Well I have been going to church all my life, thinking hardly anything about what being a Christian is, but I went to church to socialise with my friends.

However it was Easter people in 2004 that really changed my life with Christ. When I offered my life to Christ, I felt the best feeling come upon me - it felt so good. I still remember today what song was playing when I became a Christian; it was 'History Maker'. This really challenged me in my Christian life to spread the great news in life that Jesus died so that we might spend eternity with him; you just have to accept him into your life.

However living a Christian life is far from easy. I fell down some wrong paths throughout my Christian life, but Jesus helped me throughout all my troubles.

‘offered my life....’

This is what people do
in order to become
Christians. Recognising
that Sam had fallen short of what God wanted for him, and realising that he could be redeemed through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, Sam surrendered his life and his plans to God, so that God could be in control. He would live the life that God wants him to live, and to live devoted to God

 

‘salt and light...’

See Matthew 5:13-16

 

Soul Survivor 2005 got me back on my feet with Jesus as I had major troubles in my life before I went. I fell away from Christ before this, and I don’t think Soul Survivor good have come at a better time. They had a prayer time in the massive tent, where there was about 6 000 people, where they prayed for people going on missions and my brother went up, as he was going to America to do a Christian course. I felt God telling me to go up and pray for him. As I laid my hands upon him, I felt the Holy Spirit come upon me and I had a vision of myself in Jerusalem working out there. This had a major impact on my life. At that moment, I asked for Jesus to forgive me for all the things I had done wrong and asked him to take me back to where I used to be with him.

Prayer has been key in my growth as a Christian. However, I did not pray when I went to a party after having a very emotional week, and I think I was spiritually off-guard. I drank too much and I did things that God would not have been proud of. I thought that I had blown it; all that I had done to show my friends that God was real and that I was different just seemed to go out of the window. But God is a God of second chances and when he gave me one I took it with both hands. I was desperate to redeem myself and to be that salt and light that God commands us to be. Amazingly, and what I believe to be down to the grace of God, my friends were understanding and they realised that Christians aren’t perfect, even thought they try very hard to be. I am serious in my relationship with God and since, I have given up alcohol, so I am always in control of myself and I do not enter that stage of vulnerability, until I feel that it is right for me to drink again.