Jamie Burdette

My parents were leaders and teachers at our church, and, like a lot of folks could say, “If the church doors were open, I was there.” When I was about 7 or 8, I became a member of the church because a lot of my friends were joining and I assumed that it was expected of me. When I talked to the pastor, he asked a lot of questions about why I wanted to join. I knew all the right answers to his questions, but truthfully, nothing had changed in my life. I was not interested in spiritual things and still lived the same self-centered life that I always had.

As I entered high school, the self-centeredness started to become destructive and rebellious. While most Sundays and Wednesday nights would find me in a pew at the church with a Bible in my hand, most Friday and Saturday nights would find me at a party with a beer in my hand. Nothing that happened on Sunday changed the way that I lived the rest of the week. Yet, throughout this time, if you asked me if I was Christian, I would have said, “Yes” and been able to give you the answers to prove it.

When I got to Clemson University my partying increased. But it was there that I had an encounter with a guy who was a part of a group of Christians meeting on campus. He had come by the room to talk to my roommate. When I came in, he introduced himself and asked the question that changed my life, “If you were to stand before God and He were to ask you ‘why should I let you into heaven’, what would you say?” I gave him my Sunday school answer and sat down to study. But for the first time in my life I was confronted with the reality that I wasn’t sure about heaven but I was very sure that I was empty inside and tired of chasing after things that didn’t fulfill me. That conversation started a months long journey to seek truth and fulfillment. That journey ended when I came across a verse in 2 Corinthians that says, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come.”

After that I verse, I committed my life to following Jesus. While much has changed in my life since that point, the biggest change is that I have found peace and fulfillment where there had been frustration and emptiness.

Jamie Burdette