David

From “Living The Life” To Living For Jesus

 

I was born in Zimbabwe 54 years ago into a Roman Catholic family and attended church every Sunday

with my parents and siblings. I was baptised, confirmed, and started serving mass as an altar boy in

primary school. I continued to do so until I completed my GCSEs. I attended Catholic schools and we

would attend mass several times a week. Religious education was one of our main subjects but I do not

recall taking a great interest in it.

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I went to work straight after completing my GCSEs and for many years did not follow any particular religion. I was enjoying life in a newly independent country where life appeared to be at its best without me thinking or questioning myself how life was that good. No one ever attributed our newfound standard of life to the Lord.

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I met my wife and we soon started a family of our own. I continued to ‘enjoy’ life. I would go and drop my family off at the church that they attended, but I would always have an excuse for not going myself. I hid behind my work schedule but the truth was always that the devil was in charge of my life and I would go out to drink at every opportunity. We would even boast about the ungodly things that we were doing and it all appeared very normal.

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Things took a turn when my father-in-law, who had been my drinking partner at times, started to follow Jesus. The transformation in his life was dramatic – he stopped drinking and embarked on a theology course. I could only marvel at his transformation but could not change my own life. I continued doing things that I was not supposed to do at work and in my personal life.

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When I came to England I was welcomed to Halifax by a man called Peter Stead, who was the pastor at Grace Baptist Church then. All of a sudden I was surrounded by people who loved God and I started doing Bible studies with Peter. I cannot recall a single incident or day when I knew I was trusting in Jesus for the first time, but it was around that time when I reconsidered my priorities, and I have never looked back.

I am still a long way from where I’d like to be as a Christian but am very grateful and consider myself to be fortunate. I had to travel more than ten thousand miles to be saved.

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I pray every day for my children to be saved and for the situation in my country to improve so that one day I can go back and re-settle and be an example to other people that God is great, and that one can live a satisfied life by trusting him and being godly. There had always been something missing from my life which I believe I now have in the form of my belief in the Lord – which I did not have all the time that I thought I was ‘living the life’.