On this day twenty five years ago I place my trust in Jesus Christ.
It was Easter morning in 1999. I was a kid that got expelled for a year from high school.
I had nothing to do.
So I started reading the Bible.
This went on for months.
Months of also listening to Christian radio of preachers and teachers.
My parents freaked out since my dad was an atheist and my mom was a Buddhist.
Coming to trust in Jesus as Savior and being saved through the works and person of Jesus Christ changed my life’s direction.
It changed my trajectory of wanting to be in the military and politics, a passion of mine as a kid.
God increase my passion for knowing Him and His Word.
The door was open for me to be a Pastor and study God’s Word and teach it.
In my wildest dream as a kid who got expelled in Sophomore year in High School I would never have imagined the idea I would be teaching others things. My grades was as low as 1.7 for my GPA for one semester, and I was lack a lot of self-discipline.
But more than even the trajectory of my present life, coming to trust in Jesus changed my eternity. The Good News in the Bible promise that if we see the sinfulness of our sins and realize we deserve the wrath of God, and if we come to see that Christ came to live a perfect life and die for sinners, and that if we trust in Jesus died for our sins, we can be saved. This act of Jesus demonstrates the love, mercy and compassion of God.
I was reminded and encouraged yesterday that when I do ministry and there’s others around that doesn’t always mean everyone is a Christian. We had news that during a training someone who helped us logistically and administratively in another country found out she was not saved and came to trust in Jesus. Our team was so busy preaching and teaching to equip pastors as our focus and yet God intended that our teaching last January to save this woman.
Being reminded of that from yesterday I want to say this: If you are reading this and do not know Him please trust in Jesus Christ as Savior today, to be saved from Hell and the wrath of God.
Happy Birthday! What a beautiful testimony. Thank you for all you do for HIS Kingdom!
Ty for reading this!
It’s my blessing!!
Amazing story and encouraging message!
Thanks brother for the encouragement!
Thank you Lord, for touching Jim’s life. The body of Christ is richer because of your declaration of faith and trust in Jesus and I among many am grateful. Blessings, brother!
You are a blessing here with your comment/prayer and over the years
Oh yes, it is a Happy Birthday. What a wonderful testimony, both about you and about that worker in the other country. Angels once again are rejoicing, I believe. Praise to Jesus Christ for His workings. And for obedient servants/children.
God bless you thanks for the encouragement
But more than even the trajectory of my present life, coming to trust in Jesus changed my eternity. Amen to that!
You are one year longer in the faith than me! But I’m quite a bit older–which may mean, I was (and am) more hardheaded than you…
I always thought you were a Christian way way longer than myself and that’s because of your wisdom =)
Thank you so much for sharing this testimony . I love hearing how God opens hearts and how the lives are then changed. All glory to Him!
Glory to God! God bless you William Bump, hope you are doing well!
Hallelujah! Praise God for His goodness, mercy and grace.
Praise God for His saving and sanctifying grace, mercy and kindness! Amen indeed to what you said!
When God closes one door he often opens many more….Thank you for being one of us.
Thanks sister for the encouragement I am thankful for God’s saving and serving Grace!
Hallelujah! 🙏
Praise God who reached down and touched your heart Jim.
May He continue to fill you with His Spirit and Word, guiding you into more service for His Kingdom. May His presence be a balm for you each day, Amen 🙏
TY! If I schedule your guest post on April 18th is that ok?
That is fine thanks
Thank you so so much!
What a great testimony! May the Lord continue to give you insights and blessings as you walk with Him.
Thanks for the encouragement with your comment. God bless you!
That was a beautiful testimony. Such testimonies motivate others to “trust in Jesus Christ as Savior today”.
I am grateful, so
Super grateful for God’s saving Grace!!
Thank you for sharing, Pastor Jim. What an amazing testimony to the grace of our Lord. I pray that God will continue to bless your ministry and that he will give you wisdom in all that you do.
God’s blessings…
What a Savior our Lord is…so grateful He saved you and I! And many others!
Amen, Pastor Jim. I hope you have a blessed day!
Happy silver Pastor Jim! There are many verses that come into mind (e.g. Philippians 1:6) with your testimony of GOD calling you but what stood out was Romans 8:28. GOD bless you, Nancy and the kids!
Thank you for that encouragement brother K! God bless yoU! Hope you are doing well!!!
Wow, what a testimony Pastor Jim . . . May God continue to use you to sow His word of hope in these hopeless times.
Thanks for the encouragement sister! I appreciated you reading and commenting on this post
I know I should do more commenting on your posts as you have been so generous with yours on mine!
What a testimony! Thanks for sharing Pastor Jim. I have learned much from you and know I will continue to learn from you. God has out you in my life and I’m grateful for prayers and teaching. Praying for you too.
Wow. Thank you for your prayers and I’m totally humbled
Praise God for your salvation in Jesus Christ and this 25-year milestone! The Lord turned your life around and, as you mention, the best is yet to come! I’m rejoicing with you about the woman who accepted Christ. There are many in church culture who haven’t genuinely trusted in Him.
I’m rejoicing too! How many years has it been you became a Christian?
Going on 41 years. I can remember the moment like it was yesterday, seated unceremoniously in the Kodak men’s room after reading a tract someone left in the stall.
Wow I remember that testimony!
Happy Rebirthday! 🎈🎊🎂
TY brother!
YW! 😊
=)
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday brother Jim!
Happy Birthday to you!!! 😀🎂🎉🎊🥳👏✝️✝️✝️📖
Also 😎 to hear about the woman who realized she was not saved and then hurried to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now is the day of salvation!!!
Amen now is the time of salvation! Thanks for the encouragement! Also grateful for your guest posts that’s coming soon!
I don’t remember what day it was, but it took place 51 years ago. Here is a bit from a soon to be published book, “7,000 Miles of Life Perspectives.”
“My entrenched indifference to all things scholastic continued unabated. By the time I was in high school, all I could muster were dismal .888, .789, and grim .647 averages before I dropped out.
I hated English and all things pertaining to it, like reading; and my grades confirmed that fact. However, sometime during the seventh or eighth grades, I found a love for reading—not textbooks, but science fiction and fantasy. I read Robert E. Howard’s books featuring the iconic hero Conan the Barbarian. I enjoyed Arthur C. Clarke … But my favorite author was Edgar Rice Burroughs. I read every book of his I could find: The Hollow Earth-themed Pellucidar series … and, of course, the twenty-five books starring Tarzan of the Apes. This love of reading prepared my way and has served me greatly, for when I became a Christian, I set aside science fiction for a new love: reading and studying the Holy Scriptures, and all things written concerning it. And years later, taught Sunday school, numerous home Bible studies, and wrote books dealing with scriptural issues…
My epic experience happened late one Sunday night. Though service was over I decided to linger. When I knelt and prayed, great conviction of sin came upon me, and I wept and cried out to God for forgiveness. Just then, what apostle Peter described as “joy unspeakable and full of glory” filled my heart and soul for two whole hours. To complete my new birth, as Scripture teaches, I was baptized. Thinking of that event, such exultation I never knew before or since. But every now and then, touches of that incredible joy and peace have returned to lift my spirit to the heavens.
Was what happened to me a scriptural experience? Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God … Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3–5). What does it mean to be born again of water and of the Spirit? It starts with faith in Christ, His death on the cross for our sins, and resurrection from the dead. Our response will be repentance, a turning away from sin. Born of the water is referring to baptism by immersion, as commanded by Peter in Acts 2:38. Born of the Spirit or filled with the Spirit of God, what does that mean? God is Spirit, and He comes to fill His human temples. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (I Cor. 3:16)? “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (II Cor. 6:16).
My conversion was not measured in days or months; the complete process required more time. It’s comparable to a woman with child. Ordinarily, a mother carries her baby for nine months. But the birthing process, both labor and delivery, normally take a few hours of painful contractions. However, for a fortunate few, labor may take but a few minutes with little pain.
As with the birth of a baby, my new birth took just a few hours. There was weeping, prayer and genuine repentance. With childbirth, each delivery is slightly different; so is the born-again experience. For some, there may not be weeping, but there will always be faith and belief in Christ, conviction of sin, and genuine repentance.
To be born again, gestation, growth, and development must reach completion, which, depending on the person, will always require different lengths of time. During this time in a person’s life, God will provide chance encounters with people, events, occurrences, and experiences, which always move the process along, until its conclusion, the new birth. With some, this may take a few months or years …
For those who receive salvation, only after their new birth are they equipped to recognize the mighty hand of the Lord’s direction and guidance upon their life. For one close relative, the obligatory series of events unfolded thusly: he broke into a house and got caught; was tried and found guilty; and sent to prison for a year and a half. It was there he found the Lord. In my case, I see both: divine protection, along with the consequential events that helped bring about my own salvation.
On one pivotal occasion, I was unloading donation trucks for Goodwill. Among the donations was a book providing proofs the Bible was irrefutably God’s word. I hid it in my pocket and eagerly read it when I got home. As I read, I wondered, Maybe the Bible is true after all.
This was probably the first in a long series of crucial events leading to my salvation. Looking back, there were certainly others. One was finding a much-needed job at a manufacturing plant (after seeing my high school transcripts, it’s a miracle they hired me!). After six months of employment, a friend I worked with ended up hospitalized. It was there a Christian came to pray and witness to him about the Lord. When Pat returned to work, he was a changed man; swear words no longer issued from his mouth, he stopped drinking, and Jesus and the Bible occupied the bulk of his conversation. But what I found most irritating were the numerous invitations to his church on Sunday and home Bible studies during the week. My invariable response to these invites was, and I quote: “Hell no, I won’t go.”
Besides these events, there is another aspect some tend to overlook after their conversion: God’s undeniable protection throughout their gestation and development process. Psalm 37:23 states: “The steps of a good man are established by the LORD; and he delighteth in his ways.” What happens in the years before a person surrenders their life to Christ? I believe, for those who become Christians, all of life’s events work together to achieve the premier objective of a New Birth. Does God provide protection and guidance for those who are living in sin, but will one day become true believers? I would have to say yes, for when I reminisce about my stupidity when I was a teenager, one particular incident emerges as a stark reminder of God’s care and protection before I even knew Him …”
Thanks for sharing this brother wow I’m glad you are saved
I was going to get kicked out of high school, so I just dropped out instead.
My comment was way too long, so I will make another short one.
Happy Birthday brother SlimJim. I do enjoy reading your comments.
What a great testimony! Happy Birthday, Slim.
Aww thank you
Hallelujah! So thankful to God for your gift of faith! What a blessing you are to the church, brother!
Aww thank you for the encouragement
Happy Born-againiversary, Jimmy! (I just made that up! 😃💡)
I’m heading out west to see my sister and take another “sisterly adventure” in her motor home. I don’t know where we’ll go yet, but if California … Remind me where you are? Maybe we could stop by and say hi, or go to your church if the timing is right.
I remember you visited California in the middle of the craziness a few years back. I don’t want to say too much online but I have moved out since then and in a new ministry in another state. Think of where you went to college!
If you’re comfortable with it, you can email me at bascha3870@yahoo.com. (I went to college in two parts of the country, so I’ve narrowed down where you are to two states. 😉 )
I always find it interesting that believers know the day they become a Christian I have been able to discover that..
Fascinating. I think coming from a non-christian background sometimes help with that. For a long time I wonder how people didn’t know but I matured away from that
On Thu, Apr 4, 2024, 7:45 PM ray salmon <
Thank you for sharing this. God uses so many paths to lead to the One and Only Path, Truth, and Life. For me it was October 17, 1969, growing up in a Legalistic Christian family, having read the Bible countless times without understanding, until I accepted Jesus unconditionally.
Wow that is amazing that you also remember when you got saved! It seems from the comment that is something not to take for granted! Have you written a post of your testimony?
One stating the “Umpteenth” time I have rewritten it. Also, I shared it as a rough draft video in a post entitled “Video of Humor Me.” An hour of comedy followed by my testimony, divided unnaturally by the guy running the camera. I have wanted to edit them, but I have never taken the time to do it. I talked about the sadness and the lack of a “dream” or worldly hope in my life driving me to comedy which does not last until I saw others with Joy, and it took me a year to accept Jesus on His terms. So, the comedy fit, and it drew over sixty people to the church on a Thursday night (when it was my 50th anniversary of accepting Jesus). I have to thank our pastor at the time, most pastors might have shied away from it or buried it in a committee until it was not an anniversary for anyone. Burying ideas in committee seem to be the modern trend.
Thanks for sharing this, Jim. I love testimonies.
You are welcome and thanks for reading this and the encouragement! I just rescued your comment in my spam filter, WordPress have been acting weird and blocked a few people yesterday…
I’ve been unplugged for a few days so I didn’t notice. That is weird though…
Hallelujah! I was 9 months behind you in coming to faith, also with a low GPA my sophomore year (1.9)! I got up to a 3.43 by graduation, which shows the power of God! I did not follow my friends into the Marines, though.
Wow God is good! What interesting parallels and near parallels “parallels”…hope that makes sense
Totally makes sense.
Congratulations 🎊. Wonderful testimony of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Praise 👏 the Lord
Thanks praise be to God for the saving work of Christ and the Spirit in converting sinners!!!
Happy Rebirthday!
TY!!! When did you come to Christ?
Summer of ‘79. So 45 years ago. I saw a change in my mom. She started leaving Jack Chick Cartoon tracks around the house, some of which had to do with Christ’s second coming. I’d never heard about that in all the years I went to Presbyterian Sunday School. Those tracks and her newfound faith were the key to me making that decision to follow Christ. I made my faith my own a couple years later by getting immersed.
Awesome! God’s peace Jim as the Word continues to be shared from you to others who are hungry to experience more.
God is good!!
And God has used you well brother!
I am more aware of my weakness this past year; but may God in His mercy be merciful and graceful!