Journey To Jesus: Take Up Your Bible and Read

I grew up believing we were Christians because we went to Christmas and Easter services at a small nearby church. But my teenage years proved that wasn’t accurate and that as a person, I was very lost. In grade 12, my family and I moved into a new home, and while putting away books on my bookshelf, I found a Gideon Bible that I had received back in grade five. As I flipped through it, I noticed a challenge within the first few pages to daily read a portion of that book, so I committed to reading a page each day. No matter how drunk I was, who I came home with, or where I was staying, I would make sure I read a page of the Bible every day. Before I fully gave my life over to Jesus, I had read through the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs 11 times, and missed only three days!

As I started my career in radio in Northern Ontario, three provinces away from home, I was lonely. Trying to deal with the feelings within, I started attending a small church. The music was terrible, but I loved the teaching! Suddenly I was understanding the stories I knew so well. From there, I moved to Edmonton for my next radio gig and attended a PAOC church near my family home. The music there was better, and so was the teaching! I was hungry for God’s Word and the sermons went by way too fast in my opinion.

My next move was to begin my dream job in Calgary at the Bad-Boy Rock Station. I was production director and my business card got me club entrance, girls, and anything else I wanted. I was finally “somebody,” but I was good at hiding the insecurities that haunted my life.

While attending a large church in Calgary (most likely hung over because that was just my lifestyle), the pastor gave a call for people to come forward who would want to surrender their life to Jesus.  It was at that moment that I knew that EVERYTHING I wanted and needed was right before me, if only I’d surrender. Right then, I quietly gave my life to follow Jesus and had no idea how life would change.

I began telling everyone at my workplace about Jesus, including handing out sermon CDs every Monday morning, and starting a Wednesday prayer time. People at the station gave their lives to Christ. And, I even had the opportunity to minister to many who never made that lifechanging decision.

They are ones I continue to pray for.  My hope is in the fact that I remember a grade four VBS Bible teacher named Miss Vicki who made a transforming impact on me in just one week. I had a marching band buddy who went to a private Christian school. I had a Campus Crusade for Christ member who reached out to me at the University of Calgary, and who I avoided afterwards at all costs. None of these people saw my conversion, but I remember their small impact on my journey to Jesus.

You may not see the results of your courageous steps to reach out to those around you – a neighbour or a family member - but be faithful and trust in God to be with you. You will make an impact on the people around you even if you don’t see the fruit in your lifetime.

My JOURNEY TO JESUS is one that started out as a challenge to read God’s Word. It was a daily routine I committed to, and looking back, I am so overjoyed at how Jesus met me … right in the middle of His Words and turned my life around.  Today, as I reach out to those in the film and entertainment industry, I am thankful for the call of God on my life to impact others for Him!