My Christian Life

Just recently, my son and daughter finished a season of basketball and cheerleading through an unbelievable sports program called Upward and was being put together by a local church. Upward’s mission statement is “To introduce children to Jesus Christ by creating opportunities to serve through sports.”. The program is for children in K5 through 6th grade for both boys and girls.

My son played in the basketball program and my daughter was a cheerleader and they really enjoyed themselves and was a great opportunity for them to learn more about Christ and also to learn about teamwork and self-esteem. In this program, winning is achieved in a different way than most sports programs promote. Score is not kept and the children gain iron-on stars through both practices and the games they put on their sleeves. The stars given out in practice are for learning a weekly Bible verse and reciting it together. The game stars are handed out after each game and have different colors that represent “best offense”, “most improved”, “most spirited” and things like that. Every child receives a star. Also, each week during practice, the kids gather around their coaches and have a devotional and prayer time.

All in all I think it was a great program and I know the children enjoyed it as well. I’m not against the normal sports programs that are available in our area as both of my children have participated in Soccer and Tee-ball. However, having the chance for them to play sports and learn about Jesus is just a blessing for us.

If you would like more information about Upward, visit their site by clicking here.

Below are several pictures from this past season…

I have often wondered what the big hype about blogs were. Until recently, I have never even contemplated starting a blog let alone sharing my thoughts to anyone other than my wife or family. Throughout my many years on the internet, both as a viewer and one who builds sites, I have found that most people write their blogs about the things they love or whatever hobbies they might have. I began thinking about the year that had passed since I first became a Christian and I believe now with all my heart that God has called me to share this new wonderful life with all of you here on this blog.

I vaguely remember going to church at a young age but like a lot of kids, I stopped going at some point mostly because my parents did not go or I thought I had found “better” things to do with my time. In December of 2006, I stepped back into a church for the first time in at least 25 years (well, aside from getting married and other sporadic functions). I was like a lot of people that would not let Jesus into their hearts. I was stubborn in the ways of the world and easily accepted what I had always been taught growing up with other non-Christian peers. Thankfully, I soon found that the Lord had blessed me with a wonderful Minister (Kirby Lloyd) at East End Christian Church who showered my wife and I with kindness and the knowledge needed to start taking the steps toward my new life as a Christian.

After a few months of attending church regularly with my wife, we both felt in our hearts that we should repent of our sins to Jesus, accept him into our hearts and be baptised. Before I had gone to church for those few months and truly learned what sin was, I had thought I was living a pretty good life. After all, I had not murdered anyone or really done any bad things to anyone. I quickly found out that I had plenty of repenting to do for the things that I had done over the years. Personally, I found this step the hardest because it puts things in perspective on how you have lived your “old” life. Shortly after we had repented of our sins, my wife and I came forward during invitation at the next Sunday morning service and accepted Jesus as our one and only Savior publicly in front of the congregation. We were then baptised later that night on February 11, 2007, which just also happened to be our son’s 5th birthday. Thus began our “new” life cleansed of all our sins and with Jesus in our hearts.