We met in high school. Before that, I had heard other people talk about him, and I knew of him, but I never knew him.
When a mutual friend introduced us, I was a bit intimidated. He had it all -- charisma, humor, confidence. He was inspirational and intriguing. In his presence I felt like a crumb next to a gourmet meal. My intimidation didn't last long though.
He quickly included me into his life. We talked all the time. He encouraged me and told me how special I am to him. He expressed concern for all aspects of my life.
I stayed up nights just thinking about how he had already begun to change my life. I also spent some nights talking with him until the night became day. Before long I found myself falling in love with him.
He gave me exotic gifts. They were so incredible that they didn't even compare to my ex-boyfriend's flowers. One time, just before my junior year of high school, he took me to Guatemala with him.
We spent lots of time together enjoying each other's company. The natives who met him immediately fell in love with him too. I kept thinking how delighted I was that my other friend had introduced me to the neatest man ever to walk the earth.
Years passed like the second hand on a clock, and before long I was applying to colleges. We had become inseparable to the point that he came to college with me. I wouldn't have had it any other way.
When we got to college, I met strangers who knew him. Of course we immediately bonded. We became like a family. Sometimes a whole group of us would gather and our conversation would inevitably focus on him. He is the highlight of my life, the star of the morning. He hung the moon.
Unfortunately, some don't accept him. They often mock me for associating with him. People accuse him of being a fraud or say that I am too dependent on him.
They say that I should think for myself rather than adopt his philosophies as my own. But the truth is, I cannot take this man, Jesus Christ, out of my life. That would be like separating the flour from the yeast in a loaf of bread.
Before my friend introduced me to him, I spent my whole life living for myself. I hoped to please him by bringing cookies to nursing homes and going to church. Those things just didn't impress him. He wanted me to get to know him, spend time with him and allow him to become the love of my life.
So I did. I accepted his death -- a brutal, barbaric death -- as a payment for the all the times I have messed up.
See, he knew I would never be perfect, so he took my place. Rather than me spending eternity in hell separated from him, never able to be close to him, he grabbed me by the heart, drew me close into a relationship with him and gave me citizenship in heaven.
If you don't know my best friend, the lover of our souls, if you want your passport to read that you are a citizen of heaven, I invite you to meet him. His name is Jesus. He will love you despite where you've been or what you've done. He wants to know you. Come.
"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3
Copyright 2000 EveryStudent.comStuden. Used with permission.
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