I grew up in a small town in East Texas in a traditional family. We had a strong moral fiber and work ethic. We were active members of a Methodist Church and attended every Sunday. As an Eagle Scout, I obtained the “God and Country Award.” I just assumed we were Christians.
In reality, we were secular Christians, cultural Christians. And it was after going off to college and experiencing a liberal education in secular humanism and fraternity life that I began to doubt any relevance of God in my life.
One day, a campus minister came up to me and asked me if I was saved. I didn’t know what he meant. I figured you couldn’t really know something like that and that you just had to live well and be a good person.
“The Bible says you can know for sure,” he said. I was curious, so he showed me in the Bible where mankind is sinful and because of that sin we are separated from God. But Jesus paid the penalty for us, and if we believe in Jesus and his promise of eternal life, we can be saved and know that we’re saved. This campus minister had planted a seed in my life.
After graduating and experiencing some early success in the commercial real estate business, I became overly ambitious. My pride and self-centeredness ruled me. Within a year of marrying Jennifer, she had come to personally know the Lord through her friend and sorority sister, and together they began to pray for me.
We began going to church, but I can look back now and realize that I was only “playing religion” and that I was really lost, having no personal relationship or genuine spiritual dimension or direction in my life. Invited by a business associate to attend a young couple’s home bible study, “A Walk Through the Old Testament,” it was there The Lord opened my eyes to the truth of the Gospel.
My Spiritual Birthday is Wednesday, March 13th, 1974. It was the sixth Wednesday evening in a series called “Walk Through the Old Testament,” led by a third-year Dallas Theological Seminary student, and now my life-long friend, Doug Wilson.
For the first five weeks, Doug led us through the captivating history of Israel, beginning with the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12, “walking through” the progression of the Old Testament covenants, and culminating with the promise of a New Covenant in Jeremiah 31.
My moment of saving grace was like being hit by a bolt of lightning. I had always enjoyed history, but to actually hear, see, and experience for the first time – to actually understand! – God’s eternal promises of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31…
“Thus says the Lord; I will make a New Covenant . . . and I will write my law on their hearts . . . I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
…And thenits fulfillment when the Lord Jesus at the last supper said…
“This cup is the New Covenant in my blood.”
Upon hearing this, the eyes of my heart were opened and my heart filled with thanksgiving and gratitude to God. At that moment I believed. I trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of my sins and was “born again” to a new life in Christ.
Although Jeremiah was written regarding the nation of Israel, God used it in and for me. My life has never been the same since then and will remain changed for all eternity. As a result of the Lord working in and through us, we have seen parents, sisters, brother, and friends come to personally know The Lord.
These days I wear a multicolored bracelet that tends to spark conversations on the airplane or out in public. People ask me, “What does it say on your bracelet?” And with that little spark, I get to share the Good News with them. “There’s Good News and there’s bad news,” I begin. “Which one do you want to hear first?”
Most of the time people want to hear the bad news first. On the yellow portion of the bracelet is Romas 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The bad news is that we’re under the curse of sin. The whole world is under the curse of sin, and we need a solution to that problem.
The next color on the bracelet is black. That’s Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s the beginning of the Good News. So, the bad news is that we’ve sinned, and sin leads to death. The Good News is that a Messiah, a Savior, Jesus, came and shed his own blood so that God may forgive us of all our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Then there’s green, Romans 10:9-10, which says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
I’ve had the chance to share this message with hundreds of people over the years at conferences, Bible camps, or just out and about. I hope to live out this gospel message and share the Good News with as many people as I can.
In my older age, both Jennifer and I have completed coursework at Dallas Theological Seminary’s Lay Institute and attended and participated in seminars, Bible Study Fellowship, The Navigators, and other bible study programs.
Through the various organizations I’ve worked with over the years and throughout my professional life, I’ve made my testimony and spiritual journey apart of everything I do. If you don’t know Jesus, I’d love to tell you about him. He’s made all the difference in my life, and he can change your life, too.