Why Has Finding God Changed My Relationships? Managing Change Associated with Religious Conversion

Abstract

John stood in front of the mirror. He turned his body to one side and then the other trying to get the best view possible of his lats. This morning, like every morning since he had joined the Kelleira College football team, the mirror confirmed John’s own thoughts—he was a stud. He was the key component of the Eagles’ defense and one of the most popular students on his small college campus. With the delivery of his lunch in his hospital room, John was jolted out of his daydream memory. In the flash of a second, everything that had happened over the last year came flooding back to him.

One year ago during the Homecoming game, John intercepted a pass in the final seconds and ran it back for the winning touchdown. The next day at school he found himself in the men’s bathroom at lunch, looking in the mirror to make certain that he was the same guy who had come to school the day before. His friends seemed friendlier; seniors who had never so much as given him the time of day before, gave him the subtle head nod that said, “You’re in,” and he suddenly seemed a topic of interest for girls in his classes.

John’s sophomore year also brought some new experiences in the form of partying with the guys on the team. Here, as well as on the football field, he expanded his popularity by being seen as a risk-taker. Football, drinking, and the willingness to try just about any new substance, allowed John to live life on the edge. His new personalized license plate: YOLO. It was this edge that provided him with the “rush” that he increasingly needed to feel good.

The winter following his star season, the rush John needed came in the form of driving 65 miles per hour on an icy mountain road near his home. Beer, weed and tequila shots subtly blurred his vision and dulled his senses. Lulled into a false sense of control, John ignored his sister’s pleas to slow down as he careened out of control and rolled his jeep two and a half times over an embankment. A Douglas fir was the only thing that kept the car and its passengers from cascading 210 feet to the bottom of the ravine. This silent sentinel was the difference between death and life.