padge6108's 2009 Volkswagen TDi Wagen

Growing up our family went to church every Sunday, all the major holidays; I even attended CCD as a youth. I really didn't get it back then, I mean we went to church but I don't recall my parents discussing Christ at home. In my teenage years church turned into a fashion show, my friends and I, well I know at least me, wasn't going for the message I went to show off the new threads. As I got into High School I started having questions about Religion, but didn't know whom to ask nor did I really care at the time too much to put any effort into it. All I knew is I was going to church I was baptized as an infant I went through confirmation so I am all-good! It didn't matter what kind of trouble I got into or bad stuff I did I was set! Little did I know... I joined the service shortly after I graduated and went to church only on major holidays when I was home on leave; you know Easter, Christmas and New Years (if I wasn't partying). As time went on I went to church less and less. Got married (not in church) *soon right dear!* had a beautiful daughter. My mom wanted me to baptize her right away, but it did not make sense to me to baptize her at such a young age. From the little knowledge I had of baptism it just didn't vibe right with me. For the first year or two of her life she went to church with my mom more than my wife (Sabrina) and I. My older brother and his wife stared attending church and he got baptized, and again it didn't make sense because I knew we already got baptized a long time ago what is he getting re-baptized for? He started inviting my wife and I to church and picnics, it took allot of invites for us to go to church but at BBQ I was there! There is where the elders of the church shared Christ more with Sabrina and I, I was curious but still had my guard up. The church convinced us to dedicate our son, which made more sense than baptism at that age. Then the invites to bible studies started, and Sabrina went to one first, a women's fellowship. She went to a few before I went to my first one. At first I thought *What kind of cult is my brother and his wife getting my wife into* I was still lost. I remember our pastor led a group of us in a prayer to accept Jesus into our lives, I remember being in that group just to please everyone so they would continue inviting us to picnics. It wasn't until my third deployment when I realized something was missing. Yes I had a beautiful loving wife, two great kids, a nice home, nice cars, nice things, lots of friends, but something still felt like something was missing. It was then I was going to be away from my family for the first Christmas since we were married. The ship was conducting candle light services for all denominations; I decided to go to all of them. I think it was at the second or third message that I got it. I think? I came home but still didn't make the commitment to go to church regularly nor study God's word. Then I was laid up not going to work do to an unfortunate snowboarding accident, and my brother invited me to a bible study. He said *You don't have to work in the morning, you cant go nowhere, so you have no excuse not to come to bible study.* So I went. I got there as our pastor was leaving saying don't start without me; he was leaving to get something or someone. One of the brothers started to talk to me, well us but it seemed like just to me, about what the topic of study was. The topic was titled light the fire or something like that. We started talking about backsliding and falling away from our relationship with God and what Jesus went through for us. WOW, eye opener... That is when everything all of a sudden made sense, I shared with everyone about how I felt and where I was in my life, marriage, fatherhood, lack of this relationship with God. That was the missing link the thing to make everything whole, I didn't have Jesus in my life. This time when I prayed and asked Jesus to be in my life to guide me day-to-day I meant it, it was from the heart. I didn't care if they stopped inviting me to BBQ's I knew I had Jesus! This time was for real! It felt as if a large weight was lifted off my shoulder. I came home late because study ran longer than usual, sharing, praying crying tears of joy. When I got home that night I ran into the house and jumped on my bed waking Sabrina up. Saying *WE ARE GOING TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!* she was like *okay dear...* *NO, LOOK...Study tonight was on ..... and I accepted Christ....We covered these verses... LOOK!*, I said. *This is what has been missing in our life our marriage in our everything...* I swear I think she thought I was on drugs, but the only thing I was high on was Christ! I thank my brother, his wife and all the brothers at church who didn't give up on me and continued to share Gods love with me. I pray that through the Lords wisdom he can use me in the same manner to reach out to others and lead them to a healthy relationship with Christ. Ever since we accepted Jesus to be our Lord and Savior and to be the center of our lives we have been blessed. Yes there have been times of backsliding but through fellowship and God's love we bounce back. I prayed about how I can use my cars for good instead of dumping money into it for no reason and my prayers were answered with KCC. I am glad that I was accepted into the KCC Family and pray that we can continue to grow. GOD BLESS!