I've been brought up in a Christian family with Christian values, but until a few years ago it didn't mean much to me at all. At around 14 I was still going to church, but that was just the thing that I did with my mum on a Sunday. During the week I'd be hanging round on the streets causing trouble, drinking and getting up to no good.
I remember one night the police coming to our door and asking my mum if she would take me down to the police station on a certain date, she must have been absolutely mortified because she had no idea whatsoever about what I was getting up to on a night. Anyway, a day or so later she took me down to the station in town and I was placed under arrest and interviewed by the police, with my mum sat next to me. I was questioned and confessed to everything. I knew about thousands of pounds worth of damage me and five other friends had caused in one week on the estate next to where I live. I can't even begin to explain the amount of remorse I felt, I'd let my mum down and it was time to change. So I started behaving and thinking about what I was doing before did it. This lasted a while but after a few months I started drifting back into my old ways. The drinking got heavier and the crime got more serious but this time I wasn't getting caught for it. This carried on for a year or so.
I was in church one morning when someone came up to me and asked me if I wanted to go to Spring Harvest. He explained that a person in their group had backed out and that there was a spare place. So I said yes and arranged to go. They knew a little of what I was like outside church and knew that I liked the odd drink, so they invited me out a few times to some of the pubs in the town center. I quite enjoyed drinking in a pub, it was a welcome change from the cold street corners and bus shelters that I was used to!
One night we went into town to watch a football match and have a few pints. On the way home we stopped off in a nearby alleyway for the toilet. I saw a sign saying "wheel clamping in action" and for some stupid reason decided this would be my souvenir of the night, and took it. Once again the police were called. They picked me up in town and put me straight into a cell where I spent the night. In the morning around 6ish the police went to my house and knocked on the door. Everyone must dread the day that they open the door to find two police officers stood there at the same time knowing that their son hasn't come home from the night before.
Again I felt that pain and again that numb remorseful feeling ran through my body. But this time it was different I was going on Spring Harvest soon and I really did have to change but it was a lot harder. I had got very used to the thug lifestyle.
I was attending one of the morning meetings at Spring Harvest which was aimed at my age group when we were asked to pray to God and told that He would forgive us for anything we had done wrong as long as we were truly sorry. I knew this anyway because of my regular attendance of church, but this time it actually meant something. I looked around me and saw all these people the same age as me who were happy and getting on with their lives knowing that God loved them. I wanted this. I didn't need to show off and be the big rebel that I was back home. God loves me just the way I am, I don't have to make a big name for myself. It was then that I realised that this was the Holy Spirit around me. That warm safe but at the same time electric feeling surrounding me.
I still see my friends that I used to get into trouble with. Most of them are either drug dealers or thieves but they all know and respect what I have done and I will say to you exactly what I say to them. I don't expect you to hear this story and become a Christian or even believe a word I've said. But when you get that feeling and witness the things I've both felt and seen then you will know the truth.
Wherever you go and whatever you
do He is there for you.
OUR GOD IS AN AWSOME GOD!