I'm a Christian...

Hi there NICOLE. Me too! At age 19 I was a burned out hippie going nowhere fast when a friend's mother opened the New Testament to me and read from the book Acts about the first Christians who were touched by 'tongues of fire' when they met after the crucifixion of Jesus on the day of Pentecost, a Jewish festival commemorating the Passover, (the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery). They (the believers) had just discovered that [i]the grave of Jesus was empty[/i] and some of them were saying that they had met and spoken with him, he was alive again! I had heard the words before but this time they blew me away and I understood for the first time what a difference faith can make. It became a turning point in my life more than 40, almost 50 years ago. Some of my best friends and family ridiculed and dismissed the transformation within me and thought that I had 'lost my marbles'. It's true I have lost a few marbles and I'm still not perfect but I feel reborn. I know I have a hope that those friends and family members sadly never had.