Testimony of a Young Man

Testimony of a young man

The first memory of God reaching out to me was when I was in
the first grade in Sunday school with an elderly woman who would

Note how a Sunday
feed the class sweet rolls just baked the night before as she read                     School teacher touches
bible stories to us. I didn't know till years later that the little extra            forever the life of one of
expense of baking those sweet roles was very difficult for her because             her students.
she only had a very a small pension from her late husbands employer
to live on. I always will remember looking up to her as she told the
class that God loved us and would always protect us. Many a
thundery night, down under my covers in bed did I remember those
words.
     My second memory was when my family started to attend a
Catholic Church just built in a nearby town. The Priest was a man

Note how the love
who had such a love for Jesus that words can not fully describe.                     of a Catholic Priest
I remember being called to his office one day and being asked if I                         is never forgotten.
would accept an invitation to dinner with him. He told me that my
mother had called and said that her car had broken down and that
she would be late picking me up from school. Waiting in the play-
ground I remember him coming up to me and asking if I would like
to take a little walk with him before dinner. As we walked it seemed
he would stop and talk to everyone he saw and would invite them
to dinner. To this day I remember that dinner whenever I read
Matthew 25: 34-36. Through the years, I grew up attending that
Catholic Church, but on Saturday's I attended a youth group from
a local Baptist Church. The group always met at Norco Civic Center
and would have a program of recreation and bible study.

     Robert was the leader of the youth group. I guess I will always

Note the dedication
remember his name, as he sat there under a large tree in back of                       of a youth leader.
the Civic Center leading a bible study. He asked if anyone who
hadn't committed his or her life to Jesus would like to . I felt more
than just an impulse, but a need more strong than I had ever felt
before, a need to stand up. I walked to the front of the group.
Robert, seeing me stand and walk toward him, started to smile
with the biggest smile I've ever seen. After deciding to accept
Jesus as my Lord and Savior, we both just cried for joy in each
others arms.

     About a week later as I lay in bed after saying my prayers,
I remember asking Jesus why my father had never said he loved
me. The reason why I was asking Jesus the question was earlier
I read Luke 15: 11-32, the Prodigal Son story and saw such a love

Note the beginning
the father had for the son. That morning I woke up crying, for I of a prayer life.
remembered all the times sitting at the dinner table with my portion
of food already eaten asking for more, my father would always
say to me" Here, finish my dinner; I'm full". To this day, I could
not tell you how many times my father went to bed hungry. For
the first time I understood that every time my father would say

The love of a
to me. "Here, finish my dinner; I'm full", he was actually saying                             father is realize.
"I Love You". I also through the years began to understand that
every time that elderly Sunday School teacher bought sweet rolls
to the class and every time that Priest would invite friends or                                Galatians 5:13
strangers to dinner, they were actually saying, "I Love You".                                  Through Love
All of these events in my life have taught me to reach out to

serve one another.
others in love as Jesus has reached out to me.