Experiences coming to the faith

It was a warm summer evening in 1981. I was driving a tractor on Dad's farm while my wife and two sons were with Grandma in the old farm house. The sun was sinking in the west with about an hour's worth of sunshine when I decided since it would be dark before I finished I would shut the tractor down and walk the mile back to the house. I crossed the fence and then entered a pasture of native prairie wool. The native sages gave a lovely scent to the evening. I walked for a hundred yards or so and as I walked I became more and more anxious. I am not given to anxiety so it seemed very strange. I happened to glance down and spotted a small white rock with pale green lichens on it. To this day I can't explain why I knelt by that rock but in that instant atheist me whispered 'Father forgive me'. I was immediately aware of a Presence I had never known. The forgiveness I asked for washed over me in waves. Completely renewed and refreshed I leapt to my feet and ran the mile to the house. Arriving without even panting I found my wife and told her to phone a pastor I needed a shower and we had to go to the preacher. We met in the preacher's office and he explained that what I had experienced was not unusual and was called being born again. He then took my wife and I down to the local river and baptised us in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.