This is my story of how I came to believe that Jesus Christ truly is who he claimed to be; God in the flesh; the saviour of the world.

I wasn’t raised a Christian. My parents went to a Catholic Church about once a year if that. I never really understood anything about religion, nor was I even really interested in it. I just believed that there probably was something out there somewhere somehow, but it probably didn’t care about me cause he never seemed to show up and say hi to me or anything.

I was just your typical kid who liked to play with his friends in the neighborhood, go to the beach, you know like just be a kid and have fun.

But when I was thirteen years old in 1992, my mom, Gina Marie Westfall, was killed in a terrible car crash. An unexpected blow, and a harsh reminder of the pain and suffering that exists in our world today.

You know, when tragedy strikes we often wonder where God is? Where was God, and why did he allow this evil to happen?

You may have wondered this yourself at certain times in your life.

It’s actually Ok to wonder where God is, to really want to know the meaning of life, to try and make sense of this world, and all that takes place in it.

See as a kid I remember looking up at the stars and wondering how I got here. Who or what made me? This life cannot just be an accident. I mean, look around, we are on Kauai. My friend Eddie shot a 65lb Ulua the other week off Nihihau, I mean there has to be a God that is blessing us? Right?

The Question is, who is He?

After my mom died I wondered about Eternity for the first time in life. Where did she go? And where will I go when I die?

Even though I wasn’t a religious person, I always imagined that religion is supposed to answer those types of questions.

But like many, I turned to myself, and my friends, and partying, for answers.

I tried to make the pain and the empty feeling that you have in you heart when your relationship with God is broken, go away by taking drugs, girls, waves, and everything in between.

I had some good times,(most ended in puking) but nothing that really gave me any real answers to the longings of my heart.

This went on until I was 21 years old.

Then something very unexpected happened to me. One of my good friends, Ryan Mcloughlin, committed His life to Christ. We lived in separate parts of the country, but keep in touch.

I had been planning a one month surf trip to Costa Rica and asked if Ryan wanted to go. He said sure and we set the time to go and it was on! I was ready for some waves and an adventure.

Well, when my friend said that he was a Christian now I didn’t really think that meant we couldn’t party or anything, cause a lot of my friends in Florida claimed to be Christians but we always got high and drunk together.

But something was really different about Ryan this time. He had a huge bible, and never shut up about Jesus.

Well as you can imagine I didn’t take very well to it. I didn’t really want it and I even remember making a few rude jokes with foul language, and Ryan called me on it. I remember really feeling bad about offending him and his belief and I apologized.

But as far as being a Jesus freak I wasn’t down with that.

But then at the end of my trip something really crazy happened. This part of my testimony you may think I am crazy, but it really happened and it’s true.

Ryan and I caught a bus ride from Playa Tamarindo to San Jose where the airport was. On the bus, just above the drivers seat was a sticker of Jesus about like the size of a 4×6 picture. Ryan was reading his bible in the seat next to me, and he later told me that he was praying that I would get saved.

All the sudden, everything else kinda went quiet, and the eyes of Jesus in the sticker pierced mine, and He spoke to me in a clear voice that I understood. He said these words: “Bobby I died for you”

At this moment I panicked inside and rightly so, because the Bible says that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I now realized that Jesus was real, and I really felt terrible because I knew what a awful sinner I truly was. It’s kind of scary when you look at your life compared to Jesus dying on that cross.

I knew that he also knew everything about me in that one moment. This the bible also says as well. All things are laid bare and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

I was not about to tell Ryan about what I saw either cause I thought he would think I was nuts or something.

So when we arrived at the airport I was surprised to see a familiar face. A guy I knew from Florida named Kyle Cohn. He was a semi pro surfer, and we started talking about waves and what a coincidence it was to see someone from the same town.

So he began to tell me about how he was to surf in a contest that same day, but he felt like God told him to leave to the airport at once. Kyle went in obedience not knowing what lie ahead.

After he said this I told him that God was after me or something, and then after some small talk we boarded the plane. On the flight, I sat next to a guy from ecuador who asked me questions about God. I was freaking out.

We arrived in Miami and at the baggage claim I felt so lost and hopeless and burdened by my sins.

I saw Kyle again in the baggage claim and he came up to me and said this: “Bobby I know why God had me to leave the contest today” I said why? He said because of you Bobby.” God had sent kyle to me so that I would respond to the gospel. Kyle asked me if I would like to receive Jesus into my heart and that He would forgive me for all my sins. That God wasn’t mad at me but that He loved me so much that He sent his son to die on a cross for my sins, so that I could be with him forever in Heaven. All I needed to do was ask Jesus to forgive me, and that I believed in Him as the Son of God.

I said yes and I felt compelled and convicted that it was the right thing to do.

So right there at 10:33 PM on June 22, 2000 in the baggage claim of the Miami international airport, in front of many other people, I wept over my sins, and invited Jesus Christ to be my Lord and my savior.

I felt my sins fall off me, and the scales come off my eyes! I was born again and given Eternal Life! Praise God! I am so thankful that God saved me from my sins, because now I am free to love Him and worship him. It was the defining moment of my life.

My life has completely changed since that day. I now know that my life has meaning and purpose. I have a personal relationship with God, and I talk with Him everyday. He comforts me in all my troubles, and life isn’t easy but God gives me hope for the future and for today. It’s so awesome to know that I am loved by God. He has blessed me with a beautiful wife, and called me to serve Him.

And now I am in the sanctification process…… yeah…..

In closing I also wanted to just share a quote and few scriptures from the bible with you.

Scottish nobleman James Stewart: Quote about Jesus

”He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men, yet he spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming yet He was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with Him and the little ones nestled in His arms. No one was half so kind or compassionate to sinners yet no one ever spoke such red-hot scorching words about sin… His whole life was love. Yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees how they ever expected to escape the damnation of hell… He saved others but at the last, Himself He did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts which confront us in the Gospels. The mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality.”

The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is Eternal Life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Bible says if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved!
John 14:6 – Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus Said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

1 Peter 3:18 – For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit…

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. F23 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” John 3: 17 -21

Thank you and I pray that you may come into His light and walk in Him all the days of your life. God bless you and Mahalo.