A Life of Change by Tom Brown
It was finals week of my senior year in high school, and while my classmates were thinking about biology and chemistry, I sat on a mountain top thinking about death.
Growing up in a household torn apart by alcoholism and plagued by emotional, spiritual and physical poverty, I had some serious questions about life. I decided to skip finals and drove up to the mountains with a couple of boxes of sleeping pills, a bottle of aspirin and a bag of rat poison. I couldn’t find significance in my life and was ready to throw it away.
After a stint in the hospital, I decided that I was taking things a little too seriously and I partied my way into a freshman year at Colorado State University. That fall, I met a group of people who had a peace and joy that I had never seen before.And the way they loved me was revolutionary. Through them I encountered Jesus of Nazareth. In Him a meaning and significance flooded into my life which changed everything.
The next few years as a follower of Jesus were a wild race of dorm outreaches, spring break road trips and summer programs all over the country, and mission trips around the world. I graduated from CSU, married an incredible woman and went on staff with the student ministry in Fort Collins, where I was recognized as a pastor. When I look at my family today and look back on the abundant life God has given to me, I am amazed by the gracious and wise ways of our Savior who redeems and uses the most broken of lives!
