Dean Gilkey:  

I grew up in a nice home, in a very nice neighborhood. My parents divorced when I was 4. My mother lived close-by even so. Even though they had split, I still felt secure and loved in my home and with my family. My dad was a very responsible man and a great provider - we never lacked for anything. My grandmother kept house and made our house a home - she lived with us until her death in 1969. We attended church from my earliest years - we went to various Protestant denominations, Baptist and Methodist. In my early teen years, I went to a church where my friends attended and we had a youth group and choir. After a while, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs destroyed our youth group, and I stopped going to church. After high school, things began to change. My friends were move away and going off to college. (I did not go to college - I chose to work instead.) My father had remarried and my dad and step-mother fought a lot - home was not a happy place. My grandmother (my mother's mother) moved away from Falls Church (the city); I figured she would always be there. Things began to change and there was nothing I could do about it, to stop the changes. I was unhappy. I tried various things to find meaning in life - money, dating, but nothing satisfied me. On New Year's Day in 1978, I returned to church, hoping to find answers. That day Pastor Jones spoke of "happiness" and how we say "Happy New Year!" to each other ¿ and then he asked us where was true happiness found. He spoke to where I was hurting, and Pastor Jones and I had a talk. I told him I was unhappy. He asked me if I was a Christian. I told him I thought I was. We continued to talk and he shared the Gospel message with me. I learned that the Bible says: 1. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) 2. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:23) 3. That God loves us, but is also a just judge, and must punish us for our sins. (Exodus 34:7b) 4. That Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. Jesus claimed to be God and the only way to God. He lived a sinless life, was crucified and died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and then raised on...Expand for more