Steve Howey

  Having grown up in a Christian home the stories from the Bible were familiar; I knew them well enough, but there's a difference
  between being able to recite stories from the Bible and knowing them as fact. Here was my first problem, I only really regarded the
  Bible as a collection of stories - not harmful, but not groundbreaking either.

  I had grown up with a couple of brothers who were from a Christian home, if they weren't saved at this time they were certainly more
  godly than I was, seeing them I saw there was another way I could be, and this made me think.

The years went by and I became increasingly arrogant, I can remember saying to my mum that if there was a God I could repent when I was old, after I'd had “a good life” and enjoyed myself. When I was 15 I collapsed and stopped breathing, in between being seen by doctors in A & E I was so humbled, God had put in place the event for me to realise my own mortality.

A couple of years after this time I was sat in a sermon one very warm Sunday evening, very bored indeed. This is no reflection on the preacher but more on my indifference to religion. I was flicking through my Bible desperately trying to find some gory story of war, or some miracle, anything to engage me. I came across Matthew 24; 36 and onwards, the passage speaks about how Jesus will come back again to judge the living and the dead, this day will come and it will be unexpected. It goes on to talk about how families will be separated, and I thought about how I would be separated from my own family, not for a few days but for an eternity. Now I couldn't just live well and repent on my deathbed; not only could any of us drop dead at any minute, but Jesus could come back even before the end of the day. I wept bitterly and prayed sincerely that God would forgive me for all the bad things I do, He has no reason to, but I was persistent.

It frustrates me when I hear testimonies where Christians speak of when they "chose" to be a Christian, for me there was no decision; eternal suffering and separation from God isn't an option for me!

It's amazing to know God loves me, every day he provides for me, and one day I will join him in heaven. Life is not always easy but it really helps to know God is in control and everything is working for His purpose, He makes no mistakes.

 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight “ Proverbs 3: 5-6.