Faith

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By Ray Junior

I grew up a Jew. Not a hard core practicing Jew, but a Jew none the less.

If you’ve read through my bio HERE and my skeletons HERE you know growing up was pretty tough for me. So bad, in fact, that by the time I reached 10th grade I was seriously contemplating suicide.

Always looking for the easy way out, I took a cartooning class in 10th grade thinking it’d be an easy A. It wasn’t until years later that I could see God’s providence and his hand in my life by my selection of that specific class.

Around the time life was getting most difficult we were commissioned with a pretty big assignment. It’s been so long that I can’t remember the specifics of it, but i do remember that we were to draw something pretty significant on a very large piece of drawing paper over the course of a few days.

I noticed right away that the guy next to me, Juan, took the assignment very seriously and worked hard every day to complete it. The first few days it was impossible to make out what he was drawing, but by about day 3 it was clear that a large hill dominated most of the paper. As you viewed the picture, your vantage point was from the bottom of the hill looking up and as the days passed and Juan filled in more and more details you began to see crowds around the edge of the hill and two crosses on the top left and right of the hill, each with someone crucified on it.

On the final day of drawing Juan filled in two final details. The first was a vertical beam at the top center of the hill between the two crosses. The second was quite unexpected. At the very bottom of the picture he drew the back of a head of a man as if it were poking up up out of the bottom of the paper, with the rest of the person’s body out of the picture. Also protruding from the bottom of the picture was a beam from left to right, which was clearly strapped across the shoulders of whoever’s head was there, and parts of his arms could be seen strapped to the beam.

It only took a split second to figure out that whoever this was, was being lead up that hill to be crucified next to the other two. The vertical beam at the top of the hill was just waiting for him to arrive...

As he put the finishing touches on the battered and bloody head, my curiosity was in overdrive. I began to ask all kinds of questions... I knew it was Jesus, but I had no idea about how he was tortured and battered for us. Why did he do that? What does it mean? Did he really die? Is he alive today as I’d heard some claim? Was this done for me? Really?

Then... the bell rang. This is where providence comes in. Juan, who I had never met before taking this class with him, also had another class together with me in the very next period. Now think about this: at the exact moment where we needed more time together so he could finish explaining everything to me, it just turns out that we had the very next class together. Here’s the significance of that:

•The school I attended had 3000+ students.
•We didn’t know each other and we didn’t pre-arrange our classes together
•We not only ended up in 2 classes together (which is hard enough to do randomly with that many students and classes) but we ended up in cartooning class together
•Furthermore - we ended up with two CONSECUTIVE classes
•And finally - the second class was biology. More on the significance of this in a moment...

You tell me what you think the likelihood of that would be in general. As I was saying, at the exact moment where we needed to keep talking, God had pre-arranged for us to have two consecutive classes together. We left cartooning class talking about Jesus and arrived in biology class... still talking about Jesus.

When we got to biology the only place to sit, “coincidentally”, was in the back. It was nice and quiet back there anyway, which worked out well. I was very curious about this whole crucifixion thing and Juan was full of information. The great thing about Juan was that he was very patient in helping me understand some basic things:

1.Everyone dies - 100% of us. Death is not the end, but a doorway to eternity and you will spend eternity in one of two places: Heaven or hell
2.Everyone of us has sinned, and this will prevent us from getting into heaven
3.God wants to spend eternity with us in heaven - it’s his #1 desire, so he took it upon himself to solve the problem
4.His own nature demands that the only solution to the sin problem is for the blood of someone sinless to be shed for those who are sinful
5.Jesus is the only sinless man to ever walk the planet, God in the flesh
6.Jesus didn’t have to do what he did for us, he chose to do it because he loved us and knew we couldn’t do it ourselves.
7.God will not force himself on us. We can choose to spend eternity without him if we want.
8.If we want to spend eternity with him in heaven then Jesus is the only way that happens. Jesus was very clear that he was the only way (John 14:6).
9.The path to Jesus and eternity in heaven with God is to pray for Jesus to forgive your sins, ask him to come into your life and accept his sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins. Then live for him each day, depending on him to help you do just that.

Essentially: Jesus took our place on the cross. He took our punishment.

This whole concept of the cross, the crucifixion and Jesus being tortured in my place baffled and exhilarated me all at the same time because the thought that someone would love me enough to do that for me gave me a deep feeling of self worth if it were only true.

When Juan noticed how taken I was with the idea of the cross he put a set of headphones on my head and played a song from Petra called “It Is Finished”. That’s the song you hear playing when you load this page.

I can still remember sitting in the back of the class with those headphones on, unable to hear anything the teacher was saying yet watching her scribble things on the blackboard about evolution while I sat sobbing my eyes out in the back of the classroom, praying to myself that Jesus would come into my heart. A very ironic moment indeed.

The one thing I hadn’t told you yet was that during this week I had run away and was seriously thinking about suicide that particular day. In my head I was thinking that that evening I might do it. After talking to Juan and hearing that song things changed. Juan had been inviting me to church for some time and I always refused. He invited me again after the headphones came off and I accepted.

That night I went to church and officially gave my life to Christ. The same night I was thinking I might commit suicide. You’ve probably heard people tell stories of how Jesus “saved” them. In my case it’s quite literally true. Had Juan not been persistent I don’t know how much longer I would have survived.

I want to encourage you to investigate Jesus in a sincere way. Other Christians might tell you to hurry up and accept Jesus and get saved because anything could happen and you could die tonight...and while that’s true, Jesus was clear that anyone who wants to follow after him should not second guess the decision (Luke 9:62). This doesn’t mean we should never have doubts or times of crisis in our faith, we all do. He was specifically referring to that first moment of commitment. Don’t commit to Jesus until you’ve counted the cost and understand that while it’s the most rewarding way to live, and the only way to feel any sort of real purpose in life ,it also comes at a cost (Luke 14:28).

Living for Jesus will cost you everything, perhaps even your life.

But so will anything else in life worth doing when you think about it.

At this point you’re in one of two places - either ready to commit or you want to know more before you commit. Here’s what’s next:

If you’re ready to commit there are a few things I want you to do:

1.First pray a prayer similar to this: Jesus I commit my heart, my purpose, my finances and my life to you. I give you everything and pray that you will forgive me of my sins, help me forgive everyone who’s ever hurt me and sinned against me, and I ask that the blood you shed on the cross would be acceptable payment for all of my sins, past, present and future. I give you my life and everything in it.
2.Next, it’s important for you to find a good church. If you’re one of those “I hate organized religions” type then you’re in good company, I hate it too. Most organized religion drives me nuts so let’s be clear: I’m not talking about organized religion per say or becoming some Christian drone. I’m talking about learning more about your new faith, making good friends who will encourage you in that faith and building relationships with people who value you as an individual and as a new Christian. The bible is clear that finding a place to build relationships is key to growth so your new faith doesn’t die (Hebrews 10:25 & Mark 4:1-20). The amount of churches in your local phone book or Google search is simply dizzying. There’s a church on every corner it seems. To make this more simple, my recommendation is to find a non denominational church. Poke around in the phone book or on Google for a non denominational church. Below are 6 criteria you should investigate as you search. Do not be bashful about this. Present these things to the church you are considering and ask them if they agree. These 6 items are the basic tenets of Christianity and your new faith. If they cannot agree with these basic tenets 100% then move on. Here they are:
a.That all have sinned and need a savior
b.That Jesus is the only one who can save us, and the only way to heaven and eternity with God
c.That while Jesus was God’s son, he was also God himself in the flesh through the mystery of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).
d.That Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and us accepting him as the only savior, are the necessary and sufficient conditions for our sins to be forgiven
e.That he died, was buried, and rose on the third day
f.That the entire Bible, known collectively as the Old and New Testaments, are the only true, accurate, authoritative and complete written word of God. And that all other books, while perhaps interesting or informative, are not equal
3.Write us here to tell us about your new commitment! Send an email to: faith@rayjuniorshow.com and we’ll help you learn more about your new faith and do what we can to find you a place to worship and grow.

If you are someone who wants to know more before you commit I commend you. But it’s time to do a little research. Don’t waste your days thinking “well I’ll get to that when I’m older” or “I can do that tomorrow”. None of us is promised tomorrow. If you’re serious about the search and you are at a place where you’re willing to accept Jesus if he proves himself real to you, then here’s some things you should look into:

1.First be honest. God’s a big boy and he can handle your honesty, skepticism and downright disbelief without batting an eye. Pray a prayer similar to this: Jesus, I don’t know if you’re real or not but I’m on a real search to find out. I’m willing to believe in you if you’ll convince me you’re real.
2.Next, head to Amazon.com or your local bookstore and get a book called “The Case For Christ” (amazon link here). This book was written by Lee Strobel, a former atheist journalist who investigated Christianity for the specific purpose of proving it to be a fallacy. Unlike Christian authors who do what they can to prove Christ to be real, he specifically did not believe in Jesus and was researching to show the whole thing to be a joke. When it was all said and done, as he examined all the evidence, he had no choice but to admit to himself that Jesus had to be who he claimed he was (savior). Lee gave his life to Christ. This book is the result of that investigation. It’s an honest and forthright look at Jesus himself. Was he a liar? A lunatic? Or Lord?
3.Be ready. If you meant the prayer,and you do the research God will show up. If your search is sincere, he will show up in an unmistakeable way. When? I have no idea. But I can tell you he’s a gentleman and will not force himself on you. It will be in your time when God decides you’re ready. He’s good at figuring that out... He’s God.
4.Write us here to tell us about your search. Send an email to: faith@rayjuniorshow.com and let us help if we can.

May God richly bless you and your family.

Ray Junior

“It Is Finished”

Written & Performed By Petra