Kirk Cameron is probably best known as the child actor who starred on the comedy series Growing Pains. While he was starring on that show, he converted from a staunch atheist to Christianity. He had started to develop his faith after attending church with another actor from the show inivited him to hear Charles Swindoll preach at the First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, California. The following account, in his words, is from an interview he gave to journalist Amy Hammond Hagberg. It talks about the events of a day that came shortly after his first visit to that church.
Well, about a month later, I was sitting in my car all by myself on the side of the road, and the thought occurred to me, "
Kirk, if you get in a car accident and die today, will you be going to Heaven?"
I knew the answer was no. I knew that I had ignored God my whole life, put everything in a more important position than He was, and I had sinned against Him. Even though I knew the things I was doing were wrong, I did them anyway, because I could get away with it. But God saw all of that, and I knew that there was no reason He should let me into Heaven, especially in light of what He had done by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for me.
And so, I knew it was time for me to do something about that. I decided I would pray. I didn’t know how to do it. I had never done it before, but I closed my eyes and I prayed the clumsiest prayer ever prayed in the history of prayer praying. I just said, “God, if You’re there, I need to know. God, if You’re real, would You please show me? And would You please forgive me? And would You please change me into the person that You want me to be?”
I opened my eyes, and it wasn’t like a gust of wind blew through my window or I saw visions of Jesus on my windshield, but I had a very real sense that God heard me. I felt He was listening to me, that He was real. And it felt so good.
I went back home and told a friend who was a Christian. He gave me a Bible, and I started reading my Bible. And I started learning about this amazing God who is not this big bad cop up in the sky just waiting to punish people because He somehow gets His kicks by doing that. He is a holy, just, righteous God who desires for us to turn from our sin so that we can be forgiven of our sin. It’s an amazing story of love that’s spelled out in the Bible, and that’s the God that I have fallen in love with and that I live for.
Prayer (from Cameron's words above):
God, if You’re there, I need to know. God, if You’re real, would You please show me? And would You please forgive me? And would You please change me into the person that You want me to be? Amen.
Prayer Concern: Young people.
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