Lester Nees

I am thankful that God ever brought me into contact with the Gospel. Years ago, He found me on one of the street corners of this city, a discouraged and disheartened soul. I was not financially down and out, but I was spiritually down and out. I had been in sixteen different states looking for reality in life, and I didn’t know where to turn next.

I was brought up in a wonderful Christian home in one of the southeastern states of the United States, but my heart began to be rebellious and I wondered if the world didn’t have something better to offer.

I realized before too long that I would surely get into trouble if I didn’t give my heart to the Lord. There were many different religions then, and maybe ninety-nine percent of the people were religious. I was full of doubts and fears, though. I was afraid of anything that went under the name of religion. I wanted a definite change in my heart and I wanted to know that salvation was real.

I had traveled around the world looking for something to excite me, but I failed to find the thing that God intended for a man to find. I thank God that when I first heard this Gospel story on the street corner of Third and Burnside, God talked to my heart and opened my eyes. Although, I was never drunk in my life, I was a dissatisfied young man. As I listened that night to the testimonies of those old warriors, telling how the Lord had saved them and redeemed them from the old life, I wondered if God would ever do that for me. I stood in amazement and thought that if God would make this change in my heart as He had for them, it would be the greatest thing in all the world. All my prestige and everything else faded from my view that night.

I followed that group of people to the church and listened to the service. One night when the altar call was given, I knelt at the pine bench and prayed. God answered and saved my soul. I can say the half has never yet been told. I thank God for what I feel in my soul every day as I tell of the wonders of this great salvation.

After twenty years, I am glad I have a praise in my heart for the old-time religion. I have never wanted to get away from it. It makes me feel good every day. The Lord comes down and blesses amid the traffic of the ordinary things that men go through these days. I can say the Gospel is a match for every situation. God gives me peace and joy and happiness. There is something in the Gospel that keeps one looking forward. There are heights and depths to reach, and I am going to get what God has for me.