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Post by Doc on May 22, 2016 23:06:13 GMT -5
One summer, me and a few friends rented a place in Wildwood, NJ...for the summer. Only blocks away from the beach and boardwalk, was such a memorable summer that I'll never forget. So many wild and fun times that summer.
One night though, was different than any other, and I feel I must share.
Let me break it down for you all first though. We were all still young and stupid (20-22years old). There were four of us. Me, my best friend, his cousin and his cousin's best friend. My best friend decided he wanted to sell angel dust on the side, to make some extra cash, so he'd have extra loot to have fun with. He almost filled our entire freezer with that shit. Sure, we fucked around with it a few times ourselves.
Nevertheless, one night, we had the radio on just a tad bit too loud. One of the neighbors called the police on us. They didn't just decide to come and knock on our door, however. They snuck up on the open side window where we were all hanging out at, to hear for themselves what exactly was taking place.
Ironically enough, we were in a debate about Jesus Christ. My friend was an atheist. I told him...Jesus is in my heart, and always has been. Shortly after, they decided to knock at our front door. Two officers, a man and a lady. We let them in for some unknown reason... voluntarily.
Here we are with a freezer full of PCP, enough to get us all put away for quite a bit of time....
The lady cop asks, "Who was the one to say that Jesus always resides in their heart"? Admitted to us they had been listening at the window. I told her that would be me. She responded with admiration, and they left our residence without further complications...just a warning. I don't think that was just coincidence. Never forget that.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2016 1:20:47 GMT -5
The year was 1991. I owned a bar. I drank to much. I got a DUI coming home once after closing the bar. I went to jail. My wife and family was upset. They had an intervention. I went to rehab. I learned about god. I started going to a cool little church that I could walk to. I went to step study and bible study. I was sober for over a year, and still doing my pool route. I had a customer that I did cocaine and beer with for years. He was very rich and always lived in a great house. He lived kind of in the country/outskirts of town. I went to his house and he was leaving. He said, "I'm going to get some beer and coke, I'll be back in half an hour, oh but you can't do that any more". I said, "Oh yes I can, I'll wait for you". Keep in mind I was very much in love with Jesus at the time.(still am). After he drove off, I took my cleaning equipment to his pool. I started to clean the pool. I thought to myself, "I wonder what God thinks of me now" Feeling kind of ashamed I would tell my friend that. So I wondered what God thought of me.
As soon as I thought that, a monarch butterfly landed on my right shoulder. I looked to my right and it was staring me in the eyes. We were having a little stare down. It looked me in the eye and slowly spread its wings to show me its beauty. It was two inches from my face. It slowly did a three sixty and looked me in the eye again. It sat there for a few minutes. I was setting up my vacuum so I started moving a lot. It flew off my shoulder and landed on the end of the diving board. It sat there and watched me clean the pool. When I was done it flew real close to my face and flew off. I went to the edge of the wood deck, and kneeled at the rail and prayed. It was a beautiful view with lots of trees. The wind picked up super super strong. Leaves were blowing everywhere as I prayed. Not one leaf went in the pool. The wind stopped as soon as I stopped praying
I knew right then and there that Jesus loved me. It gives me goose bumps right now to remember and tell that story.
I left before my friend got back with the beer and coke. I will never forget that.
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Post by Doc on May 23, 2016 1:34:26 GMT -5
The year was 1991. I owned a bar. I drank to much. I got a DUI coming home once after closing the bar. I went to jail. My wife and family was upset. They had an intervention. I went to rehab. I learned about god. I started going to a cool little church that I could walk to. I went to step study and bible study. I was sober for over a year, and still doing my pool route. I had a customer that I did cocaine and beer with for years. He was very rich and always lived in a great house. He lived kind of in the country/outskirts of town. I went to his house and he was leaving. He said, "I'm going to get some beer and coke, I'll be back in half an hour, oh but you can't do that any more". I said, "Oh yes I can, I'll wait for you". Keep in mind I was very much in love with Jesus at the time.(still am). After he drove off, I took my cleaning equipment to his pool. I started to clean the pool. I thought to myself, "I wonder what God thinks of me now" Feeling kind of ashamed I would tell my friend that. So I wondered what God thought of me. As soon as I thought that, a monarch butterfly landed on my right shoulder. I looked to my right and it was staring me in the eyes. We were having a little stare down. It looked me in the eye and slowly spread its wings to show me its beauty. It was two inches from my face. It slowly did a three sixty and looked me in the eye again. It sat there for a few minutes. I was setting up my vacuum so I started moving a lot. It flew off my shoulder and landed on the end of the diving board. It sat there and watched me clean the pool. When I was done it flew real close to my face and flew off. I went to the edge of the wood deck, and kneeled at the rail and prayed. It was a beautiful view with lots of trees. The wind picked up super super strong. Leaves were blowing everywhere as I prayed. Not one leaf went in the pool. I knew right then and there that Jesus loved me. It gives me goose bumps right now to remember and tell that story. I left before my friend got back with the beer and coke. I will never forget that. Thank you so much for sharing that story, Craig. Me and you have been friends for years now, but I've never heard that one. Thank you...very inspirational stuff there, NO doubt in my mind.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2016 1:37:29 GMT -5
I've told it before. But not for a long time. You really had to be there to feel what it meant to me. I was talking to God and he was talking to me. NO DOUBT
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Post by Doc on May 23, 2016 1:40:52 GMT -5
I've told it before. But not for a long time. You really had to be there to feel what it meant to me. I was talking to God and he was talking to me. NO DOUBT It's an awesome story, Craig. I'm proud to have you as a friend.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2016 1:42:47 GMT -5
I've had another experience that left me no doubt that the after life and God exist. Which makes it hard for me to deal with people like Saska who are so sure that nothing exists. Dive is an athiest I know, but she doesn't push crap like Saska. Its hard to explain to non believers, when you just know.
My other experience I actually left this place. I was sent back. But that's another story.
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Post by Doc on May 23, 2016 1:53:09 GMT -5
I've had another experience that left me no doubt that the after life and God exist. Which makes it hard for me to deal with people like Saska who are so sure that nothing exists. Dive is an athiest I know, but she doesn't push crap like Saska. Its hard to explain to non believers, when you just know. My other experience I actually left this place. I was sent back. But that's another story. Aghhh....forget about those poster's from other places. Know it all punks still in school and have a LOT to learn still. Experience is the best teacher my friend. They speak from their ass with no experience to back it up. One day they will hopefully see things differently, as we have...through real life experiences. I'll be waiting to hear your next story, hopefully soon...
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Post by packdog on May 23, 2016 9:36:59 GMT -5
i used to be one of those know-it-all atheist types. mostly when i was younger. as i got into my late teens i became more agnostic and lent toward the ever popular eastern mysticism type religions like taoism/buddism/etc.. always nice to be told your divine and it feeds the ego, or as some of them say, The Self. i always talked down toward a good friend of my brother's because of his belief in Christ. also, he was a pretty slimy dude sometimes who i thought was using the religion as a crutch every time he did something terrible. he wasn't and those seeds he planted in me as a teen would bloom later on. there's hope for those kids yet
for inspirational, i have a lot of things in my life that just didn't seem right in retrospect and now i believe it was God protecting me in a way as he knew i would discover the truth and kept me on my path. i was only ever arrested once while i should have been dozens of times. whether i got caught with drugs, booze in the car, drunk in wreck, a fist fight in a bar or school, vandalism, or whatever i always seemed to skate away with a warning or ticket. even the time i did get arrested for a third degree felony i got a sweetheart deal being my first and only offense. i always attributed it to me giving the cops respect and just being honest but it happened so many times. my friends joked with me and called it Lepkow Luck (based on my last name) as they skated away too sometimes if i was with them and we got popped. i never called upon Jesus though until...
2009. i am with scuppers now and not into the criminal activity i was when younger. still had that new agey agnostic belief of enlightenment as a 28 year old man just working his way through school at a later stage in life as that's when the opportunity came for me once things straightened out. i was always a bright but troubled lad ( my report cards in high school would always get the dean to null my suspensions and, because i was on probation from that felony, not involve the school officer the time i got popped by my math teacher with drugs) but now without the trouble i am thriving. on my way to graduating summa cum laude with multiple degrees.
i wanted to write a book. i had a theory that all the creation myths around the world involving a great flood had a singular source. a meteor or comet impacting an ocean could have caused such a flood and left a trail across the earth's sky which could account for a serpent being prevalent in many of those myths. i quickly found there was a good research project on this very thing outta los almos some time back. i was encouraged and kept on with the research. it was a light time for school as it was summer so i continued my research in-deph as the only classes i had were a human variation class for 6 weeks followed by a human evolution class for 6 more weeks.
this is where things started to turn for me. i was confounded in the first class. i knew about evolution and believed it but once i started learning about the evidence beyond the textbook definitions and examples i had questions, which my professor didn't like. i am not gonna give too many examples but one that stood out is how they explain the fossil record of new world primates. could make a better case for bigfoot being a gigantopithicus than they do for the New World primate fossil record
this didn't turn me though and i aced the class but came out feeling like those crazy creationists just need to take some high level classes in the opposite belief to help their case. my myth research would complete the turn. i was looking into the popular theory that Jesus is merely another version of the same astrological story to find parallels with my theory (gotta find new directions from that other research previously done). i quickly found out it was mostly crock research and sourced from 19th century mystics and theosophists (even the famed Joseph Campbell uses some of that garbage for his ideas) with no recourse to primary texts because that would undermine the theory they were laying out. this led me to a historian who debunked the "Jesus is another pagan astrological story" theory very well using the proper historical methods, such as primary texts for support. once that happened it's like i had the eyes to see instantly. all my knowledge in history, science, and religion came together and i knew the truth as my previous beliefs were smashed by good old fashioned learning. i called on Jesus right there and i thought it right to apologize for being so dumb. the evidence is everywhere and available and we humans don't want to see it and will concoct any sort of theory to explain God away. i was guilty of this myself. now it was clear and i believe it was meant to be that way. due to my education, i can explain things a bit different than most Christians because of the path i took and i feel a need to use my niche when i can. now for something really crazy...
i had a supernatural experience that night. i experienced sleep paralysis (common and happens at least once or twice a lifetime for about 80% of people they say) again but this time no terrifying shadow people, old hag or alien (the most common harassers of what science calls an awake REM dream). personally i once saw an alien but my bro would get the old hag, shadow people, and a very evil wile e. coyote of all things. i always believed the scientific explanation. this time however, i was not terrified at all and sitting there not being able to move under a deep calm as i saw what i can only describe as a cloud that looked like when the predator from the movies turns invisible leaving my room. i am pretty sure i expelled an unclean spirit/demon when i came to Christ. the weirdest thing is the next day i recalled a dream that scared me back in January that year. i scared scup when i told her i saw Jesus' face in a dream and all he said was the 13th. that week was a friday the 13th so i thought it was weird but it came and went and me and scup forgot about the dream. 4 months later i became born again and when i checked the date it was May, 13th 2009. He knew it would happen and when
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Post by Jeppers on May 23, 2016 11:30:00 GMT -5
The year was 1991. I owned a bar. I drank to much. I got a DUI coming home once after closing the bar. I went to jail. My wife and family was upset. They had an intervention. I went to rehab. I learned about god. I started going to a cool little church that I could walk to. I went to step study and bible study. I was sober for over a year, and still doing my pool route. I had a customer that I did cocaine and beer with for years. He was very rich and always lived in a great house. He lived kind of in the country/outskirts of town. I went to his house and he was leaving. He said, "I'm going to get some beer and coke, I'll be back in half an hour, oh but you can't do that any more". I said, "Oh yes I can, I'll wait for you". Keep in mind I was very much in love with Jesus at the time.(still am). After he drove off, I took my cleaning equipment to his pool. I started to clean the pool. I thought to myself, "I wonder what God thinks of me now" Feeling kind of ashamed I would tell my friend that. So I wondered what God thought of me. As soon as I thought that, a monarch butterfly landed on my right shoulder. I looked to my right and it was staring me in the eyes. We were having a little stare down. It looked me in the eye and slowly spread its wings to show me its beauty. It was two inches from my face. It slowly did a three sixty and looked me in the eye again. It sat there for a few minutes. I was setting up my vacuum so I started moving a lot. It flew off my shoulder and landed on the end of the diving board. It sat there and watched me clean the pool. When I was done it flew real close to my face and flew off. I went to the edge of the wood deck, and kneeled at the rail and prayed. It was a beautiful view with lots of trees. The wind picked up super super strong. Leaves were blowing everywhere as I prayed. Not one leaf went in the pool. The wind stopped as soon as I stopped praying I knew right then and there that Jesus loved me. It gives me goose bumps right now to remember and tell that story. I left before my friend got back with the beer and coke. I will never forget that. I been waiting to hear that story for 4 years. Nice Craig. Very.
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Post by Jeppers on May 23, 2016 11:40:38 GMT -5
I think I have told this before,maybe on the nfl forums,not sure but...
I had a dream where my wifes cat was sitting in a tree. But the cat wasnt leroy....he was Jesus. He was looking at me with this tremendous amount of love shining through me. I never felt anything.,...anything LIKE IT EVER. It was something humans on earth cannot fathom. I didnt see Jesus face but I felt his presence. I felt like everything was going to be just fine. I think I was unemployed at the time and was going through some depression. Not so much as I wanted to kill myself,,but just didnt want to get up out of bed and when I did I barely left the house. I was only drawing unemployment at the time and felt I was a loser. I had a great career in SC until they closed up the plant I was working at. But after that..I had a bunch of sorry jobs that didnt amount to much of nothing. No career..just jobs. I really felt I had not made much of myself...maybe through no fault of my own,but didnt have a college education and didnt care for one. I also felt I let my kids down when my first marriage did not work out after 14 years of marriage. My kids were very young. 14 and 9.
But that dream I had that night changed everything. I knew that all would be ok...that Jesus loves us all,that he suffered greatly for us,and that hes waiting for us to come home. And I also knew that the world we live in is not for our souls but for our brains and heart.
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Post by Doc on May 23, 2016 19:48:46 GMT -5
Very cool story packdog. I appreciate you sharing it with us.
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Post by Doc on May 23, 2016 21:14:46 GMT -5
I think I have told this before,maybe on the nfl forums,not sure but... I had a dream where my wifes cat was sitting in a tree. But the cat wasnt leroy....he was Jesus. He was looking at me with this tremendous amount of love shining through me. I never felt anything.,...anything LIKE IT EVER. It was something humans on earth cannot fathom. I didnt see Jesus face but I felt his presence. I felt like everything was going to be just fine. I think I was unemployed at the time and was going through some depression. Not so much as I wanted to kill myself,,but just didnt want to get up out of bed and when I did I barely left the house. I was only drawing unemployment at the time and felt I was a loser. I had a great career in SC until they closed up the plant I was working at. But after that..I had a bunch of sorry jobs that didnt amount to much of nothing. No career..just jobs. I really felt I had not made much of myself...maybe through no fault of my own,but didnt have a college education and didnt care for one. I also felt I let my kids down when my first marriage did not work out after 14 years of marriage. My kids were very young. 14 and 9. But that dream I had that night changed everything. I knew that all would be ok...that Jesus loves us all,that he suffered greatly for us,and that hes waiting for us to come home. And I also knew that the world we live in is not for our souls but for our brains and heart. Thanks for sharing that with us, Jeff.
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Post by Doc on Aug 19, 2016 11:20:21 GMT -5
There are signs everywhere of God's presence in our lives, but when our faith is in a weakened state, it's easy to overlook them. I know there are people here who don't believe in God. I'm not trying to push views on anyone. I just find this type of stuff to be truly moving, and amazing. Makes me re-evaluate my actions, and who I am as a person.
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