I thought it would be encouraging to see how Christ has worked in the lives of Stackers.

I grew up in an atheist home. Where we lived, the christians at school would be the worst behaved, most likely to participate in shady business, get drunk, sleep around. I reasoned that if trusting Jesus would make me anything like them, I wanted nothing to do with Jesus.

Eventually, I met a christian who seemed consistent and had well thought out answers for my objections. He spent a lot of time explaining the scriptures to me and encouraged me to read the bible myself. Worst case scenario, I'd have fuel to use against these stupid Christians.

I remember reading through the gospel of Matthew and being struck by Matthew 7:21-23. I had always thought that if I were wrong about this Jesus thing, at least I would make it ahead of the hypocritical Christians. However, it seemed that God had set a very high standard and I wasn't even close. I finished the first gospel and understood the implications of Christs atonement (the best I could with my limited understanding at the time) and prayed desperately for the first time that God would forgive me for all my foolishness. I remember waking up the next morning as if everything was brand new. Gods grace was poured out on me and I started understanding other aspects of the word I had read. I ran over to where my grandparents were sitting for breakfast and yelled out, "I'm a Christian!" There response was weeping and gnashing of teeth lol.

I was baptized by the same man who dedicated months of his life to dealing with my shenanigans night after night. Lord bless him.

Today, my wife and I are childrens ministers at a large church in Orlando area. The Lord has been very kind to me and I deserve none of it.