David’s Story
From a small town I went away to a big city to attend college. My sights were set on high goals – academic, personal achievement, leadership, etc. Religion had always played a role in my goals and I did know Christ as Savior, yet my goals were all about Me, Me, Me and More, More, More.
Pretty quickly I discovered that I could not live up to my own goals, let alone God’s perfect goals and standards. How often I let myself down! In every goal, I didn’t just narrowly miss the mark – I completely “blew it†and became very frustrated. Life was all about me.
My roommate was not a believer. For reasons unknown to me, one day he stopped by a table on campus sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ and filled out a questionnaire inquiring about his desire to know God personally. Soon, an older student involved with Campus Crusade stopped by our dorm room (my roommate was not there at the time) and said, “your roommate filled out this
questionnaire and said he wanted to know how God could make a difference in his life. Since your roommate isn’t here, would you like to hear how God could make a difference in your life?†Being a naïve freshman, I said “sure.â€
The information he gave me that day was profound. This student, Jim, became a faithful friend and mentor to me. Jim was the first person I had met who, when he prayed, seemed to connect with Someone sitting right there in the room with us. He showed me that, when I depend on myself to live the Christian life, I will naturally be frustrated. Yet, when I depend on God through the power of the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life through me, I can experience His forgiveness and joy.
This began a slow process of change for me. From there I began to get involved in Jim’s Bible Study sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ and later as a student went on several missions projects with them.
Upon graduation I joined Campus Crusade in 1992, serving my first year in Czechoslovakia, helping to launch a new university ministry. One atheist student I met there became a Christian years later and now is a missionary with Campus Crusade to help reach his own countrymen! One thing I enjoy about our ministry is seeing how God can bring unique changes to someone’s story to help him or her know Him.
Read more of my story on StorySpot.com – a website I helped develop which helps believers share their personal stories of how Jesus changes lives: http://StorySpot.com/~dhandman
