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"

Victor G.|Chris S.|Barbara C.|Gene D.

Lives God has changed

Gene D., So how did I become all Christian on you? Well, my parents took me to Sunday School, like most parents do because it was the 'right thing' to do. Even my grandmother used to sing to me 'What a

friend we have in Jesus' This Jesus popped up at our school assemblies too. My family would pay patronage twice a year to celebrate Easter and Christmas. It just seemed like a ritual that people did to make themselves feel better. I always thought that if there was a God it would be more than what I had seen.
    I went on vacation when I was thirteen and the family that I stayed with went ‘all Christian’ on me. I went with their oldest daughter to youth group once which was nice but I was still not in for a life time commitment. I even went to church with them. But at this church service it was the first time I felt like God was speaking straight to me using this person that was supposed to sound boring and irrelevant. I was on the edge of my seat, ears ‘pricked’ and felt the deepest emotion of love and peace, like never before!
    I realized that I needed God to be in my life. Nothing had made sense before now but this was a God that loved me and wanted relationship with me! Of course not being a Christian before, my knowledge of the bible was that of what I had stored in my memory reserve from boring Sunday school. I knew that I should pray but not how to pray. When I returned to my home city I returned to a life knowing that I knew God but I had no idea how to follow Him or live the life that He had planned for me.
    When I was in my second to last year of High School, my family life was falling apart. My parents were struggling to make ends meet and I was feeling hopeless. My friend Cheryl invited me to youth group at her church. It was what introduced me to a relationship with God. It was not about church attendance or a to do list. It was about a God of love. I recommitted my life to God and fell in love. God was there and that was all that mattered.... (continue)