OK Hello

[memyselfandI]

I didn't see anywhere to Introduce myself, so I will do so here.

[JoeyKnothead]

I didn't see anywhere to Introduce myself, so I will do so here.

Well go on then, introduce like ya never have before.

Tell us where ya live, and any credit card numbers and PINS we may need to know, so that we can come to know ya better.

Welcome to the asylum

[OnceConvinced]

Waiting patiently for your introduction...

LOL. Welcome memyselfandI.

[memyselfandI]

Ok. this is a bit embarrassing. I lost the link to the place right after signing in.

Anyway, let's get started.

I not new to Christ, just new to Christianity. I was born and raised in the Jehovah's Witnesses and had to run away from home at the age of 15-16 to get out of it. I loved the warmth that was given to those within that denomination and learned to accept people from all nationalities, races and cultures, even though those who lived around the building where we called The Kingdom Hall didn't. There were several incidents of tires being slashed and cars being egged because black and Hispanic people came to our services.

I remember that what was being taught there, wasn't really meshing with the reality of the world around me and I started thinking that there was something missing. I first thought it was life, but now that I have returned to Christ I'm beginning to think it was the lack of the Holy Spirit that I was feeling. I've heard, more than I can count from others just how much the Jehovah's Witnesses are not really Christian and I think it was that feeling that was really behind my leaving there.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not all that noble. I did leave because I wanted to follow my big brother out into the secular world, because he made it look so appealing. I quickly found out how much I wasn't my brother and just how unprepared for the world I was.

My good nature and total lack of experience out there made me the laughing stock of just about everywhere I went and largely everyone I met. I don't remember having but one or two friends that entire time. I ended up being addicted to drugs ans alcohol, which lead me down into a deep hole that almost cost me my life.

I was living with my brother and his roommate and we were snorting something powdery. That goes to show you just how stupid I was at that time. I didn't even know what it was I was taking into my body. I just knew it was drugs and that I liked them. I ended up taking too much and overdosing on the the basement floor. If my brother hadn't have been there, I would not be here today.

He yanked me up and pulled me into the shower and turned on the cold water as he was giving me mouth to mouth. I was so out of it I was every now and then clamping my teeth down, while he was doing this and I bit him several times before he got me to breath. He told me this after I had come back awake the next day, but I couldn't tell you if it ever really happened. I can tell you that my entire body was out of sorts. Everything that touched my body, including the underwear I was wearing when I opened my eyes felt like broken up pieces of Styrofoam coolers. My eyesight was completely off since everything was out of proportion. People looked 3 times as wide as they were tall and all these sensations stayed with me for a couple of days, so you can make up your own mind as if I had overdosed.

I was far too stupid back then to have ever been afraid . I thought it was funny and kept on doing it until everyone else started growing up and I was content to stay the same. I was irresponsible as heck, back then and I can thank my brother, once again for straightening me out. I ended up moving around and burning all my bridges until I ended up living back with him and his family.

That was some 10 years later and he wasn't all that keen on me moving in. He made it quite clear that I wasn't all that welcome and over the course of the next few months made my life hell, until I walked away from that and finally took some action. I ended up in rehab, because I had found about it when I had a DWI, the year prior. There was an open bed available and I was taken in right there.

I really didn't think at the time, I had a problem, but over my stay there It became evident. It took me three entire months to free my body of that poison and I can tell you, the closest thing anyone can get to without God is the feeling of having your brain finally be free of the influences of alcohol. People think that all you have to do is stop drinking. That's a lie. Your brain becomes pickled in that stuff and it takes time for it to full expel all the pollutants that come with drinking.

To see what alcohol really is is to see what it is, chemically. Do you know what ether is and how it works on the body? The only difference in the chemical formula for alcohol and either is H2O(water) Ether is alcohol with the water removed.

Anyway, I got help with the earthly issues that was holding me prisoner in detox, but I was still a 24 year old teenager without any work ethic and absolutely no concept of personal responsibility. I changed that by getting into the military. Tat was an ordeal all it's own, because I was 5'5" and weighed 98 lbs, soaking wet with a rock in my pocket. A fairly good sized beagle could have whipped my butt at that time. I had to get up to the minimal weight standards to get in and did so by eating half the year's exports of bananas from Bolivia and drinking enough water that it lowered the water table in the region 5".
My recruiter waddled me into the meps station with my mouth duct taped shut so I could spray the room like a fire hydrant with a pond full of the yellowish liquid I had confined in my belly. I passed just very, grabbed my acceptance and took up residence in the bathroom where I carved my initials in a urinal with the pressure I had built up in my bladder.

I ended up going into the Army because I was much to small to be in the Marines, much too ugly to get into the Air Force and much too stupid to get into the Navy. I was also green/blue color blind and they didn't want me to cause an electrical fire on a Aircraft Carrier at see. Go figure, hum.

Well, In got into anti aircraft artillery on what was once called a chaparral. My MOS, (military occupational specialty) was 16 Papa. I spent 8.5 years in there and it turned my life around. Even more that that, I finally picked up the Bible, outside of when I was a Jehovah's Witness and finally read it, to see what was actually in it. The old testament was hard reading and I got lost several times, having to go back and read it. I still, to this day haven't completely absorbed it, but when I got to the New Testament, it was like night and day. The wisdom and understanding was so profound it simply blew me away. I ended up reading most of it, but got distracted and put it down.

I didn't really think much about it, but it did change my outlook on life. I learned to love myself and through that I was able to relate to more people and started becoming the person I am today.

I finished out my military service, right after the wall fell and strated driving a truck. I've been doing that for 16 years and I love the life. I will expand upon this later. I've just hit on the vitals of my life through this world, but I can tell you for sure, that I have given my life over to Christ and am very interested in discussing Christianity and in doing so , learn more and more about it. Thank you and have a blessed day.

Kevin.

[OnceConvinced]

Thanks for telling us your story. It will be interested to see how you debate with our JW members here. I believe we have at least 2 who are very active here.

Anyway with regards to your testimony. One thing I find in common with many testimonies where people speak of going through periods of self destruction and then "finding Jesus", is that the big difference came when they finally decided they had a gutsful of what they were putting themselves through. They had hit rock bottom and were finally motivated to change. It seems that may have been the case with you. You realized you had to change and you were finally motivated to do it.

Things like the armed services and religion are very helpful. The armed services train you to discipline yourself and better yourself. Religion, on the other has you believing that God is there to help you and that you have supernatural backing. A very powerful thing this can be. And then of course you have like minded people alongside you acting as a support network. So between your own motivation, your "positive thinking" and other people cheering you on, you cleaned up your life.

Good on you.