Charles Sloan
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8 Page views Archive January 2010February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 Recent Blogs September 04, 2010, 06:54:51 AM September 04, 2010, 06:53:58 AM September 04, 2010, 06:53:35 AM September 04, 2010, 02:32:25 AM September 04, 2010, 02:31:40 AM September 04, 2010, 02:31:25 AM August 31, 2010, 11:26:46 AM August 31, 2010, 11:20:45 AM August 31, 2010, 11:20:13 AM August 31, 2010, 11:19:43 AM |
| My Testimony | January 05, 2010, 04:26:07 PM | In about 1999, I was 24 years old. I was living a life of reckless abandon to alcohol, drug use, fornication, etc. My life was a train wreck, steadily getting worse and I didn't know why. Back in the summer of 1998 I had a one-night stand with a girl named Amy. Everyone called her "Crazy Amy", but I didn't know why. I was soon going to find out. After I had this one-night stand I started receiving phone calls, which I would avoid frequently. After awhile, I got a letter from her saying she was pregnant. When I heard that I bailed out and moved to north Indiana, near Michigan City. What happened there is another tale itself.
I came back to town and I had no place to stay. So being a party kind of guy, I started flopping at friends houses till I wore out my welcome and moved on. Me and a friend were out getting some booze one night, when I ran into the same girl I ran away from. She walked up to me and said "Can I ask you something?", my friend Dwayne broke in and said "You must be the most annoying person in the world!"; and she stormed off. I just laughed and said "Thanks man, I appreciate that...", and told him the story.
Sometime later I find that the Police are looking for me, and I assume it was a paternity summons or something of that nature. I had been feeling like my life was completely out of control, so I figured facing the music was a good start getting everything back under control. So I go and see this officer, and shortly afterwards I am arrested and thrown into jail. I am told that I assaulted someone, and I am be charged with battery. At this point, I have no idea who this is, or what’s going on. I get into jail and I look over my case, and its this girl. She claims I punched in the face with my spiked ring (I had no rings), kicked her in her belly (pregnant, remember), and tell her I hope her and the baby dies. And I get into a black car and steal away into the night. No witnesses, no evidence, no marks, no nothing; but I am in jail facing 7 years for assault and battery.
So beginning my stay at the hoosecow by sleeping for about three days. After that I come to realize no ones going to rescue me, and that I’m stuck here. So I finally manage to get off my cot, and look around my new surroundings. In the TV room I find a single book laying on the floor, presumably where local “library” was to be found. And to my surprise it was The Holy Bible. I never read the Bible before, neither did I have much interest in it, but for some reason I kept it under the mattress of my cot. I got another book, and I read that book three times in a week before someone else wanted it. But I knew I was avoiding the Bible for some reason, so I just got to it.
I started in Genesis, and I found this very difficult to read. I gave up after a short time. Then I met a guy in there that told me not to read the Old Testament first, but to read the New. So I listened to his advice and started to read the New Testament. And it was like meeting Jesus for the first time. Once I read the Gospels and understood, (at least in part) what was wrong with my life; I was ready to submit my life to God.
This changed my entire experience in the jails. I would spend hours talking to the inmates about the Bible, it was amazing because I knew so very little. But I would tell them what I believed the Word to say, and what God wanted from me and from them. I once got thrown into a detention cell with another inmate because we were talking about the Lord late one night. After about a month I was transferred from the County jail to the State House of Corrections. Here I was having hearings and etc. But all the time I was reading the Word almost sixteen hours a day, and spending the rest in prayer or sleeping.
The other inmates never knew why I was there, people had all sorts of ideas; but I never told them. I would just tell everyone I was serving the Lord. People thought I was there for vehicular manslaughter, rape, molestation, etc. They would actually send people to try and find out why I was there. I found this a little amusing, and I used it for an opportunity to speak about Gods purpose in my life.
Anyways, I noticed this is turning into a book; so let me get to the point. After about four months, I was in a prayer meeting with the Chaplin. But for some reason, I felt like the prayer wasn’t for me. I felt like my time there was done. So I went back to my cot, and prayed to the Lord saying something like, “I feel I have done all I can do here, Lord if it be your will; I pray you would let me go free.” I had a court case the next day, but I hadn’t asked the Lord for freedom since my first preliminary hearing; where they rejected a signature bond.
So the next day in court, they offer to drop the felonies if I plea to the misdemeanors. I was scared, and asked my public pretender I mean defender what I should do. He said to take the deal, it isn’t going to get any better. So through much tears, and weeping I lied and plead to the misdemeanors. The judge thought my tears were remorse, and gave me a year probation with six served. So in less then 24 hours after my prayer to the Lord, I was a free man again. |
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