My Life
Charley Karnes

I have never felt so warm and loved in my life as I do today. If there was anyway to tap the feelings that I have and just hand out a small sample to everyone I see, there is no doubt in my mind that they would see the only way for a full and content life would be through Jesus. I would fully expect everyone of them to run, not walk, to the nearest church and admit their sins and let Jesus come into their lives.

Rest assured that before I found my Church Home, I was a very restless, empty person. I did love my family with all of my heart and I did talk and pray to Jesus just about every day, but that wasn't enough. Let there be no doubt, I would have laid down my life for any member of my family without so much as a second thought. But there was something missing, a purpose, a feeling of knowing that I would be in Heaven when I died, and a feeling of purpose now, here on Earth that words can only describe as being empty.

I was saved when I was 15 years old at the Griers Chapel Baptist Church during one of our "Youth Group" meetings. This was a group of teenagers and Adults that would go to all of the surrounding churches in Dyer on Saturday night and meet. I'll be honest that the reason that I started going was to be with my girlfriend since we were to young to date. I know that I was saved that night. I know that Jesus came into my life without one doubt.

However, being a typical teenager, when I turned 16 and could date, my interests turned to other things and gradually I slipped away from Jesus and was not as close as I was with Him when I was 15. I never stopped talking to him, but it was not an everyday occurance and it seemed like only when I needed a problem solved. I still went to Church and Sunday School and also on Sunday night. But I slipped away.

I graduated from high school and joined the National Guard to go to their Electronics School at Fort Knox, Ky. When I returned from Basic Training and electronics school, I then started my education at Dyersburg State and then going on to Memphis State, still in electronics. In what I can only blame as my wild and unbridled ways, I stopped going to Memphis State with only a small number of hours left to graduate, and got married, divorced, and married the same girl again. The only good things that came out of the marriage, was 2 boys. I was really involved in their lives and really considered them not only as sons, but my best friends.

Then, one of the greatest things in my life occured. That was meeting and dating a beautiful woman named Jill. It was a storybook romance. We married on January 13th and it was a wedding that none would ever compare. There was a beautiful snow on the ground and to me it was just like we had been taken to a fairyland. Our honeymoon was the same way. It was truly a storybook marrage.

The storybook marrage, however didn't last. During the next years, I was forced to let one of my sons be adopted by his step-father. It was a difficult decision, but knowing what I do now, I believe it was the correct one. Then other problems seemed to just keep on coming. My oldest son got involved with drugs. My father, grandmother, mother-inlaw, and my step-father-inlaw all died within several months of each other.

If that wasn't enough, I betrayed my wife and best friend. In doing that, I nearly destroyed her. Somehow, she was determined to get our family back together. She succeeded, although it took will and determination like I had never seen before in her. She told me the turning point was one afternoon, as she sat in the swing in the backyard, that she felt God tell her everything would be OK.

She has often told me that she has forgiven me, but can never forget. I can't blame her one bit, after all, I destroyed all of her trust in me.

Isn't it strange how we hurt the ones that love us the most, yet they are the ones that forgive? Isn't it also strange how in just a few seconds you can destroy something that will take a long time to repair?

Jill started coming here to Macedonia Baptist Church and for the first time in a long time she was at peace with herself. She often told me how she had finally found a church home. She would invite me to come along with her all the time, but I would use the excuse of staying home and fixing Sunday Lunch so she wouldn't have to deal with it after church.

Jill got involved with The Journey To Judgement in 2003, along with Kinsey and Angela. She was very excitied about it and when it was finally ready to be presented, she got tickets for me, Ashley, and Ashley's boyfriend.

We went though it at our appointed time, and I had never had one single thing have such a profound effect on me as Journey To Judgement had. I will never forget the scene of the people standing waiting for their names to be called out in The Book of Life, yet they never were. This is even though they had appeared to be good people. The other scene that was very profound was Heaven. It dawned on me that everyone was welcome into Heaven, no matter what age, race or anything. It was a place where everything would be equal and where love would be everywhere.

At the end of the Journey, we were taken in small groups to ask questions, discuss, or even have the chance to admit our sins and ask God for forgiveness. The man that was in my group was Bro Ricky Boyd. He gave me a comment sheet to fill out and without any hesitation, I asked Bro James to come see me as soon as he had a chance.

Bro James called me the next morning. I asked him, my brother-inlaw, and sister-inlaw to come see me with Jill at my side. I had not told Jill about any of this until the last minitue, just before everyone showed up. I appolgized one again for my actions against Jill and asked her for forgiveness. I asked Bro James if he thought he could help me, even as messed up as I had made my life, as well as my family's. I rededicated my life to the Lord that day and it was finally the first time that I could actually start forgiving myself for all of the evil that I had done and hurt that I had caused. I also truly believed that Jesus still loved me and had wiped my slate cleaned.

I started going to church on Sundays and could not wait until the following Sunday would come around. I truly enjoyed Bro James (and still do). He is a wonderful and amazing man to me. He is like a rock with an unwavering belief in God. He always meets you with open arms.

But, I still longed for a home, a church home. I started to meet people in the church and I honestly felt that people were glad to see me there. It was a home that I had been trying to find all of my life and I had finally found it!

I came down to the front during the invitation of a service in March and told Bro James that I was ready to come home.

I am the happiest man alive now. I have a family that no one can match. I have a pastor that is, in my opinion, the greatest Pastor on earth, and I have my church family, whom I love very dearly.

I am thankful to The Lord everyday for my family, my pastor, my church family, and my country.