Recovered by Robby Gallaty & Rob Suggs & David Platt

Author:Robby Gallaty & Rob Suggs & David Platt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography/Religious
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 2019-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Baby Steps

The day after I committed my life to Jesus, I found my Bible on the shelf, dusted it off, and sat down to read it with new eyes.

I thumbed through the huge volume. There were hundreds of pages of tiny print, made up of smaller books with names like Leviticus and Lamentations, Obadiah and Ephesians. History, psalms, prophesies—where was the section for beginners?

I thought about the songs I’d learned in our Christian band, back in my college days. I could remember all the words, but they didn’t offer much guidance to a new believer. I prayed, but I wasn’t even sure how to do that. My go-to prayer had been, “Please don’t send me to hell.” Even I knew there was more to it than that.

What should I say to God? How would I hear what he said to me?

I guess most of all I needed someone to talk to about the whole thing. My life felt different, but I didn’t know any truly committed followers of Jesus. I had lots of energy and lots of questions. Still, I knew I was at peace, filled with hope, and deeply grateful to be forgiven. The turmoil and desperation were gone, and it felt like the quiet after a storm. It was time to reboot my life.

I had to start with what I knew for sure: My old lifestyle was done—finished. My old friends would encourage my old habits. Besides, once drugs were taken out of the equation, what did I really have in common with that crowd? Not much. I’d even dumped my whole music collection in the trash.

My old friends began to call, one by one. They’d heard the rumor, but they wanted to hear it from me. Word on the street was that I’d had some freaky conversion experience. I wasn’t Robby anymore—at least the Robby they knew.

“It’s true. I accepted Christ,” I told my friend Rick. “My life is completely changed, and God is calling me into the ministry.”

“Really, Robby? You, of all people, a Jesus freak? You can’t be serious.”

“Absolutely.”

“Robby, we never had a question about who you were. You had our trust. This is nuts.”

“You can still trust me, Rick. I’m more trustworthy now. I’m just no longer interested in getting high.”

“Couple of guys are saying you’ve turned informant. That you’re an undercover cop. You gonna rat us out?”’

“You know better than that, Rick. I wouldn’t hurt my friends—not in a million years. You guys are family to me. Don’t you remember all those times we talked about getting clean? I’ve done it now, that’s all. I’d love for all you guys to do it, too, but I’m no cop, and I’ve talked to no cops. You’ve got my word on that.”

Conversations like this went on and on with different friends. I wasn’t trusted now, and maybe that was for the best. My bridges were burned to the ground. As a new Christian, I was on an island.

Most people become Christians in some kind of social context.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.