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Discussion in 'Other Christian Denominations' started by tyndale1946, Jun 10, 2018.

  1. tyndale1946

    tyndale1946 Well-Known Member
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    The same one that will prick an Atheist heart!... ITS ALL CHRIST!... Brother Glen:)
     
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  2. Steven Yeadon

    Steven Yeadon Well-Known Member
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    Thought I would share a second story. It's a bittersweet one though.

    After becoming a liberal "Christian" and getting away from my atheism, I was in need of a college major. I had been studying to be an engineer with the goal being to design spaceships or military vehicles and aircraft.

    I was still very intrigued by engineering, but I decided to try a new major. The reasons were that I couldn’t stand doing hard math all day long as a career Only in college, when I got to Calculus courses and Physics with Calculus courses, did I learn what engineers really do all day long. This caused me to discover two things about myself: I hated being a professional mathematician, and on top of this I was a mediocre professional mathematician. I had even failed several Physics with Calculus courses.

    I knew that with little ability or interest I had to move on. So, I decided to try another major on a subject I was very interested in: Politics. I took one semester of political science courses and loved it. After that semester, I would change my degree to Political Science, and I began thinking about what jobs I would want to do in time.

    I was debating the career I wanted to pursue in undergraduate college from then on. Would it be CIA Analyst? FBI Agent? Congressional Staffer? Or Military Officer? In essence, I was debating whether I wanted to be law enforcement, an intelligence analyst, a policy expert, or a soldier.

    After graduation with my Political Science Bachelors, and a lot of thinking, I planned to join the military. Military service turned out to be my most desired path to a job. I planned to join the military in Fall of 2008 as an ROTC Cadet pursuing a Master of Arts in Political Science.

    I started to train for the PT, debated what service to serve in, debated what role I wanted to serve in the military, I began to fill out the ROTC application, and I decided to meet with an ROTC recruiter. I was still very afraid of dying, and I was wrestling with this immensely, knowing I had to be willing to die to join the military.

    Shortly after this decision to join the military as a Cadet at UCF, I would suffer from my first bout of psychosis. Psychosis struck in late December with a meeting with a recruiter in early January. My mind just snapped into insanity because of schizoaffective disorder that didn't show itself until December 2007, except for a lingering, undiagnosed depression.

    After a little over a year my psychosis ended with medication. After coming to my senses, I rushed to military websites and even a recruiter to ask if I could still join, only to be told “no.” I was crushed. I would never see action for my people, trek across the earth, or battle the bad guys of the world.

    However, I decided to go with my secondary interests, and I applied for local law enforcement jobs and debated pursuing a CPA to be an FBI Agent. I never received a call back on the local law enforcement jobs I applied to, and in the end I decided I did not want to be law enforcement. Thus, I rejected being an FBI Agent.

    I erroneously thought at the time that I would be unable to get security clearance if I had a mental health problem. This caused me to pass over serious training to become an intelligence analyst.

    I also applied to be a 911 operator in Orlando, and it turned out I was a competitive applicant. However, I decided that I wanted to pursue more education for a dream job, and in the end I decided to forgo being a 911 operator.

    I would instead spend a year at Rollins college studying to be a classical musician. However, after one year, due to the the lack of good job prospects for musicians, and given the student loan debt I was accruing, I decided to stop going to Rollins. All my dreams since high school had been crushed at this point in time.

    At this time, I felt, but only internally as a feeling, that I should go to seminary. I interpreted this as a “call” to pursue a job in the church. I even felt reinforced to believe this, because I had spent a year learning from someone who was an SBC pastor, seminary professor, and friend who taught me theology. A subject I fell in love with, even as a liberal "Christian."

    I could have gone back and reapplied for 911 operator, but I decide to pursue my “call.”However, I attribute going to seminary primarily to my psychosis, which began to set in again at this time and would persist in a milder way for three years before getting much worse. I would spend three years at seminary, confused about what I would do with my degree. I couldn't decide if I wanted to start a Christian parachurch ministry, become a teaching pastor at an evangelical church, run for local or state political office as a culture war candidate, become a professor in theology or Christian apologetics, or become a priest in a high church denomination.

    Then, three years after starting seminary, I started to suffer from terrible psychosis again. It would be three years before I was stable again, which happened miraculously on the day I became a Christian on faith. However, It would be four years before I was doing well enough to think of going back to seminary.

    I contacted my seminary after four years, but I had changed in my theology over the course of a year from a more liberal Christian into a more fundamentalist one. This happened after my salvation as easily as breathing. The seminary I went to, Asbury Theological Seminary, would not budge on their stance that I had to learn and excel at a liberal perspective to get good grades. This caused me to walk away from seminary.

    I considered going to a more conservative seminary, but I found that the ones in Orlando did not take student loans, which left me no way to pay for such education.

    I was now suffering from chronic Migraines, but I was determined to serve my country and help the troops in field. I found out security clearance was based on current state of mind, and did not take into account mental illness unless its symptoms were present. I debated for months whether I should pursue an intelligence analysis job, and I even met with recruiters for the intelligence agencies. However, I concluded that with migraines I was unfit for service as an intelligence analyst.

    After this, I even debated whether I should try and become a think tank researcher, who specialized in Defense subjects. However, the lack of jobs in the field and high cost of more education led me to rule this path out.

    In desperation, I considered becoming a Congressional staffer, but that would require going to Washington D.C. and working for no pay as an intern in order to eventually get a paid position. I simply did not have the money to do so.

    I now know I have what it takes to make it into international relations programs at Ivy League level institutions like American University, having just been recently accepted there. However, I lack the money to go to such an expensive college.

    I was crushed to be disqualified for every job I had really wanted to do in life, but at least I am alive, saved, and provided for! So I need to content myself, and hey! Maybe I can work for the defense of my nation one day, as my medical treatment improves.
     
    #82 Steven Yeadon, Jun 27, 2018
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2018
  3. speedyj1992

    speedyj1992 New Member

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    Thank you for posting this - yes, we all have stories, but need to remember God is the author. I forget this constantly, so I'm saying this to remind myself as much as to help anyone who reads this.

    Here's the short version of mine:
    :
     
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  4. tyndale1946

    tyndale1946 Well-Known Member
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    Thank you for posting highlights of your walk with the Lord... We all come to the Lord in different ways as you can see from all the various stories on here... Thank you again for sharing yours... God Bless You... Brother Glen:)
     
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