My testimony is not as elaborate as some but is significant nonetheless. I grew up in a Christian home and attended a Lutheran school. I always knew the truth of the Gospel and understood it, but I made a conscious decision to accept Christ at 8 and too be baptized as an outward representation. I tried to live out my Christian walk as a youth but it seemed doing the right thing was frowned upon by my peers. Telling the truth, not stealing and other things earned “goody two shoes” titles and others. Hearing this got harder and harder and out of spite I began to try and repel the titles given to me. I found myself acting tough, swearing, and making dirty jokes to gain more acceptance in school. This continued from about the fourth grade all the way through my first year of college; always knowing the truth but not acting on what I knew was right, compromising my faith constantly. About four years ago I caught a virus that made my pericardium (a sack of fluid around the heart) swell. The doctors didn’t know what necessarily caused it but they gave me the feeling that I shouldn’t be walking around alive at the moment. They sent me into surgery that day and it turned out I had about ten times the amount of fluid that was supposed to be around the heart and was fortunate to be operated on as soon as I was. I ended up in the hospital for about ten days and during that time I had a lot of alone time. I used that time to pray because I usually do not get helplessly sick. During my time with the Lord, The Holy Spirit basically told me that if I’m going to be saved with the knowledge of the Gospel that I have and not use it, I might as well not be here. A stagnant Christian is worse for the Gospel than the most devout atheist. Out of this came a new resolve and dedication to put my faith into practice and not be a hindrance to the Gospel any longer. From that time on I have been working with the Captive Project setting up live sound for the outreaches and working in the recording studio. More importantly, I have been involved in sharing during outreaches and teaching others occasionally during our discipleship meetings.