A life experience that i will never forget

First off.
I use to be like… a kid who

1. didn’t know Christ as i should have. i would go to a church in Manchester called the church of the living god. with my dad (because he built it) and I’m not even sure if it was a catholic or christian church that’show oblivious i was. the only part i liked out the place was the kids place. which ranged from ages 7-17 i think. the younger ones went to like a daycare thing. but the only part i liked about going to church with my dad is they played games like stick toothpicks in marshmallows and try to make the biggest castle in under 1 minute. whenever the word God came up i basically left the room. i guess i thought it was a place just to… i don’t know what i thought i just didn’t bother to listen. so i just left and like waited for my dad to get out. (this was like when i was in like in 5th or 6th grade maybe even 4th im not sure.) but then my sister stopped going to the kids thingy and was in the main church part and would sit with my dad. then one day i noticed a man sitting near me. he looked old, like know even knew he existed.  so me and my little child self scooted my butt down the row and said “why are you here?” and this man taught me something. he said to me “For god, he is the guy in the sky who made me the way i am today. he was the one who gave me a life a family a place to live, he is the one that saved my life from burning hell, he is the one that i will one day soon spend my life with when i past away, he is the one who created us, a world for us to be in, he is the one who let his own son die on the cross for our sins, God is our father.” then i was like “no your a liar my dad is right there“ and i was pointing at him. the man continued “yes indeed rick is your father, but so is god, if it wasnt for him you wouldn’t be here today. he is the one who made us. he is the father of all life, everyone is his children.” then i was going on saying stuff like “so then for all i know he could have made my dad die on the cross?” he said “Jesus is different. he was THEson of god. he healed many he did so much in the world-” then the pastor was praying. but long before i knew it the man had already left. that was the day i knew that there must have been a god. and that he wouldnt let a man so kind be unknown, he was he must have been high in gods book. thats was what i use to think.

2. when my sister first started going to lp i didnt know what it was. all i knew is every fridayshe went there and she went with some of the kids in the neighborhood. i thought it was like a cult or somthing… i didnt know. but then my neighbor Eli said to me “what are you doing friday” i was like “idk stuff” then he was like “come to lp with me your sister tyler (and some other people i forgot the names)” i was just like “sure” i had nothing better to do, why not, i could see what it was my sister was always into, she never seemed to talk much about it, so then i would actually know. so i remember when i was heading there, i was walking up the hill and hearing music and it was music i listened to. people were hanging out and stuff like that, then i remember Meredith was the first one who came up to me she said “hey im meredith welcome to lp, if you have ever need help with anything in anyway, i will always be here.” i was like cool people are nice, maybe this isnt a cult. then my sister said it is going to be different this time. i was like “what do you mean?” she said mike isnt here tonight. and im thinking who is mike so everyone like all was sitting down and then i see (i think) rob and scott come on stage and explain that mike wasnt going to be here tonight. so they were going to explain the message. so they did a skit. which was about Jesus walking on the water. so they did there skit played music afterwords i even remember the first song i heard (give us clean hands) and then im not sure what happened. but i remember telling my sister “oh that was pretty cool, can i come next week too?” so then i came back and mike was there, i dont remember exactly what his message was, and that is when i started to remember that man who i once talked to at the church i once went to. it made me think more and relize that i did love god. and ever since that day i would never miss an lp i would always come back and listen to what mike would say it was just so, so amazing it helped me through so much, even when i was sick i would still want to go but my mommy wouldnt let me because sis didnt want me to get anyone else sick. i was just so into it, it was just amazing to hear so much that i didnt know and learn about how great our god was. mike has done so much for me. and faith too. faith was always there and was and still is a huge help for me, that friday where mike let us either email, write or call someone we were thankful for and all that, i remember the first thing i did was write a letter to faith, because i just couldnt think of what to say so i decided to write how i felt. which also made me fell so much better.

but when i heard that there was going to be know more lp, my first thought wasnt about me and how i would still get to know christ more and build a stronger relationship it was what will all the other kids do, with no more lp how will all the others get to know Christ like i have, make it into the door of heaven, to live a life abundantly. but then i was thinking, mike isn’t doing this to make the door close on anyone but to open a new door for many others, when the date May 30 came up, i saw many were crying know it was the last lp or that they would never see some of these people again or just the fact that they loved god. it made me think, yea i would be hard not to cry to know that lp would be done with, but it kind of made me happy that it was ending. and of course it doesnt mean a bad thing, like at mikes ordination when he was saying taht Conneticut had the lowest, it made me happy to know mike was doing something amazing trying to bring more people in conneticut to god so that they could do what he once did for me, he is spreading the word more then just to middletown, but to other towns too, so that one day maybe conneticut would be the highest, so tears might have rolled down my face, but i know it wasnt for the end, it was for the beging knowing that god was doing something amazing in mikes heart to set foot and start with a new church for more people to be saved and to know god. it just made me so happy. i know if it wasnt for mike i wouldnt be who i am today, and if it wasnt for mike, many in the future wont know christ and live life like i am now. and im just to thankful for that.