you out of darkness.” Granted, the male teenage brain and the chemical imbalances that characterize it will often make spontaneous decisions in the name of love, yet this idea offers no explanation for why I, with my ego, mojo, and identity attached to my atheism would experience a rush of internal hope.
I still didn’t understand Christianity’s place in a world that seemed to have progressed past it, but God was quick to get to work. The very next day, when I was in Barnes and Noble, I came across Tim Keller’s book The Reason For God on a display as soon as I walked into the store. I decided to pick up a copy, to, if anything, make it appear as if I was giving a hint of effort at understanding a faith I knew nothing of. After reading the first chapter (which is all I had originally planned to read) I couldn’t stop. I was absolutely addicted. When I finished the book, my friend dragged me to the first FCA meeting of the year. My life changed that night.
I watched our FCA leader give a demonstration called “the throne of your life” and I found, unsurprisingly, that I was on the throne of my own life, rather than Jesus. He offered to help me and I took him up on it. By this time, the girl that had originally urged me to investigate Christianity had stopped talking to me completely, which would have normally prompted me to return to my old identity as a sort of competitive instinct, but the intrigue of Jesus Christ was much too great for me to do so. Thus, for the next three months that fall I met with him for hours each week. As we ran through every random apologetic issue I had and eventually the Bible itself, I fell in love with what I was reading. I would often miss classes as I would stay and talk for hours at a time. I am so grateful for his effort on my behalf.
I started attending First Baptist Tuscaloosa where a few great Christians really took me under their wing and invited me to join their Freshman Bible Study, despite my inability to do so much as locate the book of Psalms. Finally, that November, God helped me realize I had a decision to make: either jump headfirst into a relationship with Jesus Christ or walk away from it all; there was no in-between. In early November of 2009 I was saved.
Since then, God has pulled me close with a love beyond measure, thrown my plans out the window, put me through months of grueling training, and given me sneak peaks into what may be His plan for my life.
I read avidly through the New Testament that next semester and really internalized the feeling of Psalm 42:1, “as a deer pants for water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” At the end of last Spring, I quit track and cross country (something I never thought I’d do in my wildest dreams) and was offered a job at Camp Living Water in Wyoming. I was incredibly blessed to even be accepted as a counselor after only being a Christian for eight months at the time. Under an incredible staff and group of administrators, I made leaps and bounds in my faith this past summer and entered sophomore year ready to make a difference for the Gospel.
God constantly opened my eyes this entire fall to the way I should live my life. I joined Lambda Sigma Phi, the Christian fraternity at Alabama, and experienced brotherhood to the highest degree. I was pushed and stretched to be the best I possibly could be and, through both their help, the help of my church Bible study, and an absolute barrage of scripture, I realized I needed to do something radical.
God calls us to be relentless in our pursuit of him, yet too often I find myself living a “Christian spin on a regular life.” Any time my relationship with God brought me pain or criticism, I thought something was wrong, when now I realize such times were merely the symptoms of the beautiful cross and a few steps on the Via Dolorosa. As much as I realized what I needed to do and realized that I wasn’t doing it to the fullest degree, I found that I was unable to simply “pep-talk myself” into the dramatic life changes I needed. It became more and more obvious that nothing short of an incredible firsthand experience of the brokenness and despair much of the world suffers would shake me into realizing the urgency of spreading the Gospel and strip me of my addiction to material wealth.
The very second I read about The World Race online, I knew it was exactly what I needed to be doing next year. Though at times, I consider the inconveniences of a year away from school, I know that if that were going to be an issue, God would have rejected my application in the first place. The World Race will be a pilgrimage for me and I absolutely cannot wait! My hands are ready for service…
My hatred of Christianity wasn’t something I kept inside of me. I was outspoken against it. I wrote Facebook notes about the danger of religion and openly challenged Christians I knew about both the goodness and the reality of their fake God. I graduated High School in June 2009 as outspoken as ever and headed for the University of Alabama (a school I hadn’t even thought of applying to until the last second) to run cross-country and track and to, as I thought, bring “enlightenment” to the Bible Belt.
As I was preparing to enter freshman year, I was talking to a girl who was (and is) a strong Christian and though we got along incredibly well, the difference between our worldviews became, over time, more than just an elephant in the room. Finally, a few weeks before school started she told me that we could no longer talk if I didn’t hold the same values she did. Though I had been dreading that inevitable moment for months, when it came, I felt oddly relieved and oddly curious, and felt both such emotions to a high degree as I agreed to try. I view this now as the first of many instances of God’s work in my life and as a personalized example of 1 Peter 2:9, which describes God as one who “called you out of darkness.” Granted, the male teenage brain and the chemical imbalances that characterize it will often make spontaneous decisions in the name of love, yet this idea offers no explanation for why I, with my ego, mojo, and identity attached to my atheism would experience a rush of internal hope.
I still didn’t understand Christianity’s place in a world that seemed to have progressed past it, but God was quick to get to work. The very next day, when I was in Barnes and Noble, I came across Tim Keller’s book The Reason For God on a display as soon as I walked into the store. I decided to pick up a copy, to, if anything, make it appear as if I was giving a hint of effort at understanding a faith I knew nothing of. After reading the first chapter (which is all I had originally planned to read) I couldn’t stop. I was absolutely addicted. When I finished the book, my friend dragged me to the first FCA meeting of the year. My life changed that night.
I watched our FCA leader give a demonstration called “the throne of your life” and I found, unsurprisingly, that I was on the throne of my own life, rather than Jesus. He offered to help me and I took him up on it. By this time, the girl that had originally urged me to investigate Christianity had stopped talking to me completely, which would have normally prompted me to return to my old identity as a sort of competitive instinct, but the intrigue of Jesus Christ was much too great for me to do so. Thus, for the next three months that fall I met with him for hours each week. As we ran through every random apologetic issue I had and eventually the Bible itself, I fell in love with what I was reading. I would often miss classes as I would stay and talk for hours at a time. I am so grateful for his effort on my behalf.
I started attending First Baptist Tuscaloosa where a few great Christians really took me under their wing and invited me to join their Freshman Bible Study, despite my inability to do so much as locate the book of Psalms. Finally, that November, God helped me realize I had a decision to make: either jump headfirst into a relationship with Jesus Christ or walk away from it all; there was no in-between. In early November of 2009 I was saved.
Since then, God has pulled me close with a love beyond measure, thrown my plans out the window, put me through months of grueling training, and given me sneak peaks into what may be His plan for my life.
I read avidly through the New Testament that next semester and really internalized the feeling of Psalm 42:1, “as a deer pants for water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” At the end of last Spring, I quit track and cross country (something I never thought I’d do in my wildest dreams) and was offered a job at Camp Living Water in Wyoming. I was incredibly blessed to even be accepted as a counselor after only being a Christian for eight months at the time. Under an incredible staff and group of administrators, I made leaps and bounds in my faith this past summer and entered sophomore year ready to make a difference for the Gospel.
God constantly opened my eyes this entire fall to the way I should live my life. I joined Lambda Sigma Phi, the Christian fraternity at Alabama, and experienced brotherhood to the highest degree. I was pushed and stretched to be the best I possibly could be and, through both their help, the help of my church Bible study, and an absolute barrage of scripture, I realized I needed to do something radical.
God calls us to be relentless in our pursuit of him, yet too often I find myself living a “Christian spin on a regular life.” Any time my relationship with God brought me pain or criticism, I thought something was wrong, when now I realize such times were merely the symptoms of the beautiful cross and a few steps on the Via Dolorosa. As much as I realized what I needed to do and realized that I wasn’t doing it to the fullest degree, I found that I was unable to simply “pep-talk myself” into the dramatic life changes I needed. It became more and more obvious that nothing short of an incredible firsthand experience of the brokenness and despair much of the world suffers would shake me into realizing the urgency of spreading the Gospel and strip me of my addiction to material wealth.
The very second I read about The World Race online, I knew it was exactly what I needed to be doing next year. Though at times, I consider the inconveniences of a year away from school, I know that if that were going to be an issue, God would have rejected my application in the first place. The World Race will be a pilgrimage for me and I absolutely cannot wait! My hands are ready for service…
