A Mall Rat Accepts Jesus

It was the summer between the 6^th and 7^th grades (if I recall correctly, lol) And I went over to my best friend’s house.  He got some money from his dad and we went a couple blocks down to the mall.  That seemed to be the thing to do back in those days.  Everyone went and hung out at the mall.  We’d spend our time hanging out in the food court, going over to the arcade, skateboarding outside, and the general drama that seemed to follow the new teen years (mostly involving girls). 

This particular day there did not seem to be much going on at the mall.  No one was really around so my friend and I just wandered around for a bit.  When we got over by the food court, we learned why it was probably not to very happening that day.  There was some weird guy hanging out down near the food court.  He was a bit loud and his voice cut through the normal background sounds of the mall.  He also seemed to be trying to talk to a lot of people.

As we made our way closer, the man seemed to spot us out.  It’s not like we blended in as you normal shoppers, hahaha.  It was obvious that we were just a couple of shiftless young troublemakers with nothing better to do.  The man approached us.  I don’t recall if he introduced himself in any way, but he pretty much started out by asking us if we knew Jesus Christ.

I could see my friends eyes roll back into his head like, oh brother, not one of these weirdo’s.  For some reason I was captivated.  I don’t recall my exact response other than feeling the need to listen to what the man was saying.  My friend wanted to go, and I was like, hang on a minute.  My friends walked away and stood over by one of the store entrances while I listened to the man explain Jesus Christ and His plan for salvation.  It’s not like I hadn’t heard it all before, but something inside me was different.  It was like a light bulb came on and for the first time I understood.

I prayed with that man to believe on Jesus and accept His plan of salvation.  I went back over to my friend, ya done getting saved?  Then we went about our mall rat business, not another word really spoken about the incident.

I wish I could say that from that point on I began living a Godly life.  I can’t.  In fact, from that point on I seemed to go in quite the opposite direction for a number of years.  Life didn’t get suddenly better but began getting progressively worse.  Rather than moving toward the Lord, I grew further into darkness.

I don’t think I realized it during those times, but after that point, God had taken over my life.  I was being shaped and molded into a new creature.  It was a painful process, but I now know a necessary one.  I had been born again, and I had begun a new life just like a baby.  I knew nothing of faith, and had to learn everything.  Many times I spit up my food, messed my drawers, fell down and got a boo boo.  And just like a baby does not realize the learning they are going through in the growing process, neither was I aware. 

That event at the mall I call my first conversion, and it was, but it would be many years before I would really knuckle down and understand the stakes.  It was a long process of molding that took place to bring me to a point where I would be in submission.  But, it was at that point where I went from being a blind child, to being a spiritually awake person, and a son of the living God.