The Hope We Have
What we Believe
CHUCK SLOCUM - February 8, 2007
All of my life I would wonder about heaven. I had plenty of ideas of how to get there and plenty more about death. I thought at one time that there is a set number of sins that could be commited and then death would occur. Hi, I am Chuck. This is how Christ set me free from the law of sin and death.
My parents usully worked two and three jobs so it was uncommon for us to make it to a church service on a regular basis. After a while I would rather have played baseball or watch wrestling than go to church, but there was still a question I had and I had no real good answer. What did it take to get to heaven. I would think about this at night, trying to bargain with God to keep me alive. I was so scared of death as a child.
One night it was worrying me to the point that I could not sleep. I chased down my mother who was in the laundry room and she presented the gospel. She told me about Jesus dying for me and that if I asked Him into my heart I would be saved. Although I did feel better after my mother told me these things, I still did not understand the faith aspect of salvation. I did not think about it for quite a while after this.
While in Jr. high and during my freshman year of high school, the gang culture was the in thing for the tough guys. My idols were the gangster rap stars that wore the dew-rags. Everything in my life revolved around being a gang member. I thought it gave me a purpose and a since of belonging. That was the prize of my life at that time. I wanted to be a part of something that was greater than myself. I sought after this in the gang culture for several years until I started football my sophmore year of highschool.
During this time I still was not sure of my salvation. Football then became what my life focus was. It was a good experience and did keep me out of the grave and/or prison, but I made this the center of my being. This became the reason I was living. This gave me a since of belonging and I felt I was part of something greater than myself. That year we went 1-9 for the season.
My junior year had a lot of promise. We came out shooting in the jamboree and the first regular season game with victories. The next team was a team that usually has a dominant prescence in the area. We won.
The next night my mother was out of town so me and the boys had a party.
In the middle of the party a friend called. I had not heard from her in some time, since she moved to another the school that year. We had some small talk and then the hammer came down. She told me she had accepted Jesus a few days before. She voiced her concern about my salvation and asked me if I was saved. I got off the phone as quickly as I could and blew out a big sigh of relief. " I have no idea where that came from", l thought. She called back a few seconds later and we discussed it a little more.
I was looking for an answer to a lot of different questions. Sports, gangs, alcohol were all things I used to give my life a sense of meaning. But I was tired of that. I wanted another life. I wanted to start over and I knew that Jesus would give me that start and He would forgive me. I truly trusted Him that night, and like so many my story does not end here.
I went through a stage where I was on fire for Jesus. This is the time when my emotions were high and I was ready to win the world for Christ. As a new convert I was going to church everytime the doors were open - but it was like sitting at a table and recieving no food to sustain me. It was not long that I was out of the habit of going to church and all of a sudden confusion set in. Why is the church not anything like I read about in the Bible? It was not long that I had a new passion. This time it was coaching football. This became my obsession was the only thought on my mind for the next year after my graduation. I would later lose my scholarship and be forced to drop out of school.
There I was. No work experience besides two years of bagging groceries, no income, no degree, and bills starting to come in. At that time a friend took me in and told me about the walk in way I have never heard before. He said it is not emotional ups and downs that give followers of Christ purpose, it is about walking with Jesus.
About a year later something interesting happend. I had a call on my life. This was a call to commit to service. A call to God. As many young people do I made a public profession to the ministry not really understanding ministry. I thought it was about preaching and leading worship. I started to preach and I was a living horror with a brilliant cover. It was all about me and the praise I would recieve. It had nothing to do with seeking the Lord rather it was about how smart and gifted I could sound. It was about proving my anointing to the world and having my name blasted all over billboards and number one seller list. It was about me.
Guess what... what goes up must come down. I was fired from my job and there I was again. Same situation as two years before. I made a move to Arkansas. There I met a family that took me in and should me a much deeper walk. I walk that consisted of loving people and speaking truth. A commitment to Jesus. That is it. Not to Jesus first but to Jesus only. I learned over the last few years that Jesus should be the center piece to our life, not simply one of our lives. There is not a family life, spiritual life, church life, financial life, and all the other lives that we read about in most christian literature but only one life that should be given to Jesus for His glory.
"While I was among you I resolved to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified", said a follower of Jesus name Paul almost 2000 years ago. God used that scripture to show me what ministry is. It is simply showing people Jesus not showing them your talents. He may use them, but I also remeber that God used a stuttering old man to speak on behalf of Isreal. I learned in with this that in our weakness His strength is made perfect. "The call" is a call to surrender your life to His will.
My life is only made perfect by the blood of Jesus Christ. My life only has meaning in Jesus Christ.
Chuck
Find out more about Jesus and how He can change your life HERE.
Read other stories of people whose lives He has changed HERE.
Crosspurposes note: As in all stories on this website, Crosspurposes has striven to permit the writer to express his personal perspective on his relationship with Christ. Because many of us come to Christ from very different religious backgrounds, we often have different perspectives on the working of God in our lives. But we believe that the basic message of salvation through faith in Christ, and the resulting work of grace in our lives transcends religion. Where you grew up in church, and how you talk about it, is irrelevant to the issue of whether you have a real relationship with Jesus. The only thing that determines whether you have a true relationhip with God is whether you have a place you can point to in your life at which God called you to repentance and to acceptance of Jesus, and whether you responded "I believe" in spirit and in truth.
A noted follower of Jesus, Paul, wrote:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 2:8-10