| "I was born and reared in Seattle. I didn't come from a churchgoing family, but during my pre-teens my dear mother consistently got me and my two sisters off to Sunday school.
When I was 13, a Sunday school teacher led me to faith in Christ. Gordy was a college student and a golfer and I liked him. He had our class memorize 10 verses in the New Testament.
Up to that time, I thought that if I just tried to live a good life, surely God would accept me. But one of those ten verses had perplexed me. It said, "for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9).
So one day after class, I asked Gordy about these puzzling things. He said that God would forgive us of our sins and give us eternal life if we would accept His Son, Jesus Christ. Then Gordy reviewed the last verse we had memorized. In it, Jesus says, "behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me" (Revelations 3:20).
Gordy said this meant that Jesus was standing outside the door of my life, wanting to come in and have fellowship with me. He then asked, "would you like to accept Jesus into your life?" I said yes and we said a prayer together.
This is when I believe Jesus came into my life and I was born again. I have always regarded that as the most important decision of my life.
We soon moved away from that church and I no longer attended Sunday school. It wasn't until I went to college at the University of Houston that I started growing in the Christian life by getting involved with other athletes who were meeting together for Bible study and prayer."
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