STEVE BRYANT - SON OF A CARPENTER
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.
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