I was born at General Hospital in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. When I was almost four, my family moved to the small town where I have lived ever since. Early in my schooling, I was diagnosed with ADHD. I spent the next several years taking medication for this condition, which I still have. But my chilhood was nothing spectacular, and I thought that I had no troubles.
I also thought that I didn't need anything I didn't have. When someone asked me, while I was attending high school, whether I had been saved, I told him I'd never been lost. After I graduated, I drifted. I took some classes at one of the area community colleges. I looked into starting my own business. I discovered that something was missing from my life.
My girlfriend had dumped me, I had no job, and my life had no purpose. I was living a sad existence devoted to trying to please myself. And I wasn't happy, even when I got what I wanted. I was dying. I was realizing that I was lost and had been since I was able to make my own decisions. Over the fall months, Jesus slowly turned my heart toward Him.
One night, I told God I couldn't go on without Him. I gave my heart to Jesus.
I didn't do this at a revival or have a great emotional experience. I just sat in my bathroom and quietly settled, I and God, that my life belonged to Him. I am alive today because I made that choice. If I had rejected God then, I would not have become what I am today. I would have gone further and further into destructive habits until I destroyed all of my purity and ultimately my life.
Because I accepted Jesus, I am alive today. What is more, I am a new man. I still have many selfish impulses, and I still struggle with the consequences of the things I've done, but I am not the same person I was in 1996 when I accepted Christ. I would not trust a man like what I was then with anything I valued. Today, I am a new creation. Jesus the Christ made the difference.
