Essay on Personal Narrative: My Personal Christian Philosophy

I grew up in the Christian faith, where at a young age I probably accepted Christ, but it wasn’t until my twelfth birthday when I decided to rededicate my life to Him after a friend wrote in a birthday card, “Remember what Jesus was doing when He was twelve?”

Summer vacation, and school ends for about three months, and then you have as much fun as you can, then back to school… right? Well I had to go to summer school, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Everything was going fine, I had a job after summer school, and that was going fine as well. They say that summer is supposed to be fun and exciting, and it usually is for me and my family. However in July my father started coughing up blood. My father usually doesn’t make it his top priority to go to the doctors, so he waited about four weeks until he really didn’t feel good.

Since I was born, I have lived in a religious household, gone through catholic education, and have been bred by the morals, attitude, and rules of a Roman Catholic lifestyle. This was not my choice, but how I was raised. These ways have shaped who I have become, and who I will grow to be. Although my catholic experience has been bad at times, it has formed who I am as a person and has been a guideline for the life I would like to live.

To begin, this is my worldview and how I view the world. I do not believe in labels because it hinders a person from their full capability. I do believe in the understanding a person not just by their appearance but by who they are personally and behavior. Anyone can appear appealing and charismatic, but only a true follower of Christ has like a special glow about them, which is rare in my world. I have learned that it does not matter what denomination, ethnicity or upbringing a person comes from as long as they know The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus has done miraculous things in the past and in the present. Since I am on this Earth until I either die an earthly death or Jesus comes back, I try to live my life to the fullest.

Writing this Professional Project required some deep soul searching while deepening my spirituality to train the veterans of Tabernacle African Methodist Episcopal Church to become Disciples of Christ. Completing the nine training sessions will be beneficial for the congregation. A selection of a Steering Committee from the various boards within the church will assist me with the effectiveness of the Professional Project. Teaching the veterans about The Fruit of the Spirit will strengthen my spiritual walk with Christ as well. Each branch of the military has military core values and a comparison will be made with each Fruit of the Spirit during the training process. Presentations and workshops on The Fruit of the Spirit will undergird

Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

NYPD Standard Operational Procedure when anyone is transferred: The next day they must report in civilian attire to Health Services Division to take a Drug Screening Test. I was fuming about this involuntary transfer to Internal Affairs in the elevator when it reached the eight floor. Not familiar with Health Services Division, preoccupied by still really being pissed off, I followed a small group into a meeting room with about twenty seats. As I sat down I suddenly noticed these guys didn’t really look like cops. When one of these weird individuals said to me “I ain’t crazy, no matter what they say, I wanna be a cop and I wanna a gun.” I was momentarily confused.

When it comes to my worldview, I feel pretty confident in what I know and what I stand for. I grew up in a Christian home, therefore I have been pretty consistent on what I believe in for my whole life. Some of the preceding questions really made me think though about what I really believe and how I am actually living. Although I know what my worldview is, it is not always easy to make sure that I am fully living it out.

Some people are born with talents, others with brains, and some with beauty. However, I would like to think I was born with all the above, but most of all I was born with the innate gift of serving others. While growing up as a preacher’s kid, I witnessed my father help others by empowering them, motivating them, and praying for them. Observing how supportive my dad was of others I thought I want to do the same thing, but I knew I did not want to be a preacher. Growing up as a beautician’s daughter, I watched my mother improve others by building their self-esteem, being a listening ear, and sharing knowledge when necessary. I recall looking at my mother thinking I want to be that type of person when I grow up. I lacked the talents and creativity

“The other important skill is empowering people by way of letting the biblical narratives ask their own questions of our social context…the discussion was wonderful, and people started to get this idea of dwelling in scripture before plunging into a meeting, in order to hear God.”. (A. Roxburgh/F. Romanuk,176)

The majority of my life I grew up believing that anyone who was deeply religious was that way because they were incapable of finding their own path in life, but instead needed to believe in some supernatural being to do it for them. I believed that their mind was so chained down, and that one must be so ignorant to believe in something that has no evidence in truly existing. Throughout my life I had been introduced to religious ideas, but the concepts never seemed to resonate with me. Ideas that could not be proven through empirical evidence and rational thought, to me seemed absurd. How could one be so naive to life by such concepts? It was very evident my mom's side of the family held much value in religion

One day back in the ‘80s. I’m at my desk working, and a little girl comes and climbs in my lap. Sweet, curious little girl. She’d asked a million questions about the phone I was answering, then looked at my pictures on my desk. I had pictures of my family in a frame, and in that frame I had a picture of Jesus. She pointed to those pictures, and asked who is that? I said, that’s my family. She said no, who is that man? I pointed to the picture of Jesus, and asked her are you talking about him? She said, “Yes”. I said that’s Jesus. Do you not know who he is, I asked? She answered, “No”. She asked if she could hold the picture. As she held it, she said “he looks like a nice man”.

I look around and my eyes land on Tessa. She leaps back straight onto the now yellowing trampoline. Her steady hands push off the large red target in the middle. Her back handspring is flawless. As she straightens out and salutes her arms she smile and puffs out her chest. My heart aches.

The movement on the screen of my monitor was steady as a small telescope crept through the atmosphere. It made its way past the constellation of Sagittarius, the archer. I was assigned to watching the Hubble Space Telescope in its mission to capture photos of the Eagle Nebula, and it felt like a lifetime for the telescope to finally reach it. Every few seconds it would send photographs so I could analyze its journey.

My journey with God started in February of 1993, when I went to a ladies’ conference in Columbus, Texas. It was while the speaker was explaining that she knew there were some of us out in the audience, who felt guilty about something they had done in their past, and they did not feel that God could forgive them for it. But then she quoted from God’s word; “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, not principalities, no things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39 NASB) The speaker continued on to say that all we need to do is