My Personal Testimony
by
Josprel
Although I was brought up in a Christian home, I abandoned the Lord at a very young age -
thirteen-years-old. My parents struggled to get me to attend church, but nothing availed.
Though I did not drift into deep sin,(I credit that to my parents teachings) I did sin. God,
however, does not color sin in shades of black, white or gray. To Him sin is sin, period. Upon
completing school at age seventeen, I enlisted in the Air Force.
Because of my young age, my parents had to sign for my enlistment. This they refused to do;
however when I threatened to leave home and never return, my dad signed. If he hadn't, In
my rebellious state, I probably would have left home.
I served several years - two and on half of them overseas - in the Air Force, trained as an
engineer-operator, who operated heavy construction equipment, such as bull-dozers,
road-graders, heavy cranes, heavy engineering vehicles, C2 crash-truck-cranes (used to
lift and haul away crashed aircraft) and most of the other types of heavy construction
equipment. At eighteen years of age I had attained the rank of engineering sergeant.
During my time in the Air Force, I attended chapel service only once, for the funeral of a buddy
who committed suicide while on duty. His fiancé had written him a letter, saying she was
pregnant and was going to marry the man who had fathered her child. My buddy killed himself by
stealing a weapons carrier and - traveling at floorboard speed on the aircraft landing strips, with
the Military Police in hot persuit, before he intentionally rolled the vehicle over.
He died instantly; Yet even this didn't move me toward the Lord.
When my time finally came for discharge, I was offered additional promotion if I would agree to
re-enlist. But I had had enough of the military. I refused. I arriving home at twenty-one years
of age, still unsaved. At home, I took employment in my field as an operating-engineer. It was a
very high-paying and well-regarded job in civilian life and I felt I had "the world by the tail." At
night I went out with my buddies, though I did not drink heavily and carouse, as they did.
I was flush with money, drove a late-model Chrysler convertible, dated pretty girls, and partied or
traveled on weekends.
Then, one night about three A. M., I arrived home with a feeling of empty futility to my life. My
parents were asleep, as were my two brothers and two sisters. I entered the parlor, closed the
door and fell to my knees. At that point in my life, I had grown dubious regarding the existence
of God; nonetheless, I never could honestly deny that the order I saw in the universe suggested
an infinite mind behind it all. There in the parlor, with tears flowing down my cheeks, I shook my
fist toward heaven and issued a challenged.
"God, if you're really there, prove it to me!"
Immediately, what felt like a great wind rushed through the room. It seemed to come from the
top corner to my left and it knocked me to the floor, holding me there. When I attempted to
sit up,, it pushed me back down. Terrified, trembling and in a cold sweat. I literally could feel a
presence pinning me to the floor. I pushed again it with both palms, pleading, "Let me up! Let
me up!"
Nevertheless, I was held there.
My youngest brother, who served the Lord, and who now also is a minister, heard the thud
when I fell to the floor. He rushed into the room to see what had happened. Noticing me
unable to sit up and seemingly pushing against empty air with both palms, he woke my parents,
who came rushing into the room and began praying for me.
Still in a cold sweat, I exclaimed, "Mom, what's happening to me?"
I'll never forget her answer, "Joe, you mean to say you have lived in a Christian family all these
years, and you don't know what happening to you?"
I knew!
My parents' prayers were being answered, but not in the way they expected. Their first-born
son had foolishly challenged God to prove His existence and God did so in a terrifying manner.
Finally, the presence released me, and I staggered to my bed.
The next morning, I knelt before God by the side of my bed, and without speaking audibly, I
prayed that if He wanted to use me in his service, to have some one call me go to a service to
sing [Since I come from a family of musicians, I loved to sing. My brothers and I once sang as a
trio. My Dad was a violinist, who also played most of the other string instruments. Before coming
to the Lord, he organized and conducted his own Italian orchastra. After his salvation he turnied
the orchastra over to his assistant, dedicated his own music to God and played only for church
services and Christian events.]
That evening, I received a phone call from a minister's son I had not seen since I had last
attended church.
"Joe, I'm speaking at a mission and need someone to sing and lead the music. How about going
with me?" he asked.
Flabbergasted, I agreed, hung up the phone and accused my mother of asking him to call me.
Then I realized she couldn't have done so; I had prayed silently in my room, alone
with the door closed; no one but God could have heard me.
Well, that did it for me!
Three months later, even though I was born again such a short time, my application to study for
the ministry under the G.I. Bill of Rights was accepted by the seminary of my of my choice. My
parent's pastor had requested the school to waive its requirement that a ministerial applicant
must be born again at least two years before acceptance. His request was granted. I enrolled at
the seminary and eventually graduated.
THE LORD HAS DONE WONDERFUL THINGS FOR ME; THEREFORE I AM GLAD!
© Josprel
josprel@yahoo.com Josprel welcomes comments from the readers of this personal testimony.
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