Tommy House
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Tommy House's Story
Don't Just Jump on the BandWagon
I didn't want to become a Christian just because several of my friends were.
Have you ever had a decision to make and found it too excruciating, so you just put it off and try to forget about it? I sure have. I have always been a hesitant person. I hate making rash decisions and I hate jumping on the bandwagon. This applies in everything from something as frivolous as clothing to something as important as major life decisions. I always like to know exactly what I am doing before I get myself into anything.
Because of this, I am often behind in making decisions. Deciding where to go to college, or at least enough to tell people where I was going, took forever. I didn't want to go to Alabama just because that is where my parents went or just because that is where my friends were going. I wanted to want to go Bama. It also was a grueling process to decide if I wanted to pledge a fraternity. I didn't want to pledge just because that was the cool thing to do. I wanted it to be right for me. This hesitance, or fear of just jumping on the bandwagon, has drawn out many of my decisions.
I have had this tendency for as long as I can remember. The most serious time this affected me was back in elementary school, when I first began to hear the true Gospel. Many of my friends began to make commitments to Christ as young children, and I was somewhat pressured into it. But I resisted, and never made that commitment because I didn't understand. Just as many situations in my life, I wasn't sure, and I didn't want to do it just because everyone else was.
So my life continued on. Growing up in a good church and a good Christian family, I had a head knowledge of the truth of God's word, but I was not mature enough to grasp it. I was a moral kid. I did everything I was supposed to do. I was also a typical over-achieving kid, because that is what I got my satisfaction in. If I had not realized what the truth of the Gospel offered to me, I would have kept living for myself, accomplishing this and that, for the glory of myself. A person can not go on forever being moral on his own effort. Soon, something would give.
As a young teenager, I changed schools and I had a hard time. I found myself behind in school and not feeling an acceptance that I was used to. I did all that I knew to do, all that I used to do so well, but it didn't work. I was still the good moral kid, but I was broken.
I was drawn back to the bandwagon that I once avoided as a kid, years ago. I finally understood it. It wasn't about me. It was about Him. I was looking in the wrong places for acceptance; true satisfaction only comes from God. Finally, I had a grasp on God's love for me and his desire to have a personal relationship with me. I began to understand that, even though I was moral, my life was full of sin, or, simply, things that keep me separated from God. That kept me from experiencing God's love. It was time for me to respond to what I had heard years ago. I had learned that the only way to get over sin and get to God is through Christ. So at that point, I made a commitment to Christ. I acknowledged his love and plan for my life.
Since then, my life has been different. Not a radical conversion, like some people experience. I was never into drugs, or sex, or anything like that. But none the less, my life was drastically different. I do not mean that the next morning I woke up ready to conquer the world with my new found confidence. Personalities don't change. Perspectives and goals do, however. As I began to grow as a Christian, through the Word and other Christians, I started to realize how I could use my natural strengths and abilities to glorify God, not myself. If I am successful, it is His work through me, and He deserves the glory. If I fail, I now understand that Christ has taken all the punishment. "But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed!"
Don't get the impression that life is perfect now. I have my struggles. I still fail miserably. God is constantly showing me where I fall short. But a true relationship with Christ gives me, and everyone else who has acknowledged Him, joy. Not a happy-go-lucky joy that first comes to mind, but joy in a sense of consistency and hope of what is to come!