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I
was born the son of a carpenter and that's about where
the similarities between Jesus and me end! My dad has
been building beautiful things out of wood and other
things his whole life and that's where I came up with
the Body Construction name since I help people build
their bodies. But more importantly, I like to help them
along in their spiritual journey or spiritual construction.
We are only here for so long and what truly matters
is not what we look like or have, but our character
and faith. Just ask anybody who has experienced true
physical and/or emotional trials during their life!
My testimony about becoming a Christian is not that
unusual but my growth in him has been amazing. I have
always believed in God my whole life but was disturbed
about this Jesus man. I had a hard time believing that
God would come in the flesh for man. Little did I understand
the width and depth of his love at that time. My friend
in high school was real active in his church and claimed
that the bible was all we needed for life. I found it
hard to believe and he was very hypocritical (they did
not believe in watching television or listening to the
radio but went to the neighbors to watch tv and he had
a radio in his car!) I later learned that these beliefs
were extra-biblical or not actually in the bible. I
also realized later that being a Christian was about
our faith in Jesus dying for our sins so we could experience
true freedom and not how others acted or did extra-biblical
things.
I grew up wanting to play major league basebalI and
wanted to play baseball in college. I went to Wittenberg
University in Ohio for almost two years before I transferred
to Carson-Newman College in Tennessee due to unhappiness
at Wittenberg. Before I left Wittenberg, a student there
asked me if I would like a 100% chance of going to heaven.
I promptly asked him if he had been to heaven and when
he said no, I said then how can you guarantee that chance?
He could not but just claimed to know.
I knew that Carson-Newman was a Southern Baptist school
at the time but I was not going there to find out about
Jesus, but to play baseball and get my degree. Baseball,
school, making friends, and dating were all that was
on my mind. As I began to make friends and attend the
required chapel hours each semester, I felt a tremendous
pressure to become a Christian. Some of my friends were
surprised that I was not a Christian and was going to
Carson-Newman. I was very analytical and knew that only
God could answer my questions about Jesus. So, I prayed
for three nights in a row to God to bring me an answer
as I knew there was no way this Jesus could be his son.
On the third night, I had a dream unlike any other in
my life. I have had dreams that seemed very real but
none so real as this one. There was a strong light coming
from a short distance away and it appeared as if I was
in a tunnel of some kind. I felt safe and secure in
the presence of the light. Out of the light, a figure
with longer hair and some kind of long garment was walking
towards me. The only image I knew of Jesus was the Catholic
one of long hair and a robe. This was precisely the
figure who was walking towards me! You can say that
it was my subconscious inventing this but I don't believe
that because it was so real and I had set out to disprove
Jesus as I was sure that would be God's reply. Well,
after the dream, I knew that Jesus was his son and accepted
Christ as my savior the next day.
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My life since then has been anything but normal. When
you accept Christ into your life it changes you forever.
You begin to see the truth in his love, how God wants
you to do his will and bless you, and the lies that
the world tells you. The world tells us that having
the nicest house, vehicles, clothes, job, best looking
mate, and many other things are what we need to be happy
and be important. They could not be farther from the
truth because these things never fill the hole in our
hearts. Only God can fill that hole. I am not saying
that we should never have nice things but that we should
worship God first and only appreciate what God has given
us.
I heard from someone once that you will never see an
unhappy person who has lived out their life for God.
It is hard to understand if you are not a Christian,
but if you accept him as your savior, your life will
be changed for the better! For the bible says, "Whoever
believes in me shall have everlasting life." John
3:16
If you believe in God but are not a Christian then pray
to him to bring you the answer about who Jesus is. I
am not saying that Christians are perfect, just that
we know that we are not and that Christ was perfect
and died for us. Please ask questions and do not look
at how some Christians may have strayed, but instead
find out who Jesus is and what he did for us. It's funny
that there are two books that I know of, "Who Moved
the Stone" and "The Case for Christ",
written by law authors who set out to disprove Christianity
and actually became Christians through their research.
If you do not believe there is a God or have any questions
about the validity of the Bible then refer to the website
below. I pray that God will bring you the answers you
need to make a decision and that he blesses you as he
has me!!
Steve Bryant
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