AN OCTOGENARIAN FOR JESUS

 In many families, conversations about faith take place during shared moments, from bedtime stories of biblical heroes to discussions about moral dilemmas that encourage children to consider their own values. These discussions create a rich environment where the seeds of faith grow, nurtured by love and guidance.  My family was not a very religious family, even though my brothers and sisters and I went to Sunday school and attended church services frequently.  My father very rarely attended church, and he really had a deep-seated dislike for preachers.  I found out later in life the reason why my father was the way he was. He had some rather traumatic experiences with preachers in his early childhood.  So, we often went through the motions of religion in our household, with a deep dislike of preachers and the church. We were mostly politically and socially correct, rather than being a family that sought after Jesus and His will for our lives.  All of this changed, however, after I became a man and experienced the knocks and bruises of this world system.  It was then that I had a life-changing encounter with the Lord.