Archive for April 2007
Correction to My Testimony
Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 9:15 AM by David Zavadil
My parents were up last weekend. My mother said she had a bone to pick with me about my blog. I thought, "uh oh, I have gone and made her mad." She then shared that I had a fact wrong, we didn't stop going to church because of the gas crisis. I said, "oh really? That is how I remember the time." She said "No. We had gone to Christmas Eve mass. We had set aside $50 to buy Christmas presents. It came time for the offering and we gave a little bit to the offering, saving the last $50 for presents." (I never realized my parents were last minute shoppers) "After the offering, the priest began to speak and told the congregation that unless they gave an additional $50 each they would all go to hell." My parents got up at that point and left. I have to admit, that twist on my life is a lot more exciting than higher gas prices. I wish I had known earlier as it just increases the respect I have for my parents. I pray that the Church will never be a place for that kind of abuse.Posted in Family happenings (RSS)
Testimony Tuesday
Posted on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 at 9:16 AM by David Zavadil
Our friends at Challies have declared this Testimony Tuesday. If they say so then it must be, they are the leaders in blogdom. I was born into a Navy family. I was raised Roman Catholic by my Jewish mother. Early in live church played an important part in our lives. I went through catechism, received first communion, confession, and was confirmed. As some might remember, the seventies saw the "gas crisis." Prices shot up and driving became a financial issue in many households, I know it did in ours. It was decided that going back and forth to church was too expensive, so we stopped going. This was the extent of my religious upbringing. When I was in High School, I began meeting people that talked about church, faith and God. Much of what I saw had little effect upon me. I figured, these people were going to the same parties and getting into the same trouble I was so why bother. It was not until I arrived at college that I began to see something different. I arrived at the University of Montevallo in the fall of 1981. Briarwood Presbyterian was just beginning a new campus ministry, Campus Outreach, at Montevallo. It was at Montevallo that I began to see a different lifestyle. I kept running across Christians who not only professed Jesus Christ, but lived as though they really knew Him. At this same time, I saw a girl. I was in love, now I just had to convince her she was too. I tried everything I could think of to impress her, sports, partying, foolishness, seriousness, studying, not studying, nothing seemed to work. I am not even sure she knew I was alive. I finally resorted to begging. Her roommate was in many of my classes so I talked her into asking "the little redheaded girl" into going on a "Montevallo date"( a walk around campus) with me. We went on the walk and talked about everything, including her fiance and God. She invited me to join her and a group from Outreach at church on Sunday. Still hopeful that there was a chance to win her over, I said yes. I do not remember much about church that Sunday except the sermon passage. The preacher read from Ephesians 4: 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. He spoke of how when ever we get angry we do something stupid. My mind began to drift and I recalled many of the instances of anger I experienced. My temper made that a very long list. In each instance, he was right, I did do something stupid. When I came back to the sermon, the preacher was presenting the gospel. I knew about Jesus, we had him hanging on our wall at home, but I had never heard anyone talk about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I knew Jesus died on the cross, but had never really known why, that He died for me to free me from my sin. I knew about Easter, as a holiday, but did not know that by His resurrection he overcame the bounds of death. I wish I could easily explain all that happened. I knew what he said was right, I knew I needed Jesus Christ, I knew what a miserable failure I had been, and I knew the day of reckoning was at hand. I received the gift of life in that little country church that moment. A warmth rose up my neck and a burden felt like it was lifted. I was renewed. After coming to salvation, I became active in Campus Outreach. I served on three short-term mission trips and felt the Lord's call into the ministry. I attended Seminary in 1990 and upon graduation in 1993 entered into the full time pastoral ministry. While life has been anything but easy since my conversion, the pilgrimage has been worth every step. I look forward to seeing where the Lord will take me in the coming years. Edited on: Monday, October 15, 2007 9:20 AMPosted in (RSS)