Hi! My name is Kaleb. I’m 26 years old and I live in Memphis, Tennessee. This is my story.
I was born the middle child of a set of triplets in Statesville, North Carolina to parents who were both Christians. My sister was a minute older, and my brother a minute younger. The three of us did everything together, often dressed just alike! Morning, noon, and night the three of us wreaked havoc wherever we happened to be. The one location we frequented the most was probably church! We were there three times a week–every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening.
As I grew older, the big question that I began to seek an answer to was one of identity. “Who am I?” “What am I here for?” “What’s my purpose?” I can remember wrestling with those thoughts even from a very young age.
I began to find the answers to those questions as I got closer to Jesus. Because of my parent’s commitment to keep my siblings and I in church, I really knew a lot about Jesus’ life, ministry, and teachings even as a 6-year-old. It was around that time I began really paying attention in “big church.” One Sunday morning I was sitting in the service and everything clicked. The pastor gave an invitation and I realized that knowing about Jesus wasn’t good enough, I had to know Him personally. When I got home, I asked my parents how I could make Jesus my Savior.
They took me through the Gospel. They shared with me that God was perfect and holy, but I was not. Like all people I was a sinner (Romans 3:23), and the punishment of that sin was death–an eternity separated from God (Romans 6:23). But God loved me too much to leave me that way! Because I wouldn’t be able to get to heaven on my own, He came to earth in the form of a man, Jesus Christ (John 3:16). He lived a perfect life on earth, took on the punishment that I deserved by dying on a cross, and rose again from the grave to prove He was God! At that time, I decided to live life God’s way. I believed that Jesus was who He said He was and did what He said He did. Right then and there, I received Him into my life as my Savior.
My life verse is Galatians 2:20–“For I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” The moment I made the decision to follow Jesus, a new life began! I had peace, a purpose, and an identity in Christ! I knew who I was created to be. I’m now in full-time ministry, with a wife, a puppy, and a kid on the way. The Lord has blessed me beyond what I could ever imagined! The Bible says that Jesus came to give us “life and life abundant” and I can testify that there is no more abundant life than a life lived with and for Jesus! Thanks for listening to my story.