Chosen - Acts 6:5

I think back to the day that I received Jesus into my heart; there was such a change in my life, that no one who knew me could deny it. I began immediately to share the Gospel message to anyone that I felt the Lord was leading me to share with. I knew in my heart of hearts that I was chosen to serve Him who loved me and pulled me from the fires of hell. At the time of my conversion I was serving a one year sentence in the L.A. County jail facilities, (different story), and prior to that day I had no desire what soever to be in church; I had some bad church experience's growing up and did not want any part of what I thought was deception and organizational deceit. One of the places I stayed was called at the time Wayside, and it had a lot to offer, it even had a church; a little white church, with a steeple and a bell. This church had services every night and all day on Sunday. I remember one night sitting in the middle of the athletic field, which was adjacent to the church, praying and asking for God's help. You see, although I was not yet saved, I still thought I knew God; in fact I read my Bible everyday, sometimes all day long; but I did not know Jesus. As I sat there and prayed, I could here the worship from the church, and I remember gazing over and seeing the silhouettes of them inside through the windows; they were lifting their hands and praising God; and I began to pray for them, praying for those poor deceived men that were being lead astray by religion. As I prayed for them, I began to weep profusely; I was balling like a baby, and actually thought God was having me weep for those that were inside that church. Not to long after that incident, I was involved in a scuffle and had to be shipped to another facility; the new location did not have a church, services were held in the chow hall,(where food was served). One Sunday morning as I laid in my bunk, there was a very frail voice over the loudspeakers; it was the Chaplin, who was most likely at least 90 years old; and he was giving the announcement for that Sundays service. I remember just the feeling of love that was flowing through those speakers, and the instant desire in my heart to go; so I went, running to the meeting room. As I sat there, not really knowing what to expect, I was being spoken to in a whole new way. All the things I had believed and known from my past were being swept away, right before my eyes. The man that came to share took off his watch and holding it up said, "Do you see this watch? ; This watch tells me that somewhere out there, there is a watch maker; and you, me, and everything around us tells me that there is a Creator; And I am here today to tell you, that Creator is Jesus!". I almost fell off my seat; I was pricked to the heart, to say the least. As this servant of God began sharing scriptures that say as bright as day that "all things were made by Him, and not anything was made that wasn't", I began to surrender; and when the call was made for those to lift their hand to receive Christ, I lifted both hands, (I think I may have even stood up). Straightway I began sharing the gospel; and the first thing I did was to call my wife and tell her about Jesus, and how I had just received Him into my heart, and how I was changed instantly, and how all my sins were taken away, and on and on. Prior to that time my wife was the one who went to church and had been several times to Calvary Chapel of Downey. She listened as I shared with her and prayed with her on the phone, but I could tell in her voice that she was not sure. She had been raised a Catholic and some things were a little more structured in her belief perception; you don't just get changed and all the sudden start sharing about the Lord, or so she thought. Within two weeks I lead my wife to the Lord over the phone one night, and I could hear her weeping on the other end as we rejoiced together. I was there at that facility for another two weeks and I kept attending every service I could; and when there was no service I would start my own; six of us would sit in a circle and just take turns reading the Word and praying. There would be times when someone would come join us and listen in, and then I would focus on sharing with that person. After that I was shipped back to Wayside; and this time I was in that little white church just about every time the doors were opened; in fact, I was usually the one that rang the bell. It was amazing to me that God was using me, speaking through me and opening up the Word to me in ways that I could not explain. I think this is what you would call, "Letting go and let God"...