Remembrances of my Childhood
By Ryan Marks
As a child I played some of the things that I now do. I would pretend to lead, that is, lead armies, organize assaults against imaginary castles, fight evil creatures, be the “Daniel Boone” of a group of frontiersmen, be an Indian warring against the evil tribe(s). All of these things were preparation for my future calling from the Lord. As a man, I would need the leadership skills I played about. And now, as a young man of seventeen, I am learning all the more how important leadership is in the things God has called me to do: I must lead myself to follow Christ (personal discipline), I must make the choices to accomplish the goals that I have set and or the Lord has called me to do, I must teach and disciple others faithfully setting the best example that I can so as not to be a hypocrite.
As a child, I enjoyed drawing a picture and now I do the same with my computer: graphic design, cutting out pictures from pictures, and newsletter design. I enjoyed writing songs of praise to God then, now I enjoy getting written material out to others which will help them to grow closer to the Lord. I started pretend companies and some small entrepreneurial endeavors back then, but now I am forming companies, well business ideas on a larger scale. I would sit and build with legos for hours on end, and in the process give names to many of them, and homes, families, careers, churches, pastors, and kings. I would form armies and experiment with different economic systems. By doing these things, I set the basis of my interest in basic economics and politics. As I refused to have heathen systems in my cities (unless, of course, they were my enemies), I learned how God’s Word really applies to my life.
I could say much more of my childhood and how I loved to read, battled with laziness and responsibility until something just clicked in my twelfth year, how I chased girls because of ungodly desire, how I did not have many video games, but played war, city and economy building for hours on end, how I loved listening to my mother read me great books aloud and how my imagination would soar, how I would spend much of my time running around the yard engaging in strenuous sword fights, archery attacks, Indian raids, and musket fights with my imaginary foes which would number in the hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions: yet my faithful band of a few thousand, or more often 10 to 400, would manage to kill them all and win the day; and how the Lord was important and murdering forbidden in those imaginary raids. I could farther talk about my experiences as a young man coming out of childhood and my new convictions and relationship with the Holy Spirit: and how I lusted, addicted myself to video games and television, how I gossiped frequently and struggled in friendships, how I pursued young women and how God prevented my quest, how I yelled at my siblings, and how I struggled with changing into who God wanted me to be, but again, God just clicked something inside of me one day, a motivation to accomplish something: a GMA, and then to write a book, and then . . . there is too much to say.
My childhood was a time of fun and preparation as I look back. No, I’m not married or leading my own family at this time, or engaging in political battles, but I believe that those are to come, the signs are evident that times are going to require great change. Will the changes to come be Biblical? Will godly men change the course of the impending doom? Or will society yield to Satan’s destruction and collapse, hopeless and confused? I don’t know, but this I do: God prepares us when we least expect it.
