Two years and one day ago

I got to have dinner with some friends last week, and as I shared with them what I’m up to next one of my friends leaned over and said, “Who woulda thought…” His exclamation was caused by the fact that he knew me before I was a Christian and he knows me after. And the difference is radical.

Two years and one day ago, I wasn’t a Christian. I would’ve told you I was, but I definitely wasn’t. Two years and one day ago I was partying up my last days of college. I was getting ready to start a teaching career (or something along those lines), believing I was “free” as I lived for the moment. But two years and zero days ago, all that changed. I gave my life to Christ and nothing has ever been the same. To read the full story of my salvation, click here. But this story isn’t so much about me getting saved, it’s about what happened after. Because after is when the change started to happen.

A few of the people I used to hang out with now do serious drugs. Most hate their careers. And I could very easily have been one of those people. The only reason I’m not living the same life at 23 that I was living at 21 is Jesus. Instead of spending my Sundays nursing a hangover, I spend them worshipping and serving my Creator. And instead of a career I hate, I love my “job” of traveling the world being Jesus’ hands and heart.

Jesus is all about change. When you read the Gospels, every single person He comes into contact with walks away changed. The woman at the well, the adulteress about to be stoned, Peter on his fishing boat, Levi at his tax collector booth, Lazarus, the wedding party at Cana, Mary Magdalene, the ten lepers, Zacchaeus. The list goes on and on. And that hasn’t stopped in the last 2000 years.

Jesus has tangibly changed me and literally saved my life. That’s not just something Christians say; it is truth. I hope and pray that many of you reading this will reflect on your own lives and choose the change Jesus lovingly provides. Because the only thing that makes me unique or different is what God has done in me.