I Don’t Care What You Say Anymore

I love football. This has only a little to do with my testimony, but it has to be said. Although TJ can’t understand this, or see it, football is a game of life. You could compare it to good and evil fighting against one another, but on a field.

There are a lot of rules in football. The referees make the calls about right and wrong. If you mess up, they send you back 5 or 10 yards. Sometimes you get kicked out of the game. But your main goal is to work your way up the field to the goal line.

Paul told us in Hebrews 12:1 Jesus, the Example

Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us,

I suppose this testimony does have some things to do with football, after all. But I think it’s about finishing the game well.

I was raised Catholic, going to their equivalent of Sunday school, but on Saturday morning all through the school year. I remember little of it, except the Apostles’ Creed. We had to learn some stuff by rote so we could take communion and confirmation (which since it made such a huge impression on me, I had to look up just now), and I do remember many Bible stories, however, I think I read them from those children’s Bibles you find in the doctor’s office. King David was my favorite.

When I was 14, I began to pull away from the church when people, my parents probably, told me I couldn’t understand God. They said only the Pope and priests could. I had to believe everything they told me about spiritual things. Because I read avidly, I promptly got on my bike and rode to TG&Y (who remembers that place?) and bought a King James Bible.

I proceeded to read that Bible from cover to cover, only stopping to deeply consider John 3: ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 

And Romans 10:¹³ for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Immediately, I told God I believed in Him and in Jesus, His son. I realized what this meant because the Holy Spirit filled me at that time. I tried to tell my parents, and they told me not to be a fanatic. It makes me wonder, now, if I told them I wanted to be a nun, how would they feel? They would’ve probably been excited because it was within the tenets of their belief system. They’ve both left this plane of existence, so it can’t be asked.

In high school, I hung with some Christian kids—Jesus Freaks. Remember those guys? They are still around. I kept my faith to myself at home, but told people about Jesus at school. My sister Susan knew, because I witnessed to her.

I was sort of dating TJ at that time, and I didn’t know he had once committed himself to Christ too. I wanted to make my own way in life. Neither of us were acting like Christians, so I became pregnant. We married, but not in church.

Life was difficult. We were so poor we could barely afford $150 for rent. Our life was miserably difficult. I was drinking to drown my sorrow, and we fought all the time.

As the kids grew, Sonja asked me if I believed in God. Where that came from I don’t know, but probably from the Holy Spirit of God. A friend and I found Calvary Chapel, and began going. Soon, TJ followed me.

Life was still tough. Our life was like a sine wave. We almost divorced at one point, but as we stood on the court steps, we pulled ourselves back together. God told me to look back at why I loved TJ at the beginning. This, together, with some Christian counseling, we recommitted ourselves to each other, to Christ, and two our marriage. We’ve managed to stay the course through a heart attack, TJ’s shoulder accident and surgery, and my two cancer issues, but God is always good, even when things look bleak.

TJ and I are here today, loving God, loving each other, because our Lord God Almighty first loved us. This is the over-view of our life and love, together. There are so many lives in between the sentences and paragraphs. There’s so much more to tell you, those who will listen to me.

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