When did you become a Christian? How did your life change?

I became a Christian on January 1, 1980. I started dating Lori Bernard on December 21, 1979 and she invited me to attend a New Year's Eve Communion Service. I had already promised some friends that I would meet them at a New Year's Party at Vicky Holliday's House but decided to go to the church service first and then head over to the party. I didn't know anyone there except Lori but I wanted to impress her since we had just started dating. I don't remember much about the service but I wore my SCHS Letterman's jacket and had my hands buried deep in those pockets. One of the guys leading the service asked everyone to bow their heads and he started to pray. He said that there was someone in the room that needed to surrender his heart to God. That person was very popular with his friends but never really had a close relationship with God. He wanted to give that person a chance to make his life right with God before he took communion. I remember that I blurted out loud, "It's me. It's me.". I felt just like Jesus was standing right in front of me and was telling me that it was my time to surrender. I knew a lot about God in my head and loved to study and learn more about faith and religion but I never had anything personal until that night. I never made it to Vicky Holliday's party....I stayed at the Youth Service and talked for a long time with several of the guys there. I think that is where I met Terry Matejka and Johnny Tucker. We shared communion together, prayed a lot and then I went home instead of going to the party. I had three six packs of beer in the back seat of my car and, before I left, I took those six packs and threw them across the parking lot. No one told me to do that but I felt like it was symbolic of starting something new and leaving behind something old. My life changed pretty drastically....I was dating a "good girl" in Lori Bernard and I was no longer dating a new girl each week. It was pretty strange with most of my friends. Some hung around and stayed close to me - even though I was was living a very different lifestyle. Allen stayed close but Kevin Crider pulled away from me. I got closer to some other friends in a very different way and grew to know and make new friends. My life at home was pretty different too. At the time, my Mom was a Christian but my Dad was not. My Mom was a member of several strong Women's Bible Study groups and prayed for me constantly but Dad was a strong Catholic holdout. Shortly after my salvation experience, I clashed pretty hard with my Dad and I didn't handle it well with him. I told him that he wasn't a Christian and that he needed to change. I wanted him to have what I felt but I did it in a very abrasive and harmful way with him. I wish that I could relive those years so that I could handle it differently - with love - instead of trying to push him. Getting involved in the First Assembly Youth Group had good points and bad points for me in my early spiritual development. It was a good foundation but looking back on it now, it was full of legalism and a lot of guilt. There was very little "grace" taught and I was petrified that with each little sin, I was going to burn in hell. I was nurtured by good men who took me under their wing. Kenny Chrismer was my spiritual "Dad" and helped guide me. He would pray with me and coach me with better ways to love my Dad. "Aunt Susie" Sellenschuetter used to love and pray for me ALL OF THE TIME. I think that she knew my Grandma Ruby Hollander as a little girl and had a very soft spot for me.....Lucille Shalpany loved me and would hug me like a little boy. There were so many people that played a big part in my spiritual development.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where was your childhood home located?

When I was born, my parents brought me home to 1148 South Benton Street. I have very little memory of this home except for the backyard and a brick bbq pit located in the backyard. I have a few memories of the basement and a few other things but not many real memories. I remember crawling around the backyard with a stick in my hands and my Dad pretending to be rabbit hunting with me....I had on a hooded sweatshirt and we were "army crawling" around the yard and were trying to sneak up on rabbits that were back there. I remember looking up at my Dad and seeing his black rimmed glasses right next to me and I can still feel his strong arm across my back as I held tightly to my stick (pretend gun!) and wait for the rabbits to jump out. I also remember that our basement had a cellar door access with steps that lead out to the backyard. I remember opening the door that led upstairs and seeing a snake laying on the floor of stairwell. Mom grabbed me and picked me up and w...
Read more

Did you ever get into fights with other kids?

I think that I only got into one fist fight as a kid. It was with Tom Stiegemeier and it happened behind Hudson's Chiropractic clinic off of Kingshighway. There was also a florist shop in the same building and I remember the empty flower boxes being in the alleyway. We were walking home from 7th grade and he said something mean about my Dad. I think he called him a "Pig" - which was a derogatory term for a policeman. I remember that I got so mad at him that I swung around and hit him square in the jaw and I felt like I broke my hand. I had never punched someone before and it scared me to death. I immediately started crying - I was just so upset and mad that I guess that I didn't know how to handle those emotions. Tom swung back at me and I avoid the punch but then he grabbed me and we started wrestling to the ground. I remember that I got my coat really dirty and I was scared that I would get into trouble because of my coat. I have absolutely no recollection...
Read more

Were you baptized or dedicated as a boy?

I grew up in the Catholic Church and we didn't do baby dedications. I was baptized on December 10, 1961 by Father Dyer at Borromeo Church. My Aunt Mary Ann was my Godmother and my Uncle Ronnie was my Godfather. It was Catholic tradition that babies were baptized pretty soon after birth in case the baby died. I was baptized twice as an adult. Shortly after I got saved in high school, my friend, Randy Young, insisted that I get baptized one night. His father was a deacon at a church on Elm Street so Randy got the keys from his Dad and we went into the church one night so that he could baptize me. It was a very chilly April night in 1980 and when we got into the church, we discovered the baptistry was completely empty. So, instead, we went down on Main Street and I got baptized in one of the fountains on Main Street. Randy didn't think that I would truly be saved unless I was baptized. I was also baptized once at First Assembly of God because I had never really done a ...
Read more