In our US of A we are blessed with the freedom of worship. Having recently relocated to North Dakota, due to lack of work in Southern CA, my wife and I started the task of locating a new church home. Of course we started out on the web long before we left San Diego County to scan what church's were there. The Lutheran dominance popped up right away with a scattering of others to be found. We made a short list, packed and started our 4 day journey.
Let me start by saying that our journey, both married and spiritually, has been filled with answered prayer. I became a Christian when I turned a radio dial. I am one of those individuals who can work all day and listen to the radio too. Having been a fan of conservative talk radio for many years I was busy one day digesting the usual political rhetoric. At the time the Iraq war had just begun and the backlash from spineless politicians was filling the air waves. Being fed up with the talk I tapped the scan button on my radio and it went 4 clicks north to AM 740. Never hearing this station before I was intrigued to discover that it was a call-in pastor show. People from all over the country were calling in asking advice on their particular life issue. I was recently separated from my 2nd wife and feeling quite low at the time so I continued to listen. I was being encouraged by the fact that compared to these caller's I had a minor problem. Here were people with major problems; dealing with physical abuse, drug abuse -(me too), abandonment, poverty, etc.
I found myself tuning in the next day and there were various Pastor's doing bible studies and topical sermons. I hadn't opened a bible in 28 years, but found myself writing down scripture references and looking them up in the evening. Sometimes I had 10 -15 verses to look up.
As the days turned to weeks I was listening to 740am for 4-5 hours each day, soaking up the gospel message I had heard as a child but there was something new here. There was talk of a personal relationship with Jesus. This was never taught in my childhood church. It wasn't long before I knew I needed Christ as my Savior. That evening, alone, I knelt down, bowed my head and accepted Christ as instructed by the radio Pastor's.
I never looked back. My Christian walk had begun. My next step was to find a church home and other believers....
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