Why I’m Here
In mid 2006 I decided that if the Christian life that I was living was all there was, then what the world had to offer was better. So I gave God an open invitation to prove me wrong, and started drinking and partying at every chance I got. I was drunk more than I was sober for a good six months. I started a cycle of depression and drinking that just led to deeper depression and more drinking. Soon all my money was going to gas, rent, alcohol, and over-the-counter pain killers.
That lasted until Saint Patrick’s Day, 2007. I had a choice to go to a pub crawl in downtown Sacramento, or the Sacramento OneThing conference put on by The International House of Prayer in Kansas City. For reasons I still don’t know, I chose the OneThing conference. For most of the conference I just walked around and judged all the fake hypocritical church people that were there to get their God-hype fix so that they could continue their sorry excuse for Christianity.
To try to avoid too much attention from anyone who may recognize me from my church-going days, I went to a teaching by a guy named Corey Russell. He looked crazy, so I thought it’d be entertaining. Well, I’m pretty sure that I was right, he is crazy–crazy enough to actually get through all my pride and judgment. He shook my paradigm to the core. The phrase that caught my attention was this:
“God’s not boring, you’re boring. If you think God is boring you have no idea who He is.”
Corey did not look bored, and he didn’t look fake and hypocritical like a lot of the other people there. I decided that whatever Corey had, I wanted. From then on I was on a search for the knowledge of God. I was still drinking and depressed, but I had a purpose in life for once: to know God.
Not a lot has changed since then. I drink a lot less, and know a little more, but my purpose hasn’t changed. I still need to know who God is. Not what He’s done or why He did it, I was raised in church, I know all that. I need to know Him as a friend.
I’m so convinced that the knowledge of God is all that matters that I’ve quit my job and am going full time in a place that I believe I can find Him.
-J
[...] 20, 2008 by Alyssa A couple weeks ago, my boyfriend decided to quit working at a coffee shop and be full-time staff at my prayer room. It’s cool [...]
What a great testimony!! That’s awesome!
What a great testimony! Where did you end up going? I am curious. I met Corey Russell recently. he came to speak at our church for a “Prayer Rumble” we were having before the Call SD. I asked him to pray for me so he hit me in the stomach. Since then I have definitely felt a lot more passion in my walk with God. I think he carries this prophetic Jeremiah like anointing. Praise God for Corey Russell and IHOP. I will read more of your posts when I get a chance.