First Blog
Well, this is my first blog not on myspace. I decided to make this blog because myspace is truly an addiction and I don't want it anymore. There is so much temptation on that website that conflicts with my beliefs in God. Also, I decided to make this blog because I woke up to get ready to go to church, I need to leave at 6:45, but I forgot it was daylight saving's time, so I should still be asleep, however, I'll just kill some time.
I guess I'll tell you a little bit about myself in case you don't know. My name is Mitch VanDenBerghe, I am 16 years old and I live in Rochester, NY. I was brought up as a Christian but strayed away from it when I joined my old band, "19 Broken" and started hanging out with Sean Pritzkau, who to this day is still my friend, and our lives have changed for the better drastically. I'll get to that part later. When I was 12 my friends and I built a tree house in my friend's back yard. At that time it seemed like the greatest time of my life, but looking back it was probably the most destructive. We did all sorts of bad things up there. To name a few, I saw my first "Play Boy Magazine" up there, I tried smoking cigarettes and cigars, and we drank beer. We did this only for about two months until my friend who's yard we had built the tree house in moved away. I quit all of those things except for one.
July of 2003, I joined the band 19 Broken, we had some fun times together, and we played lot's of shows, but this band was deffinately not building me up. We all had some conflicting morals, so on September 22nd 2005, we officially disbanded. Shortly thereafter, a certain member of the band started telling everyone what I had said in a private email to all the members of the band as to why I was done with the band. The email included me telling them about a dream I had that I saw to be a vision from God. There is a verse in the Bible that talks about a wolf disguised in sheep's clothing. What it means is that something extremely harmful can be disguised as being harmless. Before the dream I thought, just because I am in a band with someone who is living an alternative lifestyle and someone who is experimenting with drugs doesn't mean I'm doing it... right? Well, I was wrong, the images that were in my head were sinful and horrible, and it hurts to think how far I strayed from God. Back to the dream, in the dream, their were wolves all over the yard and like on my roof, and it was basically symbolizing evil in my life and trying to get into my house. Rumors started about me talking about "Werewolves." Werewolves and wolves are totally seperate things, and it really hurt that people would actually believe what this other person was telling them about me. In the end everything worked out though.
January of this year, I started attending church regularly again, and people around me started to see a significant change in my life. One thing that I struggled with a lot before I became Christian again was swearing, and I always tried to quit but I couldn't. It wasn't until I devoted myself to God and asked him to help me that I finally quit swearing. It took a while but I finally rid myself of everything immoral in my life, everything except the pornography. I couldn't find a way to break free. At our youth group we had a series called great sex, and on the last night, Pete, our leader, set a book down on the riser and said something like, "Guys, if you are sick of sexual temptation and you want out, I strongly suggest you take this book." I decided to take it. The book is called "Every Young Man's Battle" and because of it, I am now free of sexual immorality.
I have now been attending church regulary since January 2006, and I am a member of the worship team. People at school have seen a change in me, and I don't know if they know this, but I know it's for the better. I'm not going to say that I am perfect, because I know I am still in a constant battle to "Become What I Believe."
That's my testimony, like it or not.
Mitch
I guess I'll tell you a little bit about myself in case you don't know. My name is Mitch VanDenBerghe, I am 16 years old and I live in Rochester, NY. I was brought up as a Christian but strayed away from it when I joined my old band, "19 Broken" and started hanging out with Sean Pritzkau, who to this day is still my friend, and our lives have changed for the better drastically. I'll get to that part later. When I was 12 my friends and I built a tree house in my friend's back yard. At that time it seemed like the greatest time of my life, but looking back it was probably the most destructive. We did all sorts of bad things up there. To name a few, I saw my first "Play Boy Magazine" up there, I tried smoking cigarettes and cigars, and we drank beer. We did this only for about two months until my friend who's yard we had built the tree house in moved away. I quit all of those things except for one.
July of 2003, I joined the band 19 Broken, we had some fun times together, and we played lot's of shows, but this band was deffinately not building me up. We all had some conflicting morals, so on September 22nd 2005, we officially disbanded. Shortly thereafter, a certain member of the band started telling everyone what I had said in a private email to all the members of the band as to why I was done with the band. The email included me telling them about a dream I had that I saw to be a vision from God. There is a verse in the Bible that talks about a wolf disguised in sheep's clothing. What it means is that something extremely harmful can be disguised as being harmless. Before the dream I thought, just because I am in a band with someone who is living an alternative lifestyle and someone who is experimenting with drugs doesn't mean I'm doing it... right? Well, I was wrong, the images that were in my head were sinful and horrible, and it hurts to think how far I strayed from God. Back to the dream, in the dream, their were wolves all over the yard and like on my roof, and it was basically symbolizing evil in my life and trying to get into my house. Rumors started about me talking about "Werewolves." Werewolves and wolves are totally seperate things, and it really hurt that people would actually believe what this other person was telling them about me. In the end everything worked out though.
January of this year, I started attending church regularly again, and people around me started to see a significant change in my life. One thing that I struggled with a lot before I became Christian again was swearing, and I always tried to quit but I couldn't. It wasn't until I devoted myself to God and asked him to help me that I finally quit swearing. It took a while but I finally rid myself of everything immoral in my life, everything except the pornography. I couldn't find a way to break free. At our youth group we had a series called great sex, and on the last night, Pete, our leader, set a book down on the riser and said something like, "Guys, if you are sick of sexual temptation and you want out, I strongly suggest you take this book." I decided to take it. The book is called "Every Young Man's Battle" and because of it, I am now free of sexual immorality.
I have now been attending church regulary since January 2006, and I am a member of the worship team. People at school have seen a change in me, and I don't know if they know this, but I know it's for the better. I'm not going to say that I am perfect, because I know I am still in a constant battle to "Become What I Believe."
That's my testimony, like it or not.
Mitch
posted by Mitch VanDenBerghe at 4:27 PM
1 Comments:
Nice testimony bud. I'm gonna get rid of my myspace soon as well. It's been on my mind a lot lately. Sorry to hinder your relationship with God, but I hope bringing you to c4 is enough for you to forgive me. You've been a great friend and you're a wicked awesome drummer. [I've never said wicked and awesome in the same sentence before, ever.] I'll make sure to tell you when I post my first blog so then you can comment mine.
-Sean
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