I gave my life to Christ when I was twelve years old, at an Assemblies of God Church in Waukesha, WI. Although I was young, for the first time I truly understood the meaning of the prayer I had spoken maybe twenty times before. I accepted Jesus into my life and understood it meant giving Him complete control over my life. While I had put my faith in Christ, I did not have a foundation in Him. "But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:26-27). My ‘great crash’ came during the first couple years of college at UW-Milwaukee.
In high school I did not drink or use drugs, and I swore to myself I would never drink and drive. In college I drank, occasionally smoked marijuana, and on one particular occasion drove drunk. Alcohol took hold of my life and led me to many low points and many close calls. I would drink three to four nights a week. I had no self-control, in fact most nights I would drink until there was nothing left or until I would pass out. One of the worst nights, I got extremely drunk, grabbed a bag of marijuana and drove to a friend’s house. I smoked the weed there, and walked out of the house. I saw a friend and handed him my keys. I guess I assumed he was sober, but he was drunk and high as well. Driving home, we crashed into a turn-around. I wasn't wearing a seatbelt and so my head slammed into the dash. Miraculously, I didn't have a cut or bump or anything; but it did sober me up. I realized the situation - my friend and I were extremely intoxicated with both alcohol and marijuana, we just crashed into a turn-around, and we had a bag of weed in the car. I immediately started praying. I prayed for mercy, for forgiveness, and that God would get me home safely without getting arrested. I switched seats and drove all the way home down a busy road, going 10mph, with a bent rim on the front left tire. God got me home safely without getting pulled over. That night I opened my bible, and here is the exact verse I opened to:
"Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing..." (Joel 2:12-14).
I returned to God, but not for long. With no foundation, I ended up struggling with drunkenness over and over again.
There is another night that led me back to Jesus. We had a party at my house and like most nights, I got completely out-of-control drunk. My friends brought me to my room, and there I sat listening to music and reflecting. I was disappointed with the life I was living, and recognized the danger in the lifestyle. As I sat alone in my room, the song "Daniel" by Elton John started to play. It is the song that played at my cousin Danny's funeral. Danny struggled with alcohol and drugs to a much more dangerous extent. He tried to free himself from the addictions, but they ultimately led to his death. When the song started to play, I felt so shameful. I was hurting my family. I must have cried for two hours. My roommates tried to console me, but nothing could change the thought that I was letting Danny down.
Once again, I quit drinking for a while, but I was surrounding myself with the same crowd, and “bad company corrupts good character.”
In the summer of 2007, I spent a good amount of time away from my friends. I spent time in prayer and reading the bible. As the summer progressed, I felt God calling me to California. Within a month, I arranged to stay with my brother in Fallbrook, CA, got accepted into a junior college there, and made arrangements to try out for the baseball team. You see, I thought God was calling me there so that I could play baseball and be successful, but He had other plans. Looking back, it is clear to understand the reason He led me to California. God pulled me aside from everyone and everything that was keeping me in sin, so He could clearly speak to me. I attended church with my brother and his family. The church we attended was a Spirit-filled church. In fact, there were times where the Spirit was moving so strongly that I could not help but confess sins before I continued to worship God. One service, the pastor stopped in the middle of his sermon. He said, “There is something that needs to be heard”. Moments later, someone to the left started speaking in tongues, and then another person to my right started translating. The message cut right to my heart, and I knew God was telling me that I must quit drinking. Among other things said, was “Do not go back down that path, for the road is dangerous.” That day I put in a prayer request, for people to pray that I would be able to quit.
A month or so later, after baseball and school fell through, I decided I was going to move home to Milwaukee. The pastor of my brothers church warned me that I need to find fellowship and also a bible teaching, Spirit-filled church; I did just the opposite. The first day back I was drinking with the same crowd. I fell into old relationships and old sinful habits. I would try to quit at times, but over and over again I fell back into temptation. There were a few occasions where I drank so much that it led to an asthma attack. On those nights I would pray to God for mercy, but when it came to completely surrendering I fell short.
The turning point came on December 30th, 2007. That day I was at the Packers’ game and had gotten pretty drunk with my friends. Throughout the day, I sobered up, and by the time we got home to Milwaukee I was sober. Late that night, my friend asked if I could drive him home to Oconomowoc, and I agreed. As we were about to leave my apartment, I got a terrible feeling that one or both of us were going to die in a car crash on the way home; it was like I knew it in my heart. I tried to ignore it and took another step towards the door. At that time, I heard those words again, “Do not go back down that path, for the road is dangerous”. I immediately ducked into the bathroom shut the door and got on my knees. I prayed to God for mercy and forgiveness and for a way out of that fate. Through my tears I heard God speak the words, “Not another drop.” That night, December 30th, 2007, I promised God “not another drop” of alcohol, and by His grace and power I have stuck to that promise! Since that night Christ has been emptying me of everything that doesn't resemble Him. He has given me a new heart, a new mind, and a new strength. "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me" (Philippians 3:12).
In September 2008 (this past September), I finally gained a firm foundation in Christ through Campus Crusade for Christ at UW-Milwaukee. Since then, God has been challenging me every day to move closer to Him. I have grown close to Jesus through fellowship, evangelism, service, retreats, and leadership opportunities. I have been blessed to serve as the Community team leader for our Cru, creating Christ-centered events to offer fellowship and outreach. In December, my friend Jon told me about a mission trip to Ghana, Africa he was planning on leading over spring break. My interest was sparked right away. I decided I would pursue the opportunity, and if God didn't want me to go, He would let me know one way or another. In late January, Jon told me that while he was praying God revealed that he wouldn't be going to Ghana. God had other plans for Jon's spring break (he and a group of friends ended up driving to Kansas City, sharing the gospel at college campuses along the way). Jon asked me if I was interested in leading the trip. I told him absolutely yes! But, I needed to pray about it. That night I spent time in silence and solitude before God, and he spoke very clearly to me. "Yes Michael, Go! Lead. Be strong. Rise to the occasion."
The trip was March 13th-22nd, and it was amazing. We flew from Milwaukee, to Chicago, to Frankfurt, Germany, and then to Accra, Ghana. With layovers, the trip was over 24 hours long! We stayed in Accra a night, and then drove to Cape Coast, Ghana where we did most of our ministry. We shared the gospel with students at the University of Cape Coast. UCC is a gorgeous campus, and everyone there is more than welcoming. In fact, everyone we met in Ghana was more than welcoming. In the United States, it is very difficult to share your faith. Too many students are uninterested and closed off. At UCC, students were just the opposite. Students invited us into their rooms, introduced their roommates, and eagerly listened to what we had to say. In fact, they are such gracious hosts, that it was at times a challenge to get them to participate in the conversation, because they simply wanted to listen. The six of us from UWM were able to share our faith with 40+ people throughout the week. We conversed up to an hour in some rooms. We spoke a lot about the assurances of salvation, that if anyone receives Jesus they receive eternal life. We pointed out verses like:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
And
"And this is our testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:11-13).
These verses helped assure those who had allowed Christ to take over the throne of their life that they have eternal life. We also walked students through the Four Spiritual Laws.
The following story testifies to the greatness and fullness of God's love and grace:
Daniel and Daniel and Daniel
The second day witnessing at the University of Cape Coast was an amazing one. Erica, Andrea and I were on a team together. The first person we shared with introduced himself with a nickname, which is as hard to spell, as it is to pronounce so I won't attempt either. He welcomed us into his room, and we all sat down and got acquainted. We asked if he would like to read through a "Knowing God Personally" booklet with us, and he agreed. As we read, his interest grew. He started asking questions, and for each question we would point him to a different bible verse. He asked how sin is defined in the bible, and we turned to Galatians 5 for the answer. He told us that he sometimes told friends that he was Hindu, and that afterwards he always felt bad. He told us that his sister died, and that it was very hard. We turned to 2 Corinthians 1 and read about "The God of All Comfort". We continued to read the "Knowing God Personally" booklet. It lists the 'Four Spiritual Laws':
1) God loves you and created you to know Him personally. He has a wonderful plan for your life
2) People are sinful and separated from God, so we cannot know Him personally or experience His love and plan.
3) Jesus Christ is God's only provision for our sin. Through him alone we can know God personally and experience God's love and plan.
4) We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally and experience His love and plan.
These two circles represent two kinds of lives.
Self-Directed Life
(S) Self is on the throne
(+) Jesus is outside the life
(.) Decisions and actions solely directed by self, often resulting in frustration
Christ-Directed Life
(+) Jesus is in the life and on the throne
(S) Self is yielding to Jesus
(.) The person sees Jesus' influence and direction in their life
We then asked the Ghanaian student, which circle best represents you?
He said, "Well, if I am going to be honest with myself, I would have to say that one" (pointing to the self-directed life).
We asked him, which circle would you like to have represent your life?
He silently pointed to the Christ-Directed Life. We turned together to the next page...
You Can Receive Christ Right Now by Faith Through Prayer (prayer is talking with God).
God knows your heart and is not concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:
Lord Jesus, I want to know You personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.
We asked, does this prayer express the desire of your heart?
He said, "Yes".
All this time, as we were reading and answering questions I was praying. I was praying for his salvation. I had never personally seen anyone accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, and the idea of God using me for such a purpose was humbling and amazing.
Erica prayed a line, and then he echoed, all the way through the prayer. When we opened our eyes, we were all smiling. I realized I had forgotten the nickname he gave when we first met, and so I asked him, "What was your name again?"
He looked at me and said, "Daniel".
I nearly broke down in tears at that instant.
You see, while satan meant my cousin Danny's death for evil, Jesus used it for good. Danny's death helped to bring me back to Jesus, and rescue me from my sin and struggle. And then, the first person God uses me to lead to Christ is named Daniel!
We spoke with Daniel after the prayer, about not depending on feelings, but relying only on God and His word. We told him a few ways to grow as a Christian:
G Go to God in prayer daily (John 15:7)
R Read God's Word daily (Acts 17:11)
O Obey God moment by moment (John 14:21)
W Witness for Christ by your life and words (Matt. 4:19; John 15:8)
T Trust God for every detail of your life (1 Peter 5:7)
H Holy Spirit - Allow Him to control and empower your daily life and witness (Galatians 5:16-17; Acts 1:8)
And that he should remember that "Your walk with Christ depends on what you allow Him to do in and through you empowered by the Holy Spirit, not what you do for Him through self effort”.
So we talked about Campus Crusade for Christ, how it has changed our lives for the better, and how he could get involved at Cape Coast University. We took a picture together, and parted ways.
But the story doesn't end here...
Afterwards, I told Andrea and Erica all about Danny and the significance to me that the Lord used me to lead Daniel to Christ. I cried through most of the telling. We then prayed together. After that, we ran into a staff member for UCC's Campus Crusade for Christ. She urged us to reach out to some women on campus, because their Cru is lacking. We decided to continue sharing, and headed for a women's floor. As the three of us headed into one of the dorms, I met eyes with a guy standing outside on the balcony a few rooms down. I stepped into the girls’ dorm, but told Andrea and Erica I would be right back. I walked out towards the guy, and introduced myself. He told me his name... "Daniel"! I knew right then that God was doing something amazing in my midst. I asked if he would like to read through the "Knowing God Personally" booklet with me, and he agreed. As we read, I encouraged him to read some of the verses. Pretty soon he took the book and was reading all of it himself! At one point while we were reading on the balcony, we both noticed a giant lizard rustling around below (we were a floor up). Daniel said, "Whoa! I've never seen one that big before! ... Whoa!” As we watched, my eyes drifted to a stone directly below us on the patio a floor below. On the stone was a small sticker that simply read, "Danny". I could not believe my eyes! I wanted to keep reading the book, and so we continued. We got to the pictures, and he pointed to the Self-Directed Life circle when asked which one represents his life. I asked which he would like to be, and he said "Definitely that one!" (Pointing to the Christ-Directed Life). He prayed to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior! Praise the Lord! Right after, I pointed out the sticker that was directly a floor below us, directly over where he prayed to receive Christ. He said, "Whoa! Did you put that there?!" I told him "No! But I know God did!” We were both amazed.
After, we spoke about what comes next for him, and took a picture together.
