Stephen Bly in his twenties
How I Came To Christ
A best day in my life happened this way. At age 23, I was married to Janet Chester, had two children, and farming, doing what I wanted to do. Happy with my wife, I loved my sons and family. Ranching and farming tends to be very cyclical and seasonal. You do the same thing at the same time every year.
Then, Janet on her own, and eventually me alongside, decided, “You know, there’s something more to life.” It wasn’t a complaint. Horrible things weren’t happening to me. But I wondered about the “more.” And I didn’t know what that was.
We didn’t come out of homes where the Lord got talked about much. Janet’s single parent mom worked awfully hard to support five children. And I came out of a wonderful American family where mom and dad loved each other and my sister and me. But we didn’t talk about the Lord. And I knew nothing about the Scriptures.
Since we knew many people found help in the Bible, we began to read one. The first three nights after I returned home from work and got the boys to bed, we read the Preface to King James. And then we got to Genesis and through the whole Old Testament that summer, an hour each night. Some of it we understood and some we didn’t. But we found God was real in these lives of saints and sinners. We knew He wasn’t real in ours.
The Next Step
About the first week in September, we said to each other, “Now that we’re in the New Testament, we should go to church. Maybe someone
King James Bible
can help us understand everything.” So, we attended the most convenient church, right down the road. We showed up one Sunday morning sitting in the back, trying to hide, because we felt out of place. And what do you know? They announced their “Rally Days” and the start of home Bible studies. In fact, the next night a home hosted a Navigator’s study, “Introduction To Christ.” So, we signed up. Attending included the host couple and the teacher, all mature Christians, and me and Janet.
Before long, we discovered we needed to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. And I remember the best day event and the place. I was in the field, trying to irrigate. A shovel over my shoulder, I walked along some furrows on my own, making sure the water ran through. And I kept thinking about all the new things we’d been learning about Jesus. I meditated on the verse in John 1:12, “To all who received him, to all who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” And I thought, “That’s me. I want to become a child of God. I want to receive Christ as my Lord and Savior.”
The Best Day Moment of Truth
Then, I said out loud, “Lord, I don’t know very much. I don’t know very much about you. But I believe you are who you say you are. And I believe you did what you said you did. Also, I believe you’re going to do what you said you’re going to do. But I know I don’t deserve it and I’m sinful. However, you died on the cross for me and I want to know you as Lord and Savior.”
I found out later that Janet made the same commitment a few days before. That turned out to be a best day for both of us.
My perspective on everything changed. On being a man, a husband, and a father. As a rancher and citizen. My views altered on who I was, as well as the world and the universe. All of a sudden, the God who maybe existed was the God with me every day and each hour. The love I only heard about I now experienced in my heart and my soul. That’s still on my Best Day List.
Stephen Bly
Copyright 2010
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Find out more about his best day in “Best Days of My Life” by award-winning western author Stephen Bly on this audio podcast:
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What a wonderful testimony from an incredible man! Listening to this podcast was a blessing to me.
Mark: Thanks so much for your comments! Means a lot! Blessings, Janet