Ever since I was a little kid I was raised under the beliefs that there is a God, a devil, angels, demons and a God-like man named Jesus Christ. When you are a child and you are learning things for the first time, it’s very easy to accept them as factual. Heck, most of us will believed in tooth-fairies, Easter Bunnies, Santa, Leprechauns, etc. So God was another one of these extraordinary faucets that exist.
In elementary school (I believe it was 3rd or 4th grade) I learned about the Holocaust. I found it impossible to believe we had a God who loved us or gave a damn about us if something that terrible could actually happen. The worst mental images I received were those of thousands of Jewish people being placed in over-sized stoves… alive.
While all I needed was that one horrific example of evil and torture to dismiss the possibility of “God” or at least the one that most of the prominent ones in America worship, I would come to learn about many more tragedies that have had extreme and terrible impacts on people, as well as other creatures on Earth. There are so many nightmares now and in the past that I don’t even need to go into this, as we all know plenty about them. To me it was a no-brainer. A loving God cant exist, and possibly no “God” at all.
That opinion began to not be so concrete anymore. In 4th and 5th grade, predominately 5th grade, an invisible visitor would manipulate things in my room. Generally it would, in what seemed like a furious rage, slam my door so hard it shook the room. This happened quite frequently. No, there were no windows open, no one else would be around, my dog would be sleeping on a couch…. you get the idea.
On one occasion it blew up my lego collection from under my bed. Legos shot out in every direction with incredible force, scared the shit out of me! My bed is too low to the ground for my dog (Blaze was my dog at the time) to have gotten under there, much less any family member.
Another instance included my blankets thrashing on top of me (I slept on the bottom. At this point in time my brother had his own room downstairs and the top one was unoccupied… unless by this ghost of sorts haha). I remained relaxed and calm and the thrashing came to a halt pretty quickly, probably after only 6 seconds or so.
The most convincing story experience I had with this supernatural being was my last experience with it. I was in 5th grade, laying on my stomach doing math homework when my mother walked in and cranked open my large window, suggesting I should get some fresh air in there as it was a very nice day outside. My mother and I were the only two in the house. She proceeded to head downstairs, open the door that leads to the garage and shut it with her on the other side. That exact moment I heard rapid squeaking right above my head, coming from the window. Sure enough when I looked up my window was closed tight. All of my other incidents with this “ghost” occurred at night so even I was skeptical as to whether or not I was dreaming this stuff up. When that happened though, while I was wide awake and immediately following an specific action (my mother exiting the home leaving just me there), I knew it was real. This crank window can not be pushed shut, for it would break. There wasn’t much wind that day, something had cranked it shut with exceptional speed above my head and it wasn’t something visible to the naked eye. I had a ghost in my house.
I casually got up and went into the garage and told my mom about what had just happened. She was pretty relaxed about it too, as this “ghost” has never attacked or really hurt any of us. Trying to decipher what the closing of the window may have meant, one hypothesis was that it was symbolizing it’s departing from the house. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is just a coincidence, but that was the last time I experienced anything supernatural in my home.
My comet story (described in another blog post) could also have been affiliated with a supernatural event. It was almost as if something communicated to me to drop my toys and sprint over to the window and open the blinds. The instant this happened I saw a comet flying through the night sky.
What does all of this mean? What is the true significance of a supernatural world to me? It is the fact that it opens up doors to other possibilities, such as a God, a Devil, Angels, Demons, etc. The way I looked at it was, if there can be invisible entities throwing legos, slamming doors and cranking windows shut… there could be a God.
Fast forward to my junior year in high school. I was riding my bike at my local (and small) skatepark when all of a sudden I felt like packing up and going for a random cruise. I drove through Centerville and up 20th Ave. I came across a large building that had been under construction for some time, a fairly new Church building. Eagle Brook Church, Lino Lakes Campus.
I figured what the heck, it’s been years since I’ve been to a church. I walk in and check the place out. I love adventure, exploration, seeing new things. Low and behold, right as I was walking in a service was just beginning. I walked up to the front row and participated in my first non-denominational church service. I was blown away! This place was so different from the Catholic Church I was used to (years before) and felt like I really connected. After the service I went up front to receive some prayer and the people up there who spoke/prayed with me were none-other than Krista T’s (She got married so I forget her current last name) parents! She was a girl I had classes with in elementary school and I had met her parents a few times during field trips.
The odds of everything falling into place like it did and so spontaneously… kind of reminds me of the comet story. Almost as though something possibly communicated for me to get in my van and drive there at that instant.
I’ll try and wrap this up as I’m at my overnight gig and want to head back home to work on my photography I need to get to my clientele. I may even revisit this blog post and add more to it.
Over the next few years I began seeing and feeling connections between extraordinary events, the name Jesus Christ, God and the Bible. True, Jesus or Christ are not the names used in the Bible but simply how we have translated them (From what I’ve observed Yeshua [Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ] and eeaysoos [Greek Iησοῦς] are apparently his actual name(s) written during his lifetime on Earth as a human ).
I used logic. First off, being that there are invisible creatures there is more to life and physics than what what simply can be seen (and most likely scientifically observed). So what are these invisible things? What are they affiliated with? After seeing actions and reactions with the name Jesus Christ, prayer, the Bible, God, etc. I concluded that, despite all of the horrific evils of the world, despite all of the doubt so many people have, despite how crazy it is to believe in Him after everything that goes on (and doesn’t go on), He still is the most logical explanation.
From there I went on to further my Christ following endeavors by reading in the Bible, doing a Bible study (even leading one. Really enjoyable! Would love to do it again someday), doing some Christian Conferences, etc. Century College and the Christian movement there played a big role in the growing of my faith.
Each of those topics listed in the paragraph above could make for loads of great blogs, so I may do that at some point.
Don’t get me wrong, I still have many doubts about God, Christ, the Bible, etc. from time to time. Sometimes it’ll be a longer season than others in which I struggle with my faith, but I never fail to pray to God and attempt to include Him in my daily life. I apologize regularly to Him for things I do, say, or neglect to do or say.
Anyway, in a super shortened summary of how supernatural (and potentially supernatural) events led me to believe in Christ, God, that the Bible is a holy book etc…. There you go.