In 1995 my family was going through a crisis that my teenage heart and mind were not able to process at that time. In the midst of that crisis I was exposed to the teachings of Jesus and to a church that, while imperfect, was welcoming and supportive to a family in crisis.

As a result of these circumstances I made a conscious and intentional decision to respond to the work that God was already doing to draw me to Himself and on March 12th 1995 I committed to live the rest of my life following Jesus.

At that point my faith was as developed and mature as you would expect from a 13/14 year old that had been attending church regularly for 4 weeks. It was circumstantial and based on emotion.

Beginning your faith journey based on emotion and circumstance does not invalidate your faith journey, but it also doesn't sustain it. Over time my faith began to develop and deepen. Eventually my belief in Jesus influenced my emotions but was ultimately founded upon external, objective, historical evidence and was supported by personal experience.

The importance of Jesus as a literal historical figure become more and more clear to me throughout high school and college. Not only did Jesus appear to be the central figure of human history, but the most well-preserved, widely-circulated historical documents in the history of mankind (the Gospels) attested to His significance and even divinity. Even secular historians like Josephus recorded the deeds of Jesus! As someone that has always loved history I couldn't ignore Jesus, His claims or His legacy.

The historical bottom line was clear, Jesus was a real man with a real reputation for supernatural power, whether people accept it or not - no less real than Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar, Genghis Kahn or any other objectively real historical figure.

On the subjective side of things I began to see that the teachings of Jesus were having a profoundly positive impact on my life. His teaching on forgiveness was relieving me of bitterness and anger. His teaching on humility was challenging me to consider others as better than myself. His teaching on love was making me a better husband, father, friend and community member.

Once you begin to see something as both objectively and subjectively true, you can't help but integrate it into every area of your life and make it the cornerstone of your worldview - at times even sharing it with other people. To me, talking to people about the goodness of God is like telling them that sunshine is warm. It's both a fact, and my experience.

Some people make a decision to follow Jesus and then subsequently make a contrary decision to stop following Jesus. My initial decision to follow Jesus 23 years ago has been repeated and confirmed hundreds of times since in both my heart and mind. This life of following Jesus has been too fulfilling, too freeing and too enjoyable to consider anything else at this point.

Our culture has created this paradoxical narrative that everyone is on a journey searching for truth, but that no one should claim to have found a definitive destination that is ultimately true. That seems illogical to me, personally. I take journeys to work, the store and my home everyday and I'm able to be both on a journey and know my destination at the same time. At times when I'm on a journey without a destination I've often described it as being "lost" or "wandering".

I'm grateful to no longer feel like I am wandering and lost, not knowing where I am going. I don't feel like I'm searching anymore, I feel like I'm discovering.