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1.

Introduction

I’ve been pondering for awhile on how I should begin. There are so many different ways for me to start, you’d think that I could choose one. Most of these ways are much too common and overly used. I want my introduction to be unique. And consequently, I ponder.

Still with me? Good. Then allow me to introduce myself. My name is Curtis Steinbacher. Most people, including my family and friends, however, refer to me as simply Curtis. I think I’ll tell you a little bit about myself…. Later. The one thing that I will tell you now, however, is that I am 17. If you do the math you will find that that is 2 less than 19, 3 more than 14, and I will be 68 in 51 years. The significance? None. However, being 17 I can only give you the perspective of what a 17 year old thinks. Or of course, what anyone younger than a 17 year old thinks.

Now being 17 isn’t easy. Teenagers, such as myself, are bombarded with obstacles, challenges, and decisions that attempt to make our lives more difficult every single day. And on top of all that, I’ve noticed a pattern. Since I was about 12 I’ve noticed that my life seems to become more difficult as I grow older. And using my reasoning skills I can only assume that my life will only continue to become more difficult. School, parents, relationships, and jobs all add to the stress of my life, or rather to the difficultly of it. There is, on the other hand, a way of overcoming life’s obstacles, challenges, and decisions.

“God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.”

-Psalms 46:1

And that’s the solution. God.

Now what I’m going to say next is not the easiest thing to explain, but bear with me, it will all make sense later. For the last couple of years I’ve come to know this feeling of no worries. It’s a feeling that no matter what life brings I’m ready to say, “Jesus, let’s do this.” Yet, I haven’t actually felt this feeling first hand. I’ve only come to know it by seeing it in others and desiring it for myself. I’ve come to know what it is and of course that such a thing exists. But, I’m not there yet. And my goal is to help you along with myself reach that point, that oneness with Jesus Christ, which no difficulty that life brings can touch.

2.

Realization

I can remember not too long ago, when my pastor gave a sermon about gambling. But, it wasn’t gambling with money in some Las Vegas casino. He was talking about gambling with our lives, and more specifically, our eternal lives. Now he branched off into a lot of sub topics as usual. His main point, however, stuck in my mind. It was probably because he was describing me. People, for one reason or another, often push God aside. I’m not just referring to non-Christians. Some Christians are especially guilty of this. Take me for example. Yeah I’m a Christian, but when it came to calling on God, it seemed as though I only did it when I needed help, or I was in trouble, or I wanted something. Now that’s not wrong to only call on God when we need him to do something, but think about how he must feel. It seems to me that most of us need something drastic to happen in our lives for us to call on God. God, however, gives us individual attention every second of the day, just waiting for us to talk to him or to call on him. In the meantime though, we can find ourselves growing farther apart and separating from Him.

So, why do we do it? Why do we live our lives so close to the edge, especially since there is so much at stake? It’s simple really. Most of us just don’t understand what it is that’s at stake. Sometimes it takes something as drastic as losing a loved one to make us really evaluate our lives. We need to understand that eternity is forever.

Picture this. You need to make one lap around a track. That one lap represents the length of your life here on earth. Now, imagine setting a treadmill at the starting line of the track. You have to run on that treadmill until you get around one whole lap. Impossible? Of course it is. That lap that you will never achieve represents eternity. The best way to understand eternity, however, is not through an analogy, but rather just to stop and think about it. Eternity is forever, never ending, everlasting, and interminable. When you think about it that way, it makes our life here on earth seem rather insignificant. What’s most important is that the choices, or rather the choice that you make during this insignificant life is so significant that eternity depends on it.

Now the point to all of this is simple. I want you to realize that most of the worries that we have are petty ones. Schoolwork, quarrels with parents (which I’ll get to later), relationships that we probably don’t need (which I will also get to later), and jobs are all examples of unimportant obstacles that we simply have to overcome.

When you think about just how long and important eternity is, it can make the math quiz that you just failed seem a little less important then we tend to make it. Now I’m not saying go blow off your schoolwork like it means nothing, or life in general for that matter. This is a bit of a side bar. Believe it or not, God wants you to do well in school.

“And whatever you do,

whether in word or deed,

do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God the Father.”

-Colossians 3:17

Ok, here’s a little thing that I like to do when things just don’t seem to be going my way. I like to think about heaven. I like to think about what it might look like with its streets of gold and smiling faces everywhere. Now I’ve grown up in Pennsylvania where we experience a fair share of all four seasons. Right now it’s autumn, and one of my favorite things to do during this time of the year is to take a walk through the woods. I think it’s absolutely gorgeous. My point is, if this earth can be pretty itself, just imagine what heaven will look like. Heaven is going to be more beautiful than we can imagine. However, despite all of Heaven’s beauty, it’s not what I’m most looking forward to. I’m looking forward to that first opportunity when I will be able to see Jesus, when I’ll be able to hug him and thank him and praise him for what he did for me. So go ahead, think about heaven. Think about meeting Jesus.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,

but on what is unseen.

For what is seen is temporary,

But what is unseen in eternal.”

3.

My Testimony, and Yours

I’m sure that you’ve heard the story of Saul. Well, if you haven’t, you’re going to read a brief version of it now. Saul was a religious man. He tried his best to do what he thought was the will of God. However, Saul didn’t quite have all of his nuts screwed on tightly. He persecuted Christians, destroyed churches, and rejected Jesus as the Christ. In Acts, while Saul was taking the road to Damascus (There is a song about that), God spoke to him and said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Saul was then sent to Damascus where he spent several days with the disciples. Immediately, Saul, now called Paul, began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God. Paul was also the writer of Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and 10 other books of the bible. (How would that look on a resume?)

The point? Can you imagine the testimony that Paul would be able to tell. He rejected Jesus completely and even killed his followers, yet became one of Jesus’ most faithful servants! So do we really need to be completely transformed from cigarette smoking, tattoo wearing, shoplifting punk teenagers to have a testimony like Paul’s? Well, probably. But, I guess the real question should be do we need to have a testimony like Paul had to have the most impact on others?

Now for me, I come from a family which kept an eye on me morally. There was to be no lying, swearing, or even rudeness in my house, or anywhere for that matter. I’m not saying that I didn’t participate in any of those actions, because like everyone, I made my share of mistakes. My point is, it would have been quite hard for me to hide from my parents the fact that I had been out drinking for example. So stuff like that, I never attempted. Of course I had and still have my flaws, but none of them really seem too terrible. It would be hard for me to say that my life had been transformed completely.

You’re probably asking yourself, “when is he going to answer the question?” Well, the answer is of course not. Now you’re probably asking yourself, “What was the question?” Generally speaking, do we really have to have the most extreme life change as we possibly can to have the greatest influence in leading others to Jesus? The answer (once again) is of course not. Now granted, sometimes it is pretty amazing to hear just how much some lives have changed, but believe it or not, a testimony like mine can be just as effective. Because, believe it or not, some people think that living a semi-decent life, along with going to church is enough to get into heaven. Even hearing an extreme testimony such as that of Paul, is not enough to convince him or her otherwise. Some people need to hear a testimony from someone who has gone through the same things as that person may be going through for it to actually click. Just pray. Ask God how you can use your testimony to lead others to Jesus. He has a plan… for my testimony, and yours, just as he did for Paul.