Wisconsin

I (Matthew Anderson) was raised with my mother's belief system, but my dad's beliefs were from a different church. He didn't normally attend either church, since he was too busy running the farm. I think having parents from different churches led me to question which church, if any, was correct.

By the time I left for college I was questioning everything. Not having any answers, I drifted along and became self-centered and godless. Yet, in the back of my mind, I held open the possibility of God's existence and was drawn to spiritual concepts. I always intended to read my Bible and started many times, but never got very far. Then circumstances began to slowly change my way of thinking. Everything spiritual started to fall into place.

My drifting along and enjoying life, but not getting anywhere, changed when I took a job at a Chicago trading company. I had a lot of debt from college, and this seemed like my big break. Yet, after a few months of high tension, stress, and little sleep, the job seemed like a cut-throat business, and I decided to resign. Although I felt like a failure for leaving, I had learned a lot about myself and was motivated to get my life in order.

I returned to my previous taxi cab job, and worked hard. After two years, I was out of debt and was saving to buy a house. Still, as I reviewed my life, I was a self-centered and godless person. I came to the conclusion that I wasn't the person I thought I should be. I stopped blaming everyone else for everything. Although I had not yet turned to God, life was starting to make sense, and I had a purpose. Things were coming together, and I was growing.

I moved from a bad situation and into my own apartment where I made some good decisions. One decision was to go without cable TV until winter to save money. That's when I discovered and began to watch a lot of 3ABN. I also listened to Christian radio at work, and was determined to read my Bible through in one year. Suddenly, my whole life was turned upside down and consumed with Christianity. I also started to attend the local Seventh-day Adventist Church, after someone at 3ABN suggested I look for the church's address in the telephone book.

Six months later I was baptized by Abraham Swamidass, pastor, and became a member of the Madison Community Church. Looking back, I wonder why it took me so long to see what now seems so obvious.

Matthew Anderson, as shared with Leslie-Anne Endres, Madison Community Church local church elder, and Bruce Babienco, Lake Union Herald volunteer correspondent