One Year Later/C.U.G?

We're taking a detour from the testimonies for a minute because today is an important day. A year ago today, I started this blog. To commemorate, I've changed the layout and some other stuff around the blog.  It's hard to believe it's been a year already, instead of going through last year, which I've already done, I've decided to take the time to look ahead.

Now, I can't predict the future but from what I see this year is going to be big, I mean HUGE! There's tons of stuff I'm working on, from videos to....other things that I can't really mention. There's no doubt that this is going to be my biggest, and busiest, year yet! Normally, I'd be worried, but what do we have to worry about when we have God?

In short, this year is going to be amazing. To prove it I have an announcement that will blow your socks off! (When you realize what it is.)
What is C.U.G?

Now, clearly there's a ton of questions and I can't really say much at the moment. What I can tell you is that I'm in charge of C.U.G and that your questions will be, hopefully, answered in the coming week. Until then, wrack your brains trying to figure out what the heck C.U.G means! (Hint: It's not Christmas United Germany.)

"Simple Start" Aaron Schmelzer

As I mentioned in previously, these next couple blog posts will have some guests come in and share their testimonies with us. The first of these guests is one of my best friends, one who's had a big impact on me, and while his testimony is simple, it's not without meaning.

My testimony started out pretty simple. I grew up in the church and when I was 5 I accepted Christ as my Savior but at that time it didn’t really mean much to me. So after I accepted Jesus I was just living life but not really growing at all in a personal relationship with God.

When I was 13 I went to a school where I just wanted to fit in and did some stupid stuff and allowed myself to become vulnerable to temptation. During that time I was disrespectful, I had troubles going on inside my head where most of my problems were, and I was living one life at church, one life at school, and another at home.

I left the school after 1 year and a month later I went to a church camp where God dealt with me, and on June 23^rd, 2008, I rededicated my life to God.

Now I have a great and blessed life (I still screw up but it’s still great). I am living a life for God and giving it my all to stay the course that He has planned for me. Because of God I have great friends, great mentors, and a heart that constantly desires more and more of God. 

There's something truly satisfying about reading that, I believe that the testimonies that have the most impact are the ones we can relate to, and I know we can all relate to the message in Aaron's. As always, if you have an interest in sharing your testimony on the blog you can e-mail me at theSuperAlbino@gmail.com

A Beautiful Mess

On October 23rd, 1992, two teenagers who made an extremely big mistake welcomed their child into the world. Naturally, that child was me. For the longest time I've been making excuses to keep myself from writing my Testimony, I suppose part of me doesn't want to think about all of it, and yet, here I am, writing it out. I'd like to say that I'm not writing this for myself and I'm just writing it for other people, but that's a lie. I'm defiantly writing this for all of you, so that you can read it and, hopefully, learn from it. But, this is also for me, if I continued to go through life without sharing my Testimony, I would become trapped by it. When you learn that the past doesn't hold you back, that you're free from it, writing your Testimony becomes very easy.

As I said above, I was born to two teenage kids who had no clue what they were getting into. They named me Jesse Allen Swanson, because it had a nice ring to it. I'm not exactly sure of the details, but my mother and father weren't exactly on speaking terms when I was born. My oldest memory is my 4th birthday party, my father came, unannounced I suppose, and gave me a birthday present, he hugged me, said he loved me and then left. The next memory of him I have is him calling me from prison, I didn't understand it at the time and I still have no clue what he did, but I remember him saying the same thing he always said, that he loved me. I remember that he would always talk about us getting together and hanging out and it never happened.

During this time, me and my mother were living with my grandparents, who were getting along about as well as my parents were. Unbeknownst to all of us, my grandfather was having an affair, this of course, didn't go over well. My grandparents divorced and my grandfather became yet another person I hardly ever saw.

It wasn't all bad, though. Me and my mom moved into our own apartment and I started making friends. Eventually, me and my mom moved into a house about 2 streets down. That's where I met John. Me and John became close, we were what you would call best friends. As we grew up, we got closer until eventually, I moved. There's nothing that destroys a friendship more than moving away. But me and John were determined. He would come stay at my house during breaks and I would go stay at his. As we grew up, John became a person for me to look up to, he always seemed to have the answers and, unlike me, was never bullied or picked on.

That's the thing right there, if you asked me what my main motivation was for all of the stuff I got into, it would be, because I wanted to be better. I wanted to be cooler than what I was, I didn't want to be Jesse Allen Swanson. I wanted to be someone different, someone, in my opinion, better than me.

If someone tells you bullying doesn't affect a child, they are lying. At my new school I was constantly bullied, and why wouldn't I be, I was prime pickings for the bullies. I had buzz-cut hair (Yes, a buzz-cut), glasses, and a weird sense of humor, they couldn't NOT pick on me. But I wasn't confident enough to take it on the cheek and laugh, I always took it personally, still do sometimes. My only escape, was when I was with John. John never torn me down, he always built me up.

As we entered our early teens me and John got involved with drinking and drugs. John did it to emulate his brothers, I did it to emulate John. I remember the first time I drank, it was during New Years, I hated it, but because John did it, I had to. I began to seek that life at home, hanging out with people who did the same things. 

The bullying didn't stop, even though I was doing all the "cool" things. I decided that it didn't matter what I did, I would always be "uncool." I started hating myself, hating that I couldn't be like John, that I couldn't be cool. It got so bad that I would go to sleep crying, begging, to be someone else. To wake up and be someone different. I also started acting out, trying to bring attention to myself, I became branded as "The kid who would do anything for a laugh." Eventually, my behavior got me suspended from school.

My grandmother, seeing the path I was heading down, had us all go to church one Sunday, that church of course, was Victory. When I think about moments like this, I can't help but think of God, looking down and laughing with joy at the beautiful moment he created, at his child who's life has just changed irrevocably. So, needless to say, I gave my life to Christ that day and although it took awhile, God set me above all the drugs, alcohol, and self-pity. I had found the best thing in the world, Jesus Christ.

I can't put into words how overjoyed I am that this is finally out in the open. Like a great weight has been lifted. If this Testimony conveys anything to you, let it be this. God always fixes our brokenness, we just need to ask him into our lives. I'm constantly in awe at what God has done in my life. In all of the mess, the wreckage that was my life, God saw something beautiful in there, something worth saving. He saw me. And if you're reading this, I want you to know, he cares about you just as much as he cares about me. He wants to make the mess of your life into something beautiful.

The next couple of blog posts are going to be various testimonies from other people and I hope they affect you like they affected me. Also, if you're interested in sharing your testimony send me an e-mail at theSuperAlbino@gmail.com