TESTIMONIAL

MY STORY

How I Navigated Life Trusting God Without Tracing God.
When someone is asked to talk or tell about themselves, the first thought is “how do I make this interesting?” This brief testimonial is not that. During my formative years, until age seventeen, I lived on St. Croix, one of three main islands comprising the U.S.Virgin Islands. My childhood was idyllic, enjoying the wonderful tropical environment with the benefits of western culture. Those were my 'care-free' years.
My parents were avid "church-goers". I and my siblings were subject to the rigor of routine church attendance, albeit governed by tradition rather than life practice. It was in this rigor that I was exposed to the existential questions of life’s meaning, my purpose on earth, and the here-after. Although our familial interactions and religious practice did not lend itself to uncovering the answers to existential concerns, yet these questions became the drivers for future spiritual pursuits.
I sought answers in a variety of religious and esoteric practices – many of which are widely accepted, but not considered mainstream. However, this did not address the question of finding “the meaning of life”. I continued in the aforementioned practices to no avail. Additionally, I heard the “Gospel” of Jesus Christ, that of his death, burial, and resurrection as the atonement for my unregenerate condition, but I rejected this message, concluding that it was not relevant to my current existential pursuits. 
After graduating from high school, I attended university in White Plains, NY. It was here that I came face to face with the Gospel message yet again. During the second semester of my first year, I was confronted with the notion that the answer to my existential concerns resided in a person - Jesus Christ. This time, I “heard” the message. What I pursued previously did not address my quest for purposeful existence, nor mitigate the human inclination to vice, and certainly did not address the here-after. The 'good news' of Christ's atoning sacrifice did. 
I embraced this message and its associated precepts whole-heartedly, only to find that faith in Jesus Christ, and the truths of the Bible were the missing elements to a purposeless life with respect to the Kingdom of God. This cross-roads experience became an on-going, life changing experience of the 'invisible God'. Additionally, it was a regenerative experience which became the foundation for all future events that would follow, culminating in a life of service devoted to the person of Jesus Christ.
I received "the call" to service in my junior year at university, beginning with a teaching-preaching ministry at a local church gathering in White Plains, NY and expanding to an itinerant teaching ministry throughout NY, NJ, Fla., and St. Croix until 2015. Subsequent to 2015, I continued to support a variety of spiritual endeavors: Writing Bible devotionals to believers in the Caribbean and United States; supporting a local gathering of believers in the Somerset NJ region via a faith-based addiction recovery program; Participation in youth ministries, and gospel outreaches; Created a social media ministry platform: Beside Still Waters dedicated to the building up Christians in the faith globally, all of which are accessible on christianjavois.com 
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