Here is the story of how I came to know Christ:

 

Before I came to know Jesus as my Savior, my family lived in Lake Holcomb, Wisconsin. I was pretty popular there, and had a lot of friends. But I was also a liar and a thief. I would tell my friends stories about myself that weren't true to make me sound tougher and meaner than I really was. I would steal from my friends and family and would lie my way out of it if I got caught.
Nobody knew this, of course, and so I remained pretty popular, always ready with a joke, always involved in various activities at school, always ready to impress people with how well I could draw and how well I could put other people down. And even though everybody liked me and I had a lot of friends, I felt alone.

 

But just as I was preparing to enter the eleventh grade, my parents decided to move. I had to leave all of my friends behind as we packed up to move to another part of the state. When we arrived in New Auburn, Wisconsin, I had to start all over again. Before I had felt alone. Now I really was alone. I wanted to make some friends quickly, so I decided to join the football team. This would not have been a big deal except that I had never played football and had no idea what the game was about. When the ball was snapped during practice, I would stand up and look around, completely confused. I quickly learned that standing up and looking around is a bad idea, since there was always a large young man who was happy to knock me down. Realizing my mistake, I decided to cut my losses and quit. Unfortunately, when I did that I became a social outcast. No one would talk to me. Except for one person, whose name was Marty.

 

Soon I considered Marty my best (only?) friend. I began to spend a lot of time with his friends as well. And it didn't take me long to notice that Marty and his friends were different from most of the other kids I'd met. I wondered what it was about them that made them so willing to show kindness to someone whom, it seemed to me at the time, no one liked very much. Because Marty was such a good friend, when he invited me to attend his church's youth group, I agreed to go. I even went to church with him once in a while, although I wasn't too sure about all that religious stuff. One day Marty invited me to go to a youth rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I wasn't really interested, but since Marty asked I said yes.

 

The speaker at the rally was Nicky Cruz. He talked about his life on the streets. "I was a liar," Nicky said. "I was a thief," Nicky said. "I was surrounded by people, but I felt all alone. Until, that is, I met Jesus Christ. When I prayed to God, asking Him to forgive me for my sins and to come and live in my heart, helping to make me a new person, I didn't feel alone any more. I felt free. I felt alive. I felt as if at last I had found someone who loved me not for what I could do or how bad I was, but just because He did." As Nicki gave his testimony, I recognized a lot of myself in him. When he asked people to come forward to accept Christ, I found myself standing up. I couldn't see to the right or to the left; I could only focus on the stage at the front of the gymnasium.

 

Once I got to the front a young man came up and counseled me. He told me that everyone does bad things and that the Bible calls those bad things sin. God's punishment for sin is death. But Jesus, God's Son, didn't want us to die. So He came to earth as a man, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross for us even though He never did anything wrong. Three days later the Father raised Him from the dead and Jesus is now seated at His right hand. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, because Jesus died in our place, the debt for our sins has been paid. We can have a new life if we will only ask Jesus to make us new. The counselor asked me if I understood that. He then asked me if I wanted to become a Christian. He told me that all I had to do was confess my sins and ask Jesus to come into my heart, believing that as the Son of God He died for me and that through Him I could be saved from my sins.

I prayed that prayer and left that auditorium filled with joy. I wasn't alone anymore, and at last I knew what made Marty and his friends so different. I understood how they could like somebody who wasn't all that easy to like. As the years have passed since that day, I have had my share of problems and struggles. But through God's grace I am never alone, and I know that no matter what may come my way Jesus will be by my side. My problems didn't disappear when I became a Christian, but I no longer face them on my own, and that has meant more to me than anything else that has happened in my life. I no longer have to lie or steal to be popular. I no longer have to pretend to be somebody I'm not. I don't have to do those things because there is somebody, Jesus Christ, who loves me in spite of the things I have done and who will never, never forsake me. Through Him I have found perfect peace and have been able to live a life dedicated to bringing Him glory. Thank you, Jesus, for all you have done.

 

Matt Olson