Southcoast Church International, San Clemente, CA

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Lives God has changed

John 14:4-11
Jesus Answered, "I am the way and truth and life. No one comes to the Father except through me"

Chris S.|Barbara C.|Gene D.

Lives God has changed

(back)...My lifestyle didn’t change much though, I just thought I had ‘arrived’ now. I was working 12-14 hour days, 7 days a week and making

pretty good money at that, but still not really happy. I met my (now) wife there and she helped to slow me down a little.
    But it wasn’t until an ex-Hell’s Angel biker started to work for me and began talking to me about God that things began to turn around. I thought my life had been rough, and then I heard this guy’s story! I always figured I was too bad for God to forgive, after all, I had trouble forgiving myself. But this guy had been an ‘enforcer’ for the H.A.s and he found forgiveness. He wasn’t religious, but he always talked about how God was such a part of his life. This guy really meant what he said and he lived it out. I figured, “if this guy can get his life turned around, there must be something real to this whole ‘Jesus thing’.” He loved us, invited us to his home for meals and to meet his wife and kids and answered questions without being ‘super spiritual’. Then he invited me to church and man (!), God really got a hold of me.
    I began to realize the ruin that I had made of my life. I looked at all the stupid things that I had wasted my time on and realized that God had created me for so much more. I realized that I deserved all the judgment that God could give me for the things that I had done, but Jesus… In Jesus I could find forgiveness for all of that guilt I had from my crazy, selfish decisions, not because He wanted to condemn me, but He wanted to save me! Save me from what, you might ask? From a life wasted on pursuing all the things that don’t last. From a life lived foolishly before a real God who never wanted anything for me but the best. (I’m not talking fancy cars and big houses. I’m talking about a life worth living!)
     Well, here I am, whole, healed and living out, not the easiest, but the most amazing life I never could have imagined! (This is certainly not a detailed testimony, just some of the highlights)
     God is real, my friends, and He loves every one of us. Not in some corny and boring religious way, but in a relationship with you and me. There is so much that we are missing out on without Him. Believe me, I know!