Dear family and friends,

I need to start with an apology.  I am truly sorry.  Nearly six years ago, I was given the greatest gift in the history of mankind, and I was asked to share it with others.  For six years, I have made excuses, remained silent and shirked my responsibility – all out of fear.  I have feared what people might think.  I have feared what people might say, and I have feared failure.  All of these fears resulted in me keeping for myself that which I was given to share.  The gift that I was given was the gift of life and the giver was my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The purpose of this letter is first to apologize to you for not doing what I should have done years ago, and second to finally share with you the gift that was given to me.

I suppose it makes sense to start by sharing a little bit about my own personal experience.  Prior to coming to Christ, I was extremely wary of organized religion.  Perhaps the term wary is a bit of an understatement.  The reality was, I had an overwhelming distrust and distaste for organized religion.   As a child, we never went to church other than for the occasional Christmas Mass at the local Catholic Church. I felt like religion was for people who needed a crutch and couldn’t think for themselves (the “flock of sheep” mentality). I was certain that churches existed primarily to con people into giving them money, and I was very cynical and sarcastic when it came to organized religion.

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