you know when i consider my life before my encounter with the lord jesus christ it s almost like it was a dream and this is the reality what s funny is that from the outside looking in my life was clean i mean i was a pretty good dude i wasn t a thug i was respectful to adults intelligent etc my life looked pretty sanitized but the reality is that i was bound by my sin i was a slave it s like it says in titus 3 3 for we ourselves were once foolish disobedient led astray slaves to various passions and pleasures passing our days in malice and envy hated by others and hating one another and if i m honest with myself that was me the reality is that i was trapped by a demonic world system that had a lock on my mind and my soul and there was no escape even though i tried i looked for escape in games sports comfort you name it but at some point i had to come face to face with my biggest enemy me the spirit of god in the midst of my rebellion and i should add without my permission changed my heart and opened my eyes by god s grace i heard the gospel concerning jesus christ the son of god who lived a perfect life and died as a substitute taking on himself the wrath that i deserve for my sin and he rose again from the grave on the third day and for the first time the one who i once wanted nothing to do with was now irresistably amazing and fascinating to me and by the grace of god i repented and i believed in him and i was saved at that point the person i once was he died and the life that i lived before that was dead also it s almost as though god were saying to me shai wake up you re alive and i give god all the glory for that