I have counted myself as a follower of Jesus for some 40 years now. I was raised in a home that was far from perfect. Yet despite the problems, church was a regular part of our life, and so I was exposed to the teachings of the Bible from a very early age. I also had the privilege of attending Ontario Pioneer Camps, where the gospel was shared plainly.
It was my experiences at Ontario Pioneer Camp, a Christian camp in northern Ontario that provided the first major development in my spiritual journey. At the approximate age of ten, I had a counselor who confronted me with the Gospel. He asked my friends and I if we wanted to ask Jesus into our hearts. I made the decision for Christ and prayed with my counselor that night sitting on my bunk.
Upon reaching grade nine, I was challenged by a number of different life experiences. It was then that I was thankful for the Christian influences in my life. Both the youth sponsor at my church and a youth sponsor from another church had taken the time to be like brothers to me. They were there all along. When the pressures reached a high point, I found comfort in the promises that God gave to Israel in Isaiah 54:17. I took them as personally applicable to my daily struggle:
“… no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and this is your vindication from me, Declares the Lord”
The following year, having come through some of those struggles and having made some changes in my life, I chose to be obedient to the call of baptism and so was baptized by immersion at Lakeshore Bible Chapel.
For the many years since then, I have struggled and stumbled but God has been there and helped me to stay on the path. I have been learning what it means to serve God with my whole life. I have been challenged in my faith from both friends and family, causing me to discover some great truths in God’s Word. In my life experiences I have witnessed the price people pay for their lives of sin. I have discovered that being faithful to God has its rewards both eternally and in the present. Most of all, I have learned that reliance on God is so important. Our relationship to Christ needs to be one of total faith in Him. So many of us take these most simple truths for granted.