have not read any of the replies but my response is :

it's a journey that plays out over years - you likely won't know God or understand the Bible quickly. it can take a long time to sink in.

it doesn't always make perfect sense and that's okay. to get the 'Readers Digest' version - focus on Chapters Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.

go and listen. reflect. personalize it. enjoy the fellowship of other Christians but also know - you may not LIKE or admire everyone you meet there.

i find great Peace in my faith. i hope you can find it also. (Missouri Synod Lutheran here...)

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quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
Wow, I can’t say thanks enough for all the well wishes and support that everyone has.
Thanks to all if you for praying for me. I think I really need it at this point.
There are too many good quotes from great people to quote at this point.

Sincerely, thank you to all of you. Your support and guidance is appreciated more than words can express.

Curious about how the meeting with the pastor went. Give us an update when you can.

I'm a So. Baptist pastor. I'm available at the email in my profile if you have any questions. I'll answer them the best I can. Will pray you find the answers you are seeking.

Again, I really appreciate everyone’s responses, prayers, and encouragement.

To answer a few questions, yes, I believe, but I have always questioned it. I should have made that clear from the beginning.
My question of finding God and happiness, I guess is more of a question that can’t be answered and probably wasn’t the best thread title. Thread titles have to be extra descriptive now, so I wasn’t sure what to type, and I wasn’t sure what to post, as I was rather nervous about posting something like this.

As to the question about my wife and I giving up our careers to live in poverty... that’s not the case. We gave up great paying careers that allowed us zero time together. We didn’t enjoy life, we just existed.

When we moved, so many things fell completely in place for us. So much so, many would say it is Devine Intervention. There are things like this, as well as some things that happened around the time of my mothers death and the death of a good friend’s wife, that have made me certain that there is a God.

I met with the Pastor this evening. It was a good time. He’s a good guy and a pretty normal guy. My wife and I took him to dinner and it gave us more time to just get to know each other. We will be joining the Church. Sometime soon I will be baptized.

Thee are a lot of people that may be thinking I am doing this for my wife, or I haven’t travelled a hard enough path, or given up enough on the journey to being a Christian. I’m doing this for myself, and for God. I’m not a perfect person or by any means a good Christian, but I wake up everyday and try to make the world a better place for everyone else. So my path to becoming a Christian may be different, and unorthodox, but I have to start somewhere, right? Isn’t it better than not trying at all?

Anyways, thank you all for your advice, well wishes, and prayers. I truly appreciate it.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
There are a lot of people that may be thinking I am doing this for my wife, or I haven’t travelled a hard enough path, or given up enough on the journey to being a Christian. I’m doing this for myself, and for God. I’m not a perfect person or by any means a good Christian, but I wake up everyday and try to make the world a better place for everyone else. So my path to becoming a Christian may be different, and unorthodox, but I have to start somewhere, right? Isn’t it better than not trying at all?

Don't get me wrong. I am not trying to discourage you. I'm pointing out that conversion is different than most people believe and not really in their control.

The Gospel According To John, chapter 3, verses 1-8 has an interesting exchange between between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus.

quote:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Conversion is an act of God, not man. It's akin to, and no less miraculous than, the story of creation:

quote:

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Genesis 1:2-3

No Christian is born into it, though he may be born for that destination. No Christian makes himself a Christian. And no Christian becomes one without coming to an understanding of their own utter hopeless condition and that there is no other hope but that which is found in Christ. No one has Jesus unless he fully understands and fully accepts why He is needed, and that there is no substitute.

Like I said, I'm not trying to discourage you. But I am giving you a warning. My journey to being a Christian started like yours. I decided to be a Christian. It's not that simple. If you don't believe that you "haven’t travelled a hard enough path," rest assured you likely will. If your calling is to be a Christian, then you are called to take up your cross.

quote:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Matthew 16:24-26

Don't be surprised if your decision takes you down paths you never anticipated. God is in control, you are not. Your decision and desires may not be his. It's a tough journey. And things don't always happen as you might expect.

Like I said, I'm not discouraging you, I'm giving you a warning. If you are one of the called, you will follow God's path, not yours.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:

Thee are a lot of people that may be thinking I am doing this for my wife, or I haven’t travelled a hard enough path, or given up enough on the journey to being a Christian. I’m doing this for myself, and for God. I’m not a perfect person or by any means a good Christian, but I wake up everyday and try to make the world a better place for everyone else. So my path to becoming a Christian may be different, and unorthodox, but I have to start somewhere, right? Isn’t it better than not trying at all?

Sounds to me like you're doing just fine. None of us are perfect. Never going to be until we get to heaven. The key is to be genuine about who we are--sinners who need a Savior--and seek to live for Christ every day and try to be more like Jesus than we were yesterday.