I was more or less "saved" when I was a young teenager. I still remember the church camp when I walked to the front after the service and gave myself to Jesus. Unfortunately, that was the last time I thought about it for around 40 years.
I was very much a child of the sixties. I bought into the "new age" thinking wholeheartedly. With the devil's prompting, I embarked on a life of sin and corruption; justifying it every step of the way with the "sayings of the day".
My father dies when I was five years old. I have been told that this had a negative influence on my relationship with God, since I never had a chance to experience a father's love. My mother was a "compartmentalized" Christian; devotions in the morning, church on Sunday, then pretty much forget it the rest of the time.
Like so many of my generation, I had a skewed notion of what God was all about. It wasn't that I didn't believe in Him, it was just that my understanding of Him was so far off base that I had no chance of establishing a true relationship. I still turned to Him in times of trouble but in between, it was easy to put Him on the very back burner. After all, I knew everything I needed to know about His thinking. (This attitude was helped along, no doubt, by the alcoholic haze that the devil kept me in for about 20 years of my life.)
Finally, a series of serious health incidents shook me awake. I have no doubt that God sent them to me as a final wakeup call. Like 'Grandpa' (who seems too young to be one
), I began studying scripture. As God revealed Himself to me through His Word, I grew closer and closer to Him. I have many serious regrets about my life, but I know I have been saved through the blood of Jesus Christ, and I give thanks every day to a loving God who didn't give up on me after I had pretty much given up on Him.
God bless.