By Richard Burke
For years, only two things mattered in my life: opening my own Karate school and being awarded grand champion of full contact Karate tournament. I thought if I could achieve these two goals, everybody would respect me.
My success and failure started when I was 15. My dad came home and announced that he was now a Christian and we would all start going to church. I had never been to church. Every Sunday and Wednesday we were forced to sit in church services. I had never heard about Jesus, sin, miracles, forgiveness, or eternal life. Most of the preacher’s sermons sounded like neat stories that I really wanted to believe. However, one Sunday, the preacher said we had a choice as to whether we went to a beautiful place called Heaven when we died or to a horrible place called Hell. That sermon scared me. I prayed, as sincerely as I knew how, for God to forgive me of my sins. I actually felt the love and forgiveness that the preacher had been preaching about. However, instead of beginning my walk with Jesus, I continued my struggle to be something I wasn’t – a Christian. No matter how hard tried, I kept messing up.
I went to church, taught Sunday school, preached to the youth group and even became the leader of the boys’ ministry. But then the routine would start all over again. After years of living a lie, I experienced divorce, life without my daughter, the loss of trust from many of my friends inside and outside the church. Later, however, I became a deputy sheriff and then a K–9 officer. I owned and operated two very successful businesses and served in the U.S. Army. It seemed as though I could succeed at anything I set out, to accomplish, except living a life pleasing to Jesus.
A friend and I opened up a beautiful, top of the line Karate school. Thus, one of my two goals was achieved! I traveled to tournaments, special training classes for black belts, summer camps, winter camps, exhibitions, etc. I was determined to achieve my last and loftiest goal – to win Martial Arts toughest full contact battle and be the grand Champion!
The problem was, I hardly gave Jesus the time of day. I had plenty of money, lots of pride, and the respect I wanted from others in Karate. I had a new wife who loved me. Yep! I had it all. The world called it “success”, but to me, it was misery – nothing pleased or satisfied me. I was experiencing fear, depression, and anger. I even considered suicide. I was in full rebellion against God.
On April 16, 2006, my wife invited me to go to church with her. She had remained faithful, even though I had walked away from church and Jesus. I accepted her invitation, and that Sunday morning, He was there. In that church, that morning I fought my biggest fight. I prayed a prayer that I knew was from my heart, not my head, and Satan’s hold on me was broken! I prayed, “God , please change me and make me the man I need to be.” I told Jesus that I couldn’t give up the things of life that I was addicted to without His help. I wanted those desires out of my head. In the past, I had found it easy to give some of my time and money to the church. But that day, I gave my agenda, my desires, my life, my will and myself to Him. I was a New Creation.
After many years of fighting in and out of the ring, I finally realized that only one fight was really important – the battle for my soul. Jesus had already won it, but I had to fight for it. The old man, Richard, died to self that day – the world’s addictions and attractions were gone – and the new man, Richard, began to live. Through Jesus Christ, I was set free because I finally understood what it takes to be a Christian what it means TO SURRENDER IT ALL!
