Pastor Ed Moreno

By Pastor Ed Moreno

I’ve been an avid movie goer for as long as I can remember, which is why it’s surprising even to me that I’ve never gone to see any of the “Transformer” movies; so I would not be someone who could comment on them.

I do, however, know something about what it means to experience transformation.  And I do know “the” real life Transformer who transformed me:  Jesus.

Let me begin at the beginning.  My birth name is Edward Hector Fernando Moreno.  That’s a pretty Hispanic name (as if you couldn’t tell).  I was born and raised in Los Angeles.  My dad physically and psychologically abused my mom, and he hit me so often that I would flinch when he walked by.

The gang infested neighborhoods that I lived in were violent, too.  In a seven year period, I was in about 15 to 20 street fights.  Drug use and a generally immoral lifestyle were also the norm for me.

I was definitely not a college-bound kind of guy, so after high school I immediately entered the work force.  There I found another kind of violence (i.e., the undermining and back stabbing others do to you to get ahead).

By age 19, I literally asked myself: “Is this it?  Is this what life is all about?”  That was the beginning of my search for the real purpose of life.

At age 20, I went with the other brown and black belts at my dojo to go see a new scary movie.  We were “tough” guys and thought: How scary could it be?

Well the movie was “The Exorcist,” and I have to be honest, it scared me a lot.  Because even though I wasn’t raised in a religious home, for some reason I believed that demonic spirits were real and that I was defenseless against them.

For some reason, I also believed that God was real and that he was stronger than the demonic.  So I became determined to go to a church to find out more about God.

The youth pastor had enough presence of mind to hand me an easy to read translation of the Bible before I left that Sunday.  I went to my apartment and started reading through the Gospel of Matthew.

Suddenly, all the lights began to go on.  I was taken with the beauty of Jesus’ life.  I read of a heavenly Father who loved me, even if my earthly father didn’t.   I saw that God had a purpose for my life, and I discovered the meaning of life, which is to love God and serve him gladly.

The next Sunday, when the Pastor gave the opportunity for people to accept God’s offer of salvation through Jesus, his Son, I couldn’t get down the aisle fast enough.

I went home, grabbed the two baggies of marijuana that I had in a drawer, flushed them down the toilet and never looked back.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

The Scripture says that we are a “new creation” in Christ.  I can testify to the truth of that statement.  And as one who has been transformed by the real live Transformer, I can say that now I’m living life with true and lasting purpose.  The old life served no such purpose.

When people feel like they’ll “miss out” on life if they become a follower of Jesus, the crazy thing is that it’s by not becoming a follower of Jesus that they wind up “missing out” on real life – a life of real substance and that has eternal value attached to it.

If you are not a follower of Jesus yet, my prayer is that you will become one soon.  So why not check out a church, and maybe the positive life transforming experience I had will become your experience, too.

New Day Christian Church meets Sundays at 9:30 and 11 a.m.  They are located at 7155 Hamner Avenue, at Schleisman Road, next to the Fire Station.  For more information, call (951) 278-8367, or visit http://www.newdaycc.net.