“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” -Romans 10:9
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” -Genesis 50:20
“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” -Psalm 121:1-2
My life began in a fairly typical way. I was the first born child to two white, middle-class parents, both aged 21, in a Southern/Midwestern city. There were no complications, no surprises. All said, it was a fairly normal entrance into the world.
My parents married right out of high school and neither one had earned above a high school diploma. My mother worked at a national department store chain, and later for a large grocery chain, while at the time my dad worked in an arcade and as a barber. We started out living with my grandparents, but eventually the three of us took up in a small apartment in a decent neighborhood. Occasionally we attended a small pentecostal church, but we never were consistent church-goers.
When I was three we moved into our first house and my little sister was born. It was at this time that I can start remembering actual events from my life and so from this point the majority of what I will say is my own take and experience.
Shortly after the birth of my sister, my dad began traveling with his new job, working as an electrician. His travels took him to LA off and on, but mostly on, for a period of 6-9 months. During this time my mom was working from 8pm until 4am, 5 nights a week, and so a lot of sleepovers were spent with me sleeping on the floor next to my sisters crib at my grandparents house (these were my mother’s parents and will be the ones I refer to consistently throughout my story). Eventually my dad came back home and time went on as it had before to me.
In a couple of years we moved to a second home, the home where I would spend the greater part of my life, and I began elementary school. From the beginning I excelled at school, so much so that after my kindergarten year the decision was made to advance me to the 2nd grade instead of the 1st. This transition proved tough, not from an academic standpoint, but socially, since it was common knowledge that I was “the smart kid” and this brought about all of the standard playground heckling. Also during that year my little brother was born amidst my father being absent again, this time in Kansas City.
Then, during my third grade year, everything changed; particularly towards the end of that school year, as years of tension between my parents finally hit a head and they officially (and very loudly) split. This sent shock waves through my little world, as I had never considered the possibility that my parents may divorce, and I soon saw it as my calling to enter the fight and try and reconcile the two parties, but (of course) to no avail.
With my dad out of the house, I began to take on a lot of responsibility with my mother working two jobs, one over the midnight hours, and my house consisting of a 5 year old sister and a 1 year old brother. I was committed to being the best big brother possible, and can now look back and see that at that point I quit viewing myself as a kid and began viewing myself more as a fellow caretaker in the house, bearing the burden for keeping siblings quiet as mom slept and for protecting them from the constant arguing that occurred whenever my parents did interact. Through this I pent up a lot of emotions, sadness and anger, that really dictated who I was for several years to follow.
However, through all of this turmoil, God took the opportunity to do the greatest possible thing in my life. For a brief period of months during the summer following my parents split, a co-worker of my dad’s began seeing my mom. His presence in our lives would have little consequence other than the fact that he had a son who was my age, and over that summer his son, and so me as well, attended a week-long church camp held by the Assemblies of God in Crestwood, KY. It was during that week that God first reached out to me and called me his own, leading my heart to an understanding of my necessity for his comfort and salvation as Lord of my life.
Though many years of sanctification followed (and still continue) it was at this point that I first gave my life over to Christ and became a Christian. Through all of the sadness and depression that I felt at the time, God reached out and gave me the eternal hope that only he could provide, and from that week on my life has been completely different!
Posted by Todd Burus 
