I began dating a wonderful woman last year. Her name is Jan. We would talk briefly about religion and God. One day in January, she asked if I would like to go to church with her. I knew that there was something missing in my life and I decided to go and was looking forward to it. The Church is a non-denominational church that meets in a public school auditorium. We were about 10 minutes late when we entered. I could not believe it. There was a band with guitars, a drum, a keyboard and singers. But the part that amazed me was the congregation. They were singing and clapping. I could feel the energy in the air. I remarked to Jan that church had changed a lot in 30 years. I had been away from the church for 30 years. I still had what I thought was my belief in God but I had become unhappy with my old church.

We are now regular attendees at our church. I thought that I was a pretty decent person most of my life. I felt that I was pretty laid back, forgiving, loving and so on. Now that I look back, those were selective traits that I did not apply to everyone. We don't have sermons in our church, we have lessons. These lessons are about how God is and what He has done for us. They have really gotten my attention. There have been people in the past that I have not treated as I want to be treated. I have gone back and became friends with these people again. We have even talked about religion and how it has affected our lives. I look forward to the lessons in church each week and how I can use them to make me a better person. All of this is because of Him!! I have witnessed a good friend of mine having an accident on a bike. He was told that he may never walk again. I've witnessed his faith in God make him a better person. I believe that it was his faith and determination that have allowed him to walk again. My friend's faith in God also had a lot to do with me returning to Him.

I have come a very long way in the last 8 months. I have become more understanding, friendly, compassionate and forgiving. But I also realize that I have a much longer journey ahead of me. But I will have Him as my guide. I now have a very wonderful loving woman in my life, but more important, I have God back in my life.

I'm enclosing a picture of Jan and I. Without her asking me if I wanted to go to church last January, I probably would not be were I am today.

Like I said, this is probably not a very exciting story. But that's not the point. The point is that I have God back in my life and I want to see it happen to more and more people.

Mike

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