MEMBER OF THE INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF EXCHANGED LIFE
Mark Fields
From Performance To Provision By Mark Fields, Director of Training & IFEL Representative Christian Families Today I grew up in a loving and supportive family. It was characterized by “that” generation – dad a WW II vet with all the good values of those times, but not the expression of affection or emotion. We had a Christian home, with strong emphasis on Christian living. I complied with those values, wanting to please my parents in everything I did, pretending to be a Christian. This led to good behavior, and excellent performance in the classroom and in the athletic arenas. As I grew older, my peers became the more important influences in my life, and my purpose became to please them. I set out to accomplish this in excelling in sports and the parties - being the funniest and nicest guy you ever wanted to meet. I found myself depending on people’s responses and performance results to affirm my worth and value. These achievements earned me a football scholarship to Georgia Tech, where I wanted to become an engineer and obtain a fulfilling career. In my Freshman year, everything changed - 5 months out of High School, 2 months into college. I was living my dream, attaining my goals - a starter for the football team, attending the top school of Industrial Engineering in the country, enjoying the smorgasbord of fraternities and trying to decide which one to join. I was trying to study for a Calculus test, but found myself not being able to. I began realizing how I had attained everything I wanted in life, and yet was very empty inside. I realized I was (we ALL are) born with a hole in my heart the size of God. Only HE could fill it and He wanted to do that very much. Putting down my Calculus book, I talked to my Creator, and asked Him to fill that hole. Based on His Provision for relationship, I accepted His offer of relationship and began a fantastic journey. His Provision was that He became a man, lived this life perfectly, and then died to pay the consequence for sins. At this point, I got the first half of the Cross - Christ died for my sins. It would be 30 years later before I realized Christ also killed the sinner on the Cross. I lived a roller coaster Christian life for 30 years, defined by performance, a desire to please God, (continued on page 2)