Throughout my teenage years I was primarily concerned with gaining peer acceptance. Because of this, I began to drink beer and vodka and smoke marijuana. I received some pleasure from this, but the "highs" didn't last. Like all teens I was trying to see where I fit in, but nothing I did brought any real fulfillment.
When I was 16, I attended a Christmas Eve Service with some friends. A year later I began sneaking out to church. Then a friend invited me to a Bible Study where we watched a movie about Yeshua (Jesus). It declared that Yeshua was the Jewish Messiah, His first followers were Jewish, and they continued living as Jews after putting their faith in Him. I was so captivated by this that I accepted my friend's invitation to read the New Testament. While I was very excited about reading the Bible, I was also scared. What would my parents do if they found it? I was worried about this so I told my parents about my desire to read the Bible. My parents told me that they were against me reading it, but since I would be leaving for college in a few months they felt they no longer could tell me what I could or couldn't do. As far I am concerned, this is a miracle; this is completely uncharacteristic of my parents. I started reading the New Testament every day and found it to be a Jewish book. I then read the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and saw that Yeshua really did fulfill the Messianic Prophecies. During this time, I began to follow Yeshua myself.
When I shared all this with my Priest, his advice was to hold off telling my parents. He was certain that they would disown me if they found out. He suggested I continue sneaking out to church until I went away to college. This was good advice and I followed it. During my last semester at college my parents asked about my future plans. I knew the time had come to tell them about my faith and that God was calling me into full-time ministry. When I told my parents they wept and told me that this was the worst thing I could ever do to them. I'll never forget that day as long as I live. After returning to college, I received a phone call from my parents. They told me that the rabbi wanted to see me. My rabbi sent me to a deprogrammer. I met with him for several hours with my parents and sister, and then again with two rabbis for a full day of deprogramming. During the next several months, I had weekly discussions with one of the rabbis over the phone. Because I had read through the Bible each of the last three years I was able to make it through several months of deprogramming. My parents didn't disown me, but they gave it some serious thought. My relationship with them was very strained, but God brought us through it.
Since coming to faith in Yeshua I have experienced God's love, joy and peace in my life. I know that Yeshua was telling the truth when He said that He has come that we might have life, and life more abundantly (or ‘til it overflows) (John 10:10). I also found Paul to be right when he said that he was willing to count all things loss (family, friends, job, popularity, etc ...) when compared to the surpassing value of knowing Messiah Yeshua my Lord (Philippians 3:8). I pray that you have too.
In Yeshua, |
