Let me introduce myself – my name is Elijah. No, I am not the prophet you read about in the Old Testament, but I am one of many “earthen vessels”, as Paul and Timothy described in their letter of encouragement to the church of God at Corinth along with all of the saints who were in Achaia, in 2nd Corinthians 4:7. I am a servant of the Sovereign Lord. A little over four years ago, I made this decision in my life.

I knew this was what I had to do after reading The Bible in it’s entirety. Actually I was listening to it on CD, while I was driving a semi truck on my dedicated run each day, which was my job at the time. With hours on the road each day, I had a lot of time in the truck to listen and think. And being at an extremely low point in life, I knew there had to be something better out there. At times I laughed while listening. At times I cried. The stories were so real. Because they ARE real! An account of history, really. It tells of real people, real struggles, real love, and real grace. I knew that I wanted to serve the God I had learned about and be blessed by His grace and forgiveness. This is a gift that is offered to each person, but we have a responsibility to accept it. How did this happen?

While listening to the Bible on CD, these things happened:

– I had heard the Word: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Luke 11:28, Romans 10:17)

– I believed what I had heard: (Mark 16:16, John 8:24)

– I felt complete remorse for offending our Lord through the life that I had lived and was living, and knew I had to repent of those offenses: (Luke 13:3-5,Acts 2:38, Acts 17:30)

– I confessed that Jesus was my savior and that He is the Son of God: (Romans 10:10, Acts 8:37)

– I was baptized by immersion into water, putting on Christ: (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 16:16, John 3:1-15, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12)

– And now I am living for God, and trying to spread the Word that has changed my life, because I know it can do the same for others. (Romans 12:1-2, Colossians 3:1-11, Revelation 2:10)

Since then, He has tremendously blessed me with my wife of nearly four years, Jennifer, as well as additional schooling and a certification, and a new career path, which I am excited about. I have faith (and see) that as long as I serve God, first and foremost, He will continue to bless us.

I decided to start a blog to record my own studies and share them with you at the same time. I titled my writings “A Pillar in the Temple,” which comes from Revelation 3:12, where John recorded Jesus’ encouraging statement to his church in Philadelphia, “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”

I am excited to dig deeper into His Word, and I am thankful that you are joining me on our journey to figure out the truth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” – Jesus (Matthew 5:6)