i always used to get really excited about the concept of growing up. today it hit me that i will be 20 in just over 4 months. i will cease to be a teenager and will enter the roaring twenties. crazy. and then i realized that fourteen years ago today i accepted christ’s acceptance of me. i entered into the crazy of world of christianity. yes, it’s true that it was a world in which i was raised, so the concepts were not new to me. and, i should probably stress that i was six years old. i know that many people question whether or not a child that young can truly understand the decision. well, i submit that i did, though my, almost forcefully so, southern baptist background did not particularly lend itself to a here-and-now view of christianity but the per-usual assurances of life after death.
but fourteen years later, here i am. who knew what a whirlwind it would be? in that time god has allowed me to be a part of three different churches, interspersed with discontent at two of them. i have met amazing mentors and spiritual directors as well as partners in accountability. god has broken my perception of myself numerous times, rebuilding me into something new each time. my life has seen sorrow and betrayal, but it has also seen joy and blessing.
as i said earlier, i am nearly twenty years old. in only twenty years god has been obviously present and moving. under the assumption that i am given the opportunity to live those years three times over, and also assuming that i continue to grow in my understanding of christ and christ’s love for me, i can only assert that god has even more in store for my life than i could possibly imagine.
