Adkins

Chris Adkins Diana Watkins Comp 11 14 March 2013 One Thing I Know From birth, I have been taught the things of God. I was raised in the charismatic church and I went to a Christian private school until about seventh grade. My parents were from the east coast and relocated to Tulsa to attend Rhema Bible Training Center right around the time I was born. They were sold out for God and they made sure their kids were too. I was known as the prayer warrior in our family because of the conviction I prayed with at such a tender age. As a child, people would always tell me that I had a calling on my life and I would be flattered, but I did not know what that meant. I did know that I loved Jesus and everything he had done for me. I did know that I would give my life to him and do whatever he asked me. I did know that He was the most important thing in the universe and that He loved me, so I loved him. However, as I got older the things of the world would lead me astray and I saw what life was like without God. As I grew older, my parents grew further apart. They say now that they were never in love and should have never gotten married, but that is another story. They got a divorce soon after I entered middle school and this immediately gave me more freedom in both households. I wanted more freedom because my dad was very strict and had an authoritarian style of parenting. Therefore, when the divorce happened, I chose to live with my mom. She was less strict. However, because of being hounded with rules all my life without the proper biblical teaching of why the rules were in place, I rebelled. I rebelled not against my parents but against God. It started out somewhat innocently by chasing girls in middle school but it quickly escaladed with every passing year. As I got into my sophomore and junior year in high school, I

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began to rationalize and tell myself that my actions, or my sin, had no effect on my life. I told myself that I could live my life the way I wanted and still do well in sports and the things I cared about. However,I would soon learn that that was a lie, and living a life of sin did have consequences. I was king at my high school. Socially I was at the top of the food chain and physically I was a force to be reckoned with on the football field. I had full scholarship offers by my junior year and I was dating the hottest girl in school. I thought I had life figured out and although I knew Jesus was not pleased with me, I was having too much fun to stop. I was blinded by my life of sin and I had forgotten where I came from. I had forgotten the one who had given me the talent and personality to be successful in life. I see now that all the fun I was having was just the calm before the storm. In my junior year of high school, I was introduced to the world of drugs. First, it was marijuana and before I knew it, I was taking ecstasy. I had no idea how bad or how addictive ecstasy was, so I took it all the time and thought nothing of it. I graduated early from high school my senior year and received a grey shirt scholarship for the university of Tulsa, which meant I would start my college career a semester late. Therefore, I had a entire year to myself. I moved out my house, got an apartment, and spiraled out of control. I was now an addict and everyone else knew it before me. I lost my social status because no one wants to hang around an addict. I lost my girlfriend and could not get another one because classy girls do not like addicts. I found myself alone with no one to lean on. I had turned into the definition of a loser, and it all happened so fast. I had taken so much ecstasy that I was now having trouble speaking and reading. I could have very easily overdosed during this period and I am surprised I did not. When I arrived on TUs campus I was quickly shown the door after being caught with marijuana and

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alcohol. I was broken and I knew without a shadow of a doubt how I got this way. I turned away from God in search of fun and opened the door for devil to destroy my life, and he almost did. One thing I know is that I am nothing without God. I know that everything good in my life comes from him and only him. I know that without a relationship with Jesus I am a drugaddicted loser that will never live up to his potential. If I had not turned back my heart to God and repented of my sins, I would be dead or in prison as clich as that sounds. His love allowed me to experience great pain so that my soul would be saved from hell. I am eternally grateful. Now I know that everything I am hinges on my relationship with Jesus. I cannot function in this life without him, and that is the way I like it.