My Life’s Journey of Faith – Part 1

First, I want the reader to understand – like everyone else who wants to do right I am a work in progress. Even though I know right from wrong and want always to do the right things, I still fail at times hurting others or God or both. Thank goodness God forgives and thank goodness others usually forgive.

All too frequently I have to claim God’s promise that, “if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Thank God for this wonderful promise!!! I do try to learn from my mistakes (sins), whether it be a failure not to do something I should have or failure by doing something I shouldn’t have, and over time make fewer and fewer of them. I thank God for the gift of life – I have been truly blessed. Maybe my story will help others – whether they are in quest of a faith or in living out the faith they have.

I have now been living over 68 years, and am becoming more aware that as I get closer to the last years of life unless I pass it on to others in some way, all that I’ve learned will go to the grave with me. Like most people I have indeed already passed on many things to others: teaching my own children, sharing learnings with my grandchildren, teaching children and adults in Sunday School, teaching others how to share their faith, mentoring and counseling employees and the casual exchange of ideas with friends and family. Yet I feel the need to share some things with a broader audience. Last year I wrote an article to share a fishing discovery I have enjoyed for years so others can learn and enjoy it long after I’m gone.

Now I want to share something of much greater significance – my Christian faith. Simply put, I believe in God and Jesus Christ and trust Jesus as my Lord and Savior. But I must say my faith as a mature man is certainly a more informed faith than that I began with as a boy just before my 8th birthday. This paper is the story of how my faith began and how it evolved over the years, and it will include some important life questions and issues I had to face.

When I ask myself why I became a Christian of Baptist denomination and not of some other faith such as Muslim, Hindu or Jewish, I have to be honest and say it was because of my family heritage. My parents, grandparents and great grandparents were nearly all Baptist Christians. Many were leaders in the church including two of my dad’s brothers who were preachers. I can recall my parents taking me to 1st Baptist Church of Galena Park from my earliest childhood memories. Back then Dad taught Sunday School, Mom sang church specials as a member of a women’s trio and both parents were in the choir.

Our House-My Lifes Journey of Faith-Part 1

Dad said grace before every meal, Dad and Mom both were teetotalers and neither ever cursed or used bad language – though Mom’s could be quite “colorful” at times. They were truly good parents, loving my sisters Beverly and Dee and me and rearing us up in a very functional Christian home. Looking back, I now realize that I was raised in a Christian culture.

This is significant because I know today that faith has to be more than, different from one’s native culture. Yet I cannot deny that it was that culture that led me to become a Christian – a believer. It happened in late October of 1949 when I was in the 2nd grade and one month before my eighth birthday. In preschool and 1st and 2nd grade Sunday School I had been exposed to elementary Christian truths – the existence of an almighty God, heaven, hell and the devil, the love of Jesus – God’s only son – for me. (I’m pretty sure I had learned John 3:16 by this time). On that Sunday morning in the worship service, sitting on the aisle seat of the 2nd row on the left side of the church I felt a strong tug at my heart during the invitation. I was scared and did not go forward. I told Mom and Dad about it, and they had Brooks Ramsey, our pastor, come to our house the following week.

I don’t remember what he said, but I’m sure he tried to explain the plan of salvation in a way an eight-year-old could understand. Still feeling the tug at my heart and still scared I went forward either the next Sunday or the one after that. The only words I remember the pastor saying are ” do you want Jesus to come into your heart?” In simple childlike faith, I did want Him to come in and said “yes.” I remember immediate feelings of relief and of a sense of security and, in the days, months and early years that followed I felt that I was now on God’s side and loved by Jesus who saved me.

This early childhood faith I now understand was only possible due to some key factors: the obvious ones are (1) that I had to reach the age of accountability. That is, to reach the point where I realized there was a God who would decide whether I would go to heaven or hell and that I felt guilty before Him because of my misbehavior – my sin, (2) I had to hear the simple gospel that Jesus, God’s Son, loved me and died for me and (3) God’s Spirit had to call or woo me to believe in Jesus as my Savior. But there were two less obvious yet critical factors for me to be able to believe at eight years of age. First, I had to be able to trust the key adults in my life, to believe what they said was true – which meant they had to be trustworthy and believable not only by what and how they said it but by how they lived their lives in front of me and how they treated me.

I was so blessed to have not only loving and completely trustworthy parents but also decent, trustworthy, God-fearing grandparents, teachers, and my pastor. Also, most of my aunts and uncles were godly, trustworthy people and I knew they were in contrast to the few ungodly uncles I observed. The second less obvious reason was: because of the care, love, and protection of my parents, I never experienced any kind of abuse as a child that would have distorted my reality; how truly blessed I was with the parents God gave me!!! When young children learn about God, they are learning it from the adults, and they can believe unless they experience reasons not to trust those adults. I say again that I indeed was blessed by the adults God placed in my life back then. Follow How to Find Peace with God for more information.

Dennis Christian