| When I was in college I had an incredible experience. I started growing, and all of a sudden I became a well-known athlete. I discovered that attention and hype are deceiving. Everybody knows who you are -- but it's not so incredible. It doesn't give you peace inside.
That's the problem. The hype of college ball and the fame and money of pro ball -- those things are so short-lived. They are not satisfying. You have to look at yourself in the mirror and say, "Who am I, where am I going, what am I doing?" A lot of times you don't have answers for those questions.
I felt an emptiness. I said, "There's got to be more to it than this." I figured maybe it's spiritual. My mother was a Christian, and I always figured I'm a Christian because she's a Christian -- a family thing. I went about telling myself, "Yeah, I'm a Christian."
Later, someone said to me, "David, would you like to know about Jesus Christ?" I figured well, yeah, I really would. After he talked to me, he said, "Would you like to pray with me?" I said, "Sure." So we prayed, and I prayed to receive Jesus.
But I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me. So my life didn't change. I just figured, "Well, now I'm really a Christian."
But I did nothing to grow in the Lord. That nagged me for the next five years. I always thought, "There's got to be more to it than this." I knew that what I had experienced wasn't real.
On June 8, 1991, a man came over to my house. He asked, "Do you really love God?" And I thought to myself, "Wouldn't I be stupid to say I don't love Him?"
I said, "Sure, I love Him."
He said, "How much time do you spend reading your Bible and praying?" I told him I didn't do much of either. He said, "When you love someone, don't you want to spend time getting to know that person?"
"Well, yeah, I suppose so," I said.
He said, "In the Old Testament God said, 'Take one day a week and honor Me.' " He asked, "When was the last time you took one day and honored God?"
I said, "A whole day! I don't think I've ever spent a whole day praising God. I mean I've gone to church before -- but never a whole day." That just broke my heart. I realized that "Here's God, the most incredible person in my life. He's the most wonderful person. He's my Father in heaven. He's given me everything. And I've never once thanked Him, never honored Him."
I felt like a spoiled brat. I got on my knees and cried. I said, "Lord, from this day forward I'm going to spend as much time as I can getting to know You, learning about You, and learning how to love You." He blessed my heart in an incredible way.
From one day to the next, I was a different person. Everybody in my life could see the change when I began to understand what God did for us -- that He gave His Son for us.
When you realize that -- when your heart really is broken and you realize that God deserves everything, you need to talk to Him with that broken heart and say, "Lord, I have sinned. Please forgive me for my sins and let me start all over. Give me new life through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. I recognize that You gave Your Son for me on the cross. You deserve everything I have. I want to honor You as my Father -- as the giver of everything in my life. Every day of my life I'll try to honor You for the love.
|
