The Tornado That Changed My Life
Today is #WorldEvangelismDay (to learn more about it, click here). On this day, Christians are encouraged to share their testimony. Here is my story. Below is a lightly edited manuscript.
February of 1998— I was four years old, living in Kissimmee, Florida. On the night of the 22nd and the early morning hours of the 23rd, there was a tornado outbreak. This became the deadliest tornado event in Florida history. There were seven tornadoes, 42 people died, over 100 others were injured, and of course there was all kinds of property damage. Since most of the activity happened overnight, there were a lot of people who didn't have any warning, and many of the casualties were people who were asleep and didn't know what was going on until it was too late.
As a four-year-old living in the city where most of the devastation occurred, I heard about the event after the fact. The idea that a tornado had touched down and devastated a neighborhood nearby where my family and I lived—that was a scary thought for me. And so, even at this young age, I started thinking about death. And I asked my mom, “If that tornado had come by our house, and I had died, where would I have gone?”
My parents are devout Christians, and devout churchgoers, so my mom knew the theological answer to that question: when you die, you go either to heaven or to hell. But she didn't know how to answer me personally. Because of my age, my parents didn't know whether I would understand, and whether I would be accountable before God if I didn't understand.
But that question, “Where would I have gone?” began a discussion over the next several weeks, on and off, about what Christians call “the gospel.” Now that word “gospel” literally means “good message,” or you could say “good news”—so, it's the good news about Jesus Christ. And as my parents began to explain this good news to me, I started asking questions, trying to understand everything about it, and it came to the point where my mom said something to the effect of, “Look you don't have to understand everything. The Christian life is a journey, and you will increase in your understanding as you go.” But she did tell me what I needed to know right off the bat, which is summed up in the verse John 3:16. That verse says:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
The background, the idea behind that verse, is that all of us human beings are sinners. We've sinned, and because of our sin, we are separated from God. Sin is anything that we do that is disobedient to God, that displeases Him. So if you lie, if you steal, if you worship a false god, if you covet something that someone else has, if you dishonor your parents—anything that we do that displeases God, that is contrary to His holy, perfect moral nature, that's sin. And because God is holy and perfect, unholiness and imperfection cannot even be in His presence. For that reason, and because we've all sinned, we were separated from God. And that separation is death. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. So if you've sinned, then you deserve to die. That's the payment; that's the penalty. And that death includes physical death, but it also includes spiritual and eternal death. So after you've died physically, that separation from God will continue forever in God's prison, which is hell.
So that's the background behind that verse John 3:16, but the verse starts, “For God so loved the world.” So even though the world has sinned against God and is therefore separated from Him, God still loves the world. And He loves the world such that He gave to the world His own Son.
God's Son is Jesus Christ. He is God in the flesh; He's God who became a human being. He was put into his mother's womb by the Holy Spirit, and He was born of a virgin. And Jesus lived a life without sin. He’s the only human who was ever able to do that because He is the only human who is also God. And He taught His teachings, He did His miracles, and because of His teachings and because of His miracles, the religious leaders of the day hated Him. And so they falsely accused Him and got Him sentenced to death, and He was executed by crucifixion. And in that moment when he was on the cross dying, He took all of the sins of those who would believe in Him on Himself. So it was as if He had committed those sins, and by dying He paid the penalty for them, and all of those sins died with Him.
Then, three days later, He came back to life. So if His death was Him signing the check to pay for our sins, His resurrection was the check clearing. It verified and validated that His death accomplished what He said it would. And also, it indicates that those who believe in Him also have new life; they're spiritually born again. And in the end of times when all of us are physically resurrected, those who believe in Him—as John 3:16 says—will not perish but have eternal life. They they would have gone to hell, they deserve to go to hell, but they will not, and instead they will go to be in the presence of God, which they could not have done before. Now, eternal life is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It’s something that begins now, and it affects everything about our lives, and then it continues forever after death in paradise with Him.
Now, my parents didn't explain it all quite like that, but they did explain it in a way that my four-year-old self could understand, and I did. I got the message. And I can remember that I was sitting on our living room couch with my mom as she led me in a prayer to give my life to Jesus. It's not a prayer that saves anyone. All of this good news, this eternal life, this relationship with God through Jesus Christ, which is the purpose of our existence—that is given as a free gift to anyone who simply believes it and stakes their life on it. And so that's what is key, and that's what was happening for me in that moment. And that moment became the defining moment of my life, because I was born again. And now my life is about pursuing God's will for me.
And in that regard, I fail a lot. But I know that when I fail, when I sin, I’m forgiven in Christ, and I can see that the trajectory of my life is toward God's purposes and God's pleasure. And I talk with God and God talks with me—not audibly, but in his Word (the Bible) and in my spirit. So I have this relationship with God, which is called eternal life. And my life is about living out this faith with fellow believers, and inviting others into it. So, if you are not a believer and a follower of Jesus, and you're still watching this video, then I believe it's for a purpose. I believe you were meant to hear this message, and you're meant to hear this question—the same question that I asked my mother those many years ago: if something were to happen to you, and you died tonight, where would you go?
“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
