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I was born 17 years ago in the small town of Bushnell. The details of my early life are vague, aside from being obsessed with TV commercials at about age 2 and on. I never liked TV too much then, but I loved the commercials. I would go into the grocery store and know what everything is callled because of the commercials. I only lived in Bushnell the first four years of my life. After that I moved to Abingdon then Prairie City, an even smaller town than Bushnell only 7 miles away. With it being such a small town I didn't make too many friends until I started kindergarten.

I will never forget kindergarten. I loved my teacher, and I loved the "letter people" that helped us learn the alphabet. I was very intelligent, but I was also the one that got made fun of for various uncertain reasons. There were very few people in that age that I could really call friends. Before school, we would all have to sit in rows based on our year in school until the bell rang. I would always sit in the next row over with my cousin Tanya, who was always one of my favorites to be around anyway. Her mom was always there for us too. Whenever my parents needed someone to take care of us for a day, Tanya's mother would do it. My life situation didn't change much through the early years. I found a friend from Prairie City, Michael Smith, who soon became my best friend. We would do stuff all summer, like play video games and stuff. We soon formed a video game club, which were just me and him at the time.

By the time junior high had started, I had pretty much accepted that I wouldn't be accepted. People forgot the reason why they treat me the way they do, but they can't stop it either. It was during a blizzard in 1994 when I moved back to Bushnell, where I am living today. Our video game club was meeting almost regularly, and a couple times, we had overnight parties where we would eat like little piggies and drink caffeine until our eyes couldn't shut. We would play video games all night. Somewhere between midnight and 3:00 each time, we had a tradition of sneaking out of whoever's house we were in and walking around town. These were "highlights" of my life back then. Between 7th and 8th grade, I was riding my bike around Bushnell one day, when I saw someone I didn't know at a park. His basketball had fallen into the ditch, which was filled with water. I helped him get it out, and then I got back on my bike. Later that summer, I went to the local swimming pool and saw him there. He told me that he just moved here and I found out that we were in the same grade. He told me that next week was some bible school or something and he invited me there. I had nothing better to do, so I went. I had so much fun, and I met the rest of his family. His name was Frank, and his dad was the new preacher at the Bushnell Christian Church. On Friday, the last day of bible school, he invited me to come to church Sunday. I decided to go. When I went, however, I didn't really pay attention. I was talking with my friends and we were being a little disruptive. I continued to go to church every week, and they gave me a bible. I started to get really curious about God. I read my bible daily. I read it before I went to bed, and so I couldn't get to sleep until about 1:00 every night. All of it was so new to me. I was the same person as I always was. I didn't do many bad things, and VERY rarely used profanity before I started going to church.

Now my first year of High school was starting. Nothing much happened the first half of that year. Some of my friends started smoking and doing drugs. I didn't. Both of my parents smoke and that is bad enough. Toward the end of the year, someone moved here from Iowa and started going to school here. His name was Josh. His dad was a preacher. That means that within two years, TWO people my age have moved to the Bushnell area, whose fathers happened to be preachers. Josh was different. While Frank denied his Christianity in order to be accepted by the secular world, Josh brought his bible to school every day. We would often talk about God at lunch or during PE. Summer came up soon, and I got to go to my first week at a Christian camp. The second night, there was a prayer concert. People were giving testimonies, and even Frank went up and told his story. I was filled with sadness and confusion, and a couple of tears came out. Every night at camp, they had an invitation time, where anyone who wants to decide to follow Jesus could come forward and make that decision. When it happened that night, I felt as if some spirit had reached around my heart and was pulling me forward, yet I stood still. I stayed back. My fear was holding me back and restraining me. Two days later when I felt the same way, I decided to go up. David McKay, a person who I could tell deeply cared about me, came up to me and asked me why I came forward. Struggling to figure out exactly what I wanted to say, I just said "I don't know" I told him that I wanted to be baptized. He prayed for me and he had me pray to God. It was at that moment I began to get on the right track. Not many days later, I was baptized at the Bushnell Christian Church. I was so happy.

In the next few months my aunt, Becky Strange (Tanya's mother), found out she had breast cancer. She had an operation to have it removed but it wasn't totally effective. She began radiation and chemotherapy, and tried to go on with life. Things got worse. I visited her in the hospital and she could hardly speak. Tanya's friends were always there with her and Tanya. One day, while I was e-mailing a friend from camp, we got a phone call. She had died. Some thoughts went through my head. I had never talked to her about God. I didn't know if she was saved. A few months later, Josh told me about his church's youth group that meets on Wednesday nights, and he invited me to go. I went there a couple times when I could get a ride. In their youth group, we would talk about our problems, and read verses. At least 20-30 minutes were devoted to prayer. I couldn't go very often. In the fall of that year, I got a license and I could go to church every Sunday and Wednesday. After a few months of this, I heard about another youth group in Canton that meets on Saturday nights. The Canton group and the Prairie City group soon formed a tight bond. There were many people living the life that I want to live: Totally devoted to God. I am always growing in my faith, and getting better at being public about my beliefs. Another great thing happened. My cousin Tanya was saved! She started going to church and we became even better friends. Some of you may be thinking - "How can you believe in God?" or "Church is boring", but it's not true. Another misconception is that we're supposed to be perfect, and Christians are criticized and accused of being hypocrites, when really it's not true. Christians aren't perfect, we're forgiven. I'm not saying that we're not trying to be perfect, i'm saying that it's impossible. If all the imperfect people were removed from the church, the only person that would be left is Jesus the Christ. Here is what I believe:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. I know that schools teach us that "BOOM!" all of a sudden there are planets and stars forming out of nothing. Then on our little planet, some acids and chemicals mixed together and made life. I'm sorry, but the big bang theory and the theory of evolution don't come close to the truth. God created Adam and Eve in his image. They lived in perfect harmony with nature. Lions and bears were tame and there were no worries. Then one day, Lucifer told them to eat the fruit that they had been commanded by God not to eat. They did it. God told them that they had sinned and their punishment is death. In later generations God commanded the people to make sacrifices of animals for their sins. The animals dying took the place of the people that deserve to die because of their sins. However, sacrifice of animals was not enough. God knew this, and he sent the ultimate sacrifice to take away our guilt. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." -- John 3:16. All have sinned and fall short of God's glory. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God built a bridge to bring us back to him. However it is a choice. You have to choose to accept God's gift and be freed from your sin. It is truly the most important decision of your life.

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