IN THE BEGINING........

You have to start somewhere and the begining is as good a place as any.
I am a Follower of Jesus Christ. I was not brought up to be a disciple and for the first 18 years of my life I pretty much did my own thing following the fads and lifestyles of the time.
You could label me "A child of his time", and I would not be offended.
My adolescent years, which I have come to believe are the most important years of your life, were spent in the years 1969 - 1975. They consisted of chasing after girls, drugs and rock music. Also in the mix were eastern philosophies and strong interest in the occult.
I worked on the docks on the river Tyne as a shipping agent.
So far, so normal. Normal in the sense that I lived many different lives, with different roles and different faces. We all live like this and are completely unaware of the fact. Our roles merge here and there and we all manage to keep the role changes seamless.

Then, suddenly, one day God showed up. He opened my eyes to the deluded state I was in and the lies that I was telling and the lies I was believing. He held up a mirror which showed me who I was.
It was not a pleasant experience. In fact it was decidedly unpleasant.
I saw all the roles I was living, the masks I was wearing.
In short I saw myself.
God offered me a way out of this mess. Offered me a brand new start. Offered me a new life.
The only proviso was that I had to turn away completely from the life I was living and accept a new life based on the spiritual reality that is outlined and revealed in His book, the bible.
Also, there was one more hindrance to living the new life. Sin. God is holy and my sins had seperated  me from Him. This was a huge problem. There was nothing I could do to turn the clock back and undo all the sinful things and no amount of sincere apologies could alter the fact that I was a sinner.
God explained that He had taken care of the problem Himself.
His son, Jesus, had not committed any sin. Jesus was acceptable to God. Because Jesus willingly died in my place to pay the price (death) for my sins by accepting his sacrifice for me I too could be deemed to be sinless - and therefore acceptable to God.
It seemed a very good deal. The best deal on offer. I give God my sin, He gives me His righteousness.
So I did the deal. I accepted Jesus. And life has never been the same after that........

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