Hey, my name is Paul Weitzel and as many of you already know I have recently taken up my cross and followed the path less taken. I have accepted Christ into my heart. Although it didn’t used to be like this, I used to not be this person. What I used to be was an insecure little kid who went through life trying to fit in, trying to be accepted by people in this world.

Since I can imagine I have been walking through my life wearing a mask to cover up my insecurities and my fears. This type of behavior went on until I became a sophomore at Oxford High and a good friend or mine took me to a Friday Night Ground Zero. At GZ I saw kids throwing up their hands and arms in honor of Jesus, lying before him at the altar asking for his mercy, and just all out praising the Lord’s name. What I saw that Friday night was an eye opening experience and to be truthful, deep down inside I wanted to have this relationship with Christ, I wanted to feel what they felt, I wanted to have what those kids had, but honestly what had drew me away from God at that time in my life was fear. Fear that I wasn’t good enough, fear that God only wanted to know people who were pure and innocent, but I was wrong. Christ did want to know me, except I was too scared to let him into my heart. So in my immaturity I turned my back on God and left the righteous path to go back to my old life of worshipping idols and hanging out with my friends.

Then one day I met a group of kids who would change my life forever; these kids seemed to have it all. In my mind they were the “cool kids” the type of kids that an insecure sophomore would look up to and follow. So we partied all the time, drinking and indulging ourselves in what ever we wanted and for me going from girl to girl and party to part began to seem like what every normal 16year old was doing at the time.

But because of God’s unwillingness to let me go, he used my parents to open my eyes and lead me back to where Christ wanted me, Ground Zero, but you may be asking, “Paul what if your parents don’t care? What if you haven’t got that type of family or friends?” Except then my reply to that is how did you get here tonight?

When God brought me back to him in September of this past year, I asked the Lord to come into my heart and there right at that point, Christ broke me. He broke my evil sprite and from that moment on he has been rebuilding me day by day.

Still I have trouble letting go of all the guilt and my past, but by the blood Christ shed on the cross I am reminded that the since I had committed and will commit are forgiven.

Recently I was able to hear a recording of a man that gave a sermon, of how Jesus bled in seven different places for our sins, cleansing every area of our lives, and bleeding the blood of God to make it possible for anyone to follow him. The recording touched me because it had said that Jesus bled from his head and face to cover the sins that come into our mind, the evil thoughts would be stripped away because he died for them. Next Jesus bled from his hands for the ungodly things that we have done with our hands. That Jesus bled from his feet for the sinful paths that we have walked in life. Lastly, I know that He bled from his back when I turned my back on him, that He bled from his heart from when I wouldn’t let him in, and Christ bled from his side for the anger and hate that I have felt. For this reason alone I am humbled and now all the guilt and pain that once lived in me is gone, and that without His blood on the cross none of us would ever have the opportunity to know God.

If someone would ask me now why I am a Christian I would ask this question “Give me a person that would go through what Jesus Christ went through, give me a man that would die a painful death for the sins that I would commit 2000 years after his death, and give me the things that could take all my sins upon itself to restore the connection between our all mighty Lord God and his people because that is what Jesus Christ did for me on the day of his death.

Although I am still the same person on the outside, my inside is completely different. The girls that I used to lust after are still there, but because of Christ and my yearning to know Him more, those desires are gone and because of that I have kissed dating goodbye. The spare time that I used to search the Internet for pornography is now filled with drama, foundations, project rakes, and praise band. Because of the lord that Christ has for me, I have a passion and a desire to know and tell others about his grace and plans for us in a Life Teams Class and on a mission trip I will be going on this summer.

“So I pray to anyone who is seeking Christ in their lives right now, don’t be afraid, have the courage and I want you to know that if you are willing to except Christ in your heart tonight then, hear and see from a prime example that once you ask for his mercy your entire world will be turned around and you will be ruined for the ordinary forever.”