My "Christian experience"
Hmmm. Paul has a question about my Christian experience.
Snoflek and I were discussing this very question a few weeks ago. Both of us grew up in Christian families, started going to church services even before we were born, later attended Sunday School (as it was called back then... now the "hip" term is "Children's Church", I believe), graduated to Youth Group, became leaders in Youth Group, and so on so forth.
In terms of "Christian experience" it's really hard to say much, because you know God has always been a present Person in our lives. We grew up knowing and loving Him. There hasn't been a time when we didn't know Him, so to speak.
It's different for those who, like Nile, came to know about our God later on, having Him literally turn their lives around. (You HAVE to read Nile's story. It's totally amazing!) In contrast, Snoflek and I don't have much to tell.
Of course eventually each of us had to make our own personal commitment to God. Mine was at 13 when I went to a meeting. As the preacher spoke, it came to me that I'd always thought myself a Christian, yet I couldn't remember ever having made a concrete decision to follow Christ and live God's way. So I prayed and committed my life to God that night.
The funny thing was, when I got back home and told Mom, she said, "But I prayed with you when you were five years old to accept Jesus into your heart!"
I've always believed that God remembered that little girl's prayer, even though she didn't remember it herself. That He kept me safe and close to Him until I was ready and able to renew that commitment I'd made as a young child. His faithfulness is awesome.
People say that kids who grow up in Christian families usually go through a period of rebellion and a time of questioning their parents' faith, the faith they grew up with. For some reason Blink and I never did, which I'm profoundly thankful for. Maybe it's the fact that we grew up with Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu friends; it's not like we didn't know about the other religions out there. In fact, when I was in school I used to ask my friends what they believed so that I'd better understand where they were coming from. In turn, they'd ask me what I believed, and I'd get a chance to talk about my God. Yeah, I know... sneaky, eh? ;)
When it comes to the question of whether God has impacted my life in any major ways, I actually can't say. He's been everywhere, in everything — I grew up with Him, remember — so instead of saying that He's impacted my life I'd say He's inescapably bound up with it all.
I think I take it for granted sometimes. The principles I live by and the way I see things have been shaped by my faith and my beliefs, the things my parents have taught me since I was young. It's all second nature to me now. Although I seem to have some issues with my parents, when it comes to the crunch I'm really, really thankful for the sense of faith they instilled in us and the way they brought us up to know & love God.