Best Friends with Jesus.

by Steve “Fozzie” Huxford.

I've been going to church for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest

I realised that I needed Jesus as my friend, so I asked Him to be in my life and to look after me

memories are going to Sunday school then being taken for a walk in the nearby park while mum was in another service. When I was about 6, I realised that I needed Jesus as my friend, so I asked Him to be in my life and to look after me. You may think that I was too young to make a sensible rational decision at that age, but I'm sure most 6 year olds know that having a best friend, who won't ever let you down, is something important. I knew that it meant that I would be with Jesus in Heaven when I died, although I didn't know how much of an impact this decision would make on my life.

I was then baptised at the age of 13, and the water was freezing despite the fact the heater had been on for hours!

I found it very hard to live the Christian life at school

However I found it very hard to live the Christian life at school, being surrounded by people who acted and lived their lives often in contradiction with the Bible. I spent a few years wanting to be like my friends at school, not wanting to be different, and then on Sundays trying to act the way I thought people at the Church wanted me too.

It wasn't until I was nearing the end of my GCSE's that I started to think seriously again about my faith, and I realised that it was something that was worth giving 100% to. I had already decided that I wanted to do my 'A' levels

I couldn't cope with the bullying that I'd been getting right through secondary school

somewhere else as I couldn't cope with the bullying that I'd been getting right through secondary school. Looking back, it's surprising how long I did manage to put up with it! I decided that I wanted to go to St Austell College. Making a new start somewhere meant that I could stand up for what I believed in from the start. I found that just wearing a fish badge meant that people asked "what's that badge?”, and I'd have to tell them that I was a Christian. I quickly made some good friends and

I'd have to tell them that I was a Christian

met a few other Christians and soon started a Christian Union.

I grew in my faith a lot over the time I was at college and thought that I had the rest of my life planned and sorted. But God had other plans and I ended up at university. After the open days I decided that I wasn't going to come to Essex as the open day wasn't very good, and put me off. God had other ideas and so I came to Essex and was really excited about it by the time I started...

Next Week - find out what Foz got up to at Uni...