Dear Theophilus

I feel that God has done so many great and amazing things in my life, that I would like to make an orderly account of them to encourage and inspire hope in Jesus. It is truly humbling to consider the riches of his favor and how he has brought me through many circumstances up to the present day. While I have tried to give just the facts as I experienced them, please forgive small amendments made in the interest of protecting people's privacy, etc.*

As a young person I moved a lot…

My father moved a lot for his work. By the time I turned 14 I had lived in at least 10 different communities. That year we moved to Prince George from the Robson Valley.

Going to a new school is an opportunity to make new friends, and in the first month or so I had settled into a group of the local nerds and geeks (my people). One day, one of them (not a Christian at the time) said he heard there was going to be an event at a local youth group. It sounded fun and so I agreed to go without really knowing many of the details. 

I remember being surprised at the warm welcome I was given and then playing some fun group games. Towards the end a short message was given. "Taste and see the Lord is good." The speaker had a large raw onion and asked if anyone had every tried eating an onion like an apple before. He asked for someone to come up and give it a try. I volunteered and before I bit he asked me what I thought it would taste like. I won't spoil the surprise, but it did not taste how I expected. The speaker said, sometimes you need to try something to find out how it really is, versus what you have heard or how it looks from the outside.

The youth group leader, it turns out, lived two doors away from me, and so he offered to give me a ride home. (For the next two years he would pick me up and drop me off every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday). 

The next week I went again, but instead of a games night, they started the night with prayer. I joined a circle and as they prayed in a language I had never heard before, I assumed they had memorized some prayers in Latin or something, I felt a change in the atmosphere around me. I had been searching for the supernatural in other places before this, but this I felt was something real.

This time, the youth pastor shared a short message about "the formula of salvation." Good works and deeds are not enough, everything is multiplied by the cross, so without the cross, everything else is for nothing. Being interested in math, the formula connected with me on an intellectual level. At the end of the service he gave an altar call unlike any I have experienced since. He asked those that would like to receive Jesus in their heart to stay in the chapel for prayer, and those that were already Christian to exit to the foyer to hang out while the ministry happened. I looked around and saw most of the people flowing out of the room and was about to follow when the friend that invited me to the first meeting (not a Christian at the time) asked me, "where are you going?" So I stayed and was prayed for by the youth pastor.

The following Wednesday, I met with a smaller group at one of the member's homes. Since I had just "gotten saved" the youth pastor asked the group there to pray for me. As they laid their hands on me and prayed, I suddenly felt a wind blowing down on me. I opened my eyes to see where it was coming from but couldn't find the source. Suddenly, I started to speak words that I had never heard before. Without any knowledge or understanding of the Bible or even what "speaking in tongues" is, the gift of God was given to me spontaneously. 

Living with Jesus has had its ups and downs, but in every step God has gone before me making a way where there seemed to be none, and his favor has promoted me far beyond my years.

Praise be to God. You can experience him too.