TommyStrand

Hello folks =)

My name is Tommy André Strand, I am 28 and from Norway.

I just discovered this site tonight through a referral of a friend of mine through the news that the mod on this site had become a christian, and so I thought I'd check it out.

Having posted a few posts already I reckon it's time to introduce myself as well. My testimony can be quite long, so I'll shorten it alot not to make you fall asleep. Unless you already are...

I grew up in a non-christian home, with a pretty normal life I guess. Some skeletons in the closet like all families. During my childhood and youth I've always been interested in sports, school and gaming. And I've been good at it. At 12-13 I thought I was gonna play on the national team, at 14 I became the "Norwegian Champion in Nintendo, Super Nintendo and Game-boy", and did ok at school. Not as good as I wanted, but ok. Then things started to go downhill. I performed worse in sports (football -NOT american =) which was my life), and I lost my best friend at 15, and never got a real best friend again during that time, though I had friends as in a group to hang with etc. But it wasn't the same. In addition to this I had girl problems and some issues at the home front. At the age of 17 I started drinking and I did so for one year. Not heavily, just got the layabout of the scene. During this time I was ok, but still miserable. I can't say I've had a worse life then others, but my problems were mine, and so they seemed bigger you know.

Through all of this I knew that there was more to life. I knew that God existed, and I started searching for Him. I read about different religions and I thought about all kinds of stuff. I didn't find anything and life seemed meaningless to me. Then one winter night around the time I turned 18 we went to a party where I felt my best friend at the time let me down, and I hated so much about my life that I went down to the harbour in my city.

It gets pretty cold in norway during wintertime, with snow and ice all around. As I was sitting there on a bench about 3 meters (10 feet) from the ice-cold ocean I thought to myself that this was it. I was gonna end my life. I had thought about suicide for a long time, and now I got up to do it. Now, I can't say that I would have gone through with it, but I intended to. Then, one meter from the ocean a thought and a sentence popped into my head. Immediately I turned around and walked the long way home in the cold night, hardly noticing that time went by. I got home and instinctively picked up the Bible I had gotten at school, and started reading in it. I read for hours. And I cried. All the time I cried.

All my selfishness. All my hate towards people. People I had talked down at. People I was angry with for treating me badly. All of my lies. All of my sins. And God hated it. And I knew I had done wrong. I didn't deserve to live. But still. In the midst of all of this, God loved me so much that He became a human being -the man Jesus Christ - and went through all of this life and was tried in all the same ways as me, yet without sinning even once. And He was crucified, and punished. And it was men, it was I who hurt him. It was I who killed Him. And all of the righteous judgement that I deserved, the Father poured out on His Son Jesus Christ. And Jesus died. And He arose. And then He allows me to leave my dirty life behind and live with Him! Amazing.

Following this time I read the Bible avidly. I ate it any time I could. For hours and hours. And I decided to live for Him then, and how can I do anything else. I love Him with all my heart. People can give me a million arguments why they don't believe God exist. So what. It can never change the fact that I am in a relationship with God every single moment of my life. You can't prove to me that my mother does not exist, or my father or my sister. I know them. And no one can prove to me that my Savior does not live, because I know Him.

I have now been a christian - meaning a follower of Jesus - for about 10 years. And I plan to live with Him forever. And my one desire is that I can encourage other christians on the way home, and witness to those who does not know Him. All to the glory of God.

God bless you all. Live for Jesus.

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Matthew 16:24-25

Ok, even shortened down, this was quite long. Sorry for taking up your time, for those who bothered reading it =P

Londie

Enjoyed reading your story Welcome to the site!

__________________
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."