I was brought up by loving wonderful parents and grandparents, whom developed my foundation grounded with a belief in God. I was raised as a Christian, taught morals by the examples of unconditional love they had for family, friends and even strangers. They gave their time, money and lives to others time and time again.
As a teenager and into young adulthood these wonderful attributes were hidden within me underneath many of my selfish pursuits that led me to hating life.
When I hit “Rock Bottom” it put me in a state of mind that open me up to the possibilities of change; finding that greatness within me. This brought the “Light of Love” into my life, and that light gave me a new hope in living. I no longer felt the need to be done with life. My mind became open to a new way of thinking…. a transformation was possible because I literally had no where else to go. Today I continue to be open and seek for new possibilities. My transformation through this light sent me on a life long quest to be connected with this inner peace, love and joy all the time….
I wanted to know God, so I went and bought several spiritual books including the Bible. I started reading the King James Version and read through the first few books, this just confused me even more. I was not finding that feeling I achieved within the “Light of Love” I was seeking. I still had no idea what direction to take in my life, what was I to do to help others.
I continued to pray for insight as to what God wanted me to do… My mind continued to fill with new and exciting ways I could live my life to help others… I probably could of chose any of these ideas and made an impact in the lives of countless people; however I still lived with fear inside of me that would only allow me to play in life in a way as not to lose. What if I fail, what if am not good enough, what if I make a mistake, what if, what if, what if…. That is the kind of thinking which holds me back from stepping into the greatness within. It was this thinking; these beliefs I had within me, which I did not realize at the time, had to change.
My prayers shifted from asking God for insight to asking God to put someone in my life to help me. That was when I met a man named John Lusk. I was a supervisor at Bally’s Health Club, overseeing the operations of the seven clubs in the St. Louis area. One of my responsibilities was to manage the “Juice Bar” within the clubs. This particular day that I met John, one of my managers had an employee call in and said he was going to be late for work, my manager had to pick up his son from school so he had to leave. He called me and I drove over to the club to cover the time in-between. So there I am at the Juice Bar and in walks John. He was a really nice guy. We had a great conversation and made a good connection between us. John made me feel at ease. I could sense that he was a real genuine person. John ended our conversation with an invitation to church. Wow that’s strange I have never had anyone ever invite me to go to church with them ever. I decide I would go and thought perhaps he was the answer to my prayer.
That following Sunday I went to the Holiday Inn in Clayton, Missouri. “What a strange place for a church to meet”, I thought. As I walked in and looked around I saw several people walk into one of the meeting rooms and just followed them in. When I walked into the room I was taken back, felt really uneasy. I saw people of all different races, ages’ men and women everyone hugging each other. I saw guys hugging other guys and literally turned around and walked out the door. Just as I was out the door someone saw me leave and came out and asked “Hey are you Greg?” he said. I turned around and looked at him and said “yes” wondering how he knew my name. “Well John asked me to watch for you, he has a seat saved up front for you.” I said ok and walked back in with him. He escorted me to the front and introduced me to several people. John was the minister and in a meeting before church started, that is why he asked someone to look out for me.
Now, growing up I went to church in a catholic parish. So I was not used to seeing everyone talking and laughing and having a good time. My view of attending church service was a time of reverence, a time to focus on God, not other people. I thought to myself, I’ll sit through this service, but I am not going to come back. The people were all nice and friendly, however my view of church did not look like what I was experiencing. I saw John come in; he came over and said hello only for a moment, then service started pretty much right away. When John got up and began speaking his words spoke out to me. Everything he described in his sermon described my life. How was John able to do that? How could he of known, the pain and anguish I recently went through. It was as if he had a crystal ball and knew everything about me.
Later, I realized it was not John, but it was the scriptures he chose and expanded on in his sermon that spoke to my heart. From this point on I would have to say that the Bible unmistakenly has been one of the major influences in changing my life, the way I think and what I believe.
I left church that day excited and happy. My new friends helped me; guided me and show me how to open up my life and let the scriptures mold and change me. They introduce me to the New International Version of the Bible – which was written in Modern English, as oppose to the King James written in Old English. I started reading this time in the New Testament and within a matter of weeks changed my habits, I quit smoking, drugs, I stopped getting drunk, cleaned up my language and started living what at the time I thought was a full life; however God had many other things in store for me. My quest to return to the “Light of Love” would not let me stop here I thirsted to go deeper and deeper within my very soul, to find my true essence, my connection, my oneness with the Light.
As a teenager and into young adulthood these wonderful attributes were hidden within me underneath many of my selfish pursuits that led me to hating life.
When I hit “Rock Bottom” it put me in a state of mind that open me up to the possibilities of change; finding that greatness within me. This brought the “Light of Love” into my life, and that light gave me a new hope in living. I no longer felt the need to be done with life. My mind became open to a new way of thinking…. a transformation was possible because I literally had no where else to go. Today I continue to be open and seek for new possibilities. My transformation through this light sent me on a life long quest to be connected with this inner peace, love and joy all the time….
I wanted to know God, so I went and bought several spiritual books including the Bible. I started reading the King James Version and read through the first few books, this just confused me even more. I was not finding that feeling I achieved within the “Light of Love” I was seeking. I still had no idea what direction to take in my life, what was I to do to help others.
I continued to pray for insight as to what God wanted me to do… My mind continued to fill with new and exciting ways I could live my life to help others… I probably could of chose any of these ideas and made an impact in the lives of countless people; however I still lived with fear inside of me that would only allow me to play in life in a way as not to lose. What if I fail, what if am not good enough, what if I make a mistake, what if, what if, what if…. That is the kind of thinking which holds me back from stepping into the greatness within. It was this thinking; these beliefs I had within me, which I did not realize at the time, had to change.
My prayers shifted from asking God for insight to asking God to put someone in my life to help me. That was when I met a man named John Lusk. I was a supervisor at Bally’s Health Club, overseeing the operations of the seven clubs in the St. Louis area. One of my responsibilities was to manage the “Juice Bar” within the clubs. This particular day that I met John, one of my managers had an employee call in and said he was going to be late for work, my manager had to pick up his son from school so he had to leave. He called me and I drove over to the club to cover the time in-between. So there I am at the Juice Bar and in walks John. He was a really nice guy. We had a great conversation and made a good connection between us. John made me feel at ease. I could sense that he was a real genuine person. John ended our conversation with an invitation to church. Wow that’s strange I have never had anyone ever invite me to go to church with them ever. I decide I would go and thought perhaps he was the answer to my prayer.
That following Sunday I went to the Holiday Inn in Clayton, Missouri. “What a strange place for a church to meet”, I thought. As I walked in and looked around I saw several people walk into one of the meeting rooms and just followed them in. When I walked into the room I was taken back, felt really uneasy. I saw people of all different races, ages’ men and women everyone hugging each other. I saw guys hugging other guys and literally turned around and walked out the door. Just as I was out the door someone saw me leave and came out and asked “Hey are you Greg?” he said. I turned around and looked at him and said “yes” wondering how he knew my name. “Well John asked me to watch for you, he has a seat saved up front for you.” I said ok and walked back in with him. He escorted me to the front and introduced me to several people. John was the minister and in a meeting before church started, that is why he asked someone to look out for me.
Now, growing up I went to church in a catholic parish. So I was not used to seeing everyone talking and laughing and having a good time. My view of attending church service was a time of reverence, a time to focus on God, not other people. I thought to myself, I’ll sit through this service, but I am not going to come back. The people were all nice and friendly, however my view of church did not look like what I was experiencing. I saw John come in; he came over and said hello only for a moment, then service started pretty much right away. When John got up and began speaking his words spoke out to me. Everything he described in his sermon described my life. How was John able to do that? How could he of known, the pain and anguish I recently went through. It was as if he had a crystal ball and knew everything about me.
Later, I realized it was not John, but it was the scriptures he chose and expanded on in his sermon that spoke to my heart. From this point on I would have to say that the Bible unmistakenly has been one of the major influences in changing my life, the way I think and what I believe.
I left church that day excited and happy. My new friends helped me; guided me and show me how to open up my life and let the scriptures mold and change me. They introduce me to the New International Version of the Bible – which was written in Modern English, as oppose to the King James written in Old English. I started reading this time in the New Testament and within a matter of weeks changed my habits, I quit smoking, drugs, I stopped getting drunk, cleaned up my language and started living what at the time I thought was a full life; however God had many other things in store for me. My quest to return to the “Light of Love” would not let me stop here I thirsted to go deeper and deeper within my very soul, to find my true essence, my connection, my oneness with the Light.
Experiencing the Light of Love and discovering how the Bible could transform my life were the beginning of this process. Seeking and finding the greatness within comes with many costs and decisions that are not easy to make, but must be made. Conflict can and well arise as I will share in my next post...
No comments:
Post a Comment