12 years ago, if you said you had a “testimony”, I would of thought, “Oh, boy, hear is one of those Church do-gooders!” I would have politely tuned you out.
Well, here I am, and here is MY testimony. Its pretty simple. I had felt like there was something more out there, but kept ignoring it. Then, while visiting my Dad at his new house in Alabama in December of 1996, something big happened. Something big enough to change my life… forever… for eternity.
My brother Tony and I were out in the driveway changing the brakes on my car (brakes started grinding on the ride down there). We were working on the passenger side of the car, Tony was working on the back brakes, and I was on the front. We had the car safely jacked up and supported with several bricks. We had taken the tires off and I was sitting on the ground with my legs under the car (directly under the engine). This put the hub and brakes right at my chest… I was very close to the car, almost IN the fender well. Then I heard a very clear voice say to me, “Get up, the car is going to fall.” I thought to myself, “no way, the car is very safely supported by these very stout bricks”, and I took a double take to look at the stack of bricks, which looked very safe. So I ignored the voice! The voice immediately came back again, “I said get up, the car is going to fall!” I thought I was going crazy, I looked again at the bricks, (still looked 100% fine) and then without really knowing why, I got up to get some more bricks, even though I was positive it was more than safe.
Literally, as I pulled my legs from under the car, and started to stand to my feet, the car fell all the way to the ground and the frame where my legs were, was now laying flush on the concrete driveway!!! I would have surely lost BOTH legs, and VERY possibly of died. Tony had been quite the whole time and was working on the back brakes. When the car fell he ran inside to get everyone else.
I was very shaken, but amazingly, I basically ignored that I ever heard the voice and just wanted to get on with life. I mean, c’mon, that can’t be real…. right? There surely isn’t a REAL God… is there? God doesn’t “talk” to people… right? And if there was, he surely wouldn’t care about me… would he?
Well, a little later in the week, my oldest son Ethan was conceived… and then born 9 months later on September 3rd, 1997. I kept feeling like there was something more out there than just, “work and play, all my life, buy more toys, then die for nothing.” But I kept ignoring it, and went on with life.
Well, time went on. Nothing “bad” happened. It seemed like life was going good, work was great, family was awesome, etc. Things were good, life was good. This went on for a few years. Often looking back and wondering why the voice saved me and let me walk. Why did it happen days before my son was conceived? Ethan would not be here if I didn’t listen to the voice that day!
Then my wife got pregnant again in the fall of 1999! Yeah, we were hoping for a girl!
Long story short, at about 5 months, there were problems. 2 weeks later, I had to watch my wife give birth to my dead baby daughter. Chloe Alice Marie Knepp. Saying that sucked, is an extreme understatement. Words cannot explain the deep pain. I have never lived thru anything so hard. Now I started really thinking about that God and his voice that saved me from the falling car. I needed something more than just people saying time would heal this wound. As the following days wore on, I had questions, LOTS of questions… Why? Where do people go when they die? Where is my daughter? Will I get to see her when I die? Why her? Why us? Why me? Is there a God? How could he let this happen? And more questions of the like filled my head… yet no answers. I had to “get” some answers. At that point in my life, a lot of things seemed very pointless.
We started going to Church on Sundays with my wife’s parents. Well, some Sundays. Usually 2 or 3 Sundays a month. It seemed to me, Church was boring, they wanted me to give them money every time I was there. And I really hated the fact of “wasting” my Sunday at Church. (I work Saturday’s and Sunday IS my weekend.) Plus, I had met some of these “Christians” before, and it seemed to me, they were all hypocrites. After awhile we were going to Church once a month or less… I still didn’t have any answers. And I still felt very lost.
Then my life long best friend Gabe, started going to Church. I don’t remember how the conversation got started, but we started talking about “Church” GASP! That was really strange talking with him about this topic…. we had done some pretty crazy stuff together. Gabe invited us to a Sunday school get together at his house to hang out. God had a plan! We met lots of cool folks, and started going to a new Church the next weekend with Gabe and Stacey. That was February of 2002. Wow, now things were happening fast and it seemed everywhere I turned, God was there. He was opening new doors for me to walk thru daily. I started reading the bible, I started finding answers (I still don’t have all the answers!) I asked Jesus Christ into my heart as my Lord and Savior in March of 2002. I am so grateful for the changes he has made in me, and I am so glad I stopped ignoring Him!
A lot has changed since then, but one thing has not, and that is my God. He is my creator and my rock. I hope you are not as stubborn as I was when you feel God pulling at your heart. He wants you to answer so bad. Please do. He is waiting for you….
Cool Bible Facts:
39 Men wrote the 66 books of the Bible. They wrote it in 3 different languages on 3 different continents, spanning 1,500 years in time!
A few things I have learned since March of 2002.
#1 Good people don’t go to Heaven because they are good or do good things. All my life, I had believed that I was for the most part a pretty good person and in the end God was a good God and I would end up in Heaven. I used to argue this with my lovely wife Lisa all the time (she grew up in Church). Well, I started reading the bible and I found out…. I was WRONG! you know that little book (the Bible) that was written by GOD. The same God that created the entire universe and this planet we walk on. I was VERY shocked one night while reading it. It was spelled out loud and clear right there in black and white. That there is only one way to Heaven, and that way is thru Jesus Christ. There is simply no other way.
#2 Christians are not instantly turned into angels to live angel lives!
It’s just that simple. Christians still are human… but now we are humans that have God and he has us. Life still happens… but now it happens with God. It’s like watching a football game that you already know who wins. I know in the end I where I will go for eternity.
If you want Christ to come into your life, it’s pretty simple. Both of my boys did it when they were 5 years old. Just say a prayer that goes somewhere along these lines. There are no magic words or anything like that… it just has to come from your heart. There are many versus in the bible that have the basics of the following verse. “Romans 10:9+10 “For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”
“Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
I would be happy to talk about any of this with you, just ask me. I definitely don’t have all the answers, but I will help you anyway I can to find the answers to your questions.
As I come across cool links, I will post them here:
www.iamsecond.com
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