James Pavel

Andes Central High School

Class of 1978

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James Pavel - Class of 1978 - Andes Central High School

First Name	James
Last Name	Pavel
Graduation Year	Class of 1978
Gender	Male
Hometown	Lake Andes, South Dakota
Relationship Status	Married
About Me	Before I met Jesus Christ, I was restless. I thought I was pretty smart about religious things. Although my way of reconciling problems I hid from others was to alter the Bible or to try to figure out which parts I thought were valid and which ones were not, I still went to military chapel services often. I seemed successful, but I knew something was missing in my life. I couldn’t figure out what or whom that something was, though. My life changed when, at 32 years of age, I was sitting in a Bible study. We were studying the subject of reprobation, looking at Scripture passages like Romans 1:28 – And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind… The study on the development of reprobation listed 13 steps one might go through. I was shocked to see my life described in several of them, including violating conscience and, you may have guessed it, questioning Scripture. The lesson ended and, although somewhat shaken, I thought things had pretty much come to an end. The teacher went into a time of prayer following the lesson, which I thought it was pretty standard until he made a request that pierced my soul. He asked me to raise my hand if I knew for certain that I would go to heaven when I died. I tried to reason myself out of it – surely, if anyone deserved to go to heaven, I was one of them. I was essentially a pretty likeable guy, I thought. I compared well, in my estimation, with others. I was involved in military chapel activities and had been through confirmation in the church I attended as a youth. Regardless of my reasoning, though, God pressed one point upon me – I had absolutely neither any earthly nor any heavenly assurance that I would go to heaven when I died – I had no peace with God, I had no certainty whatsoever that my sins were forgiven. My teacher went on and invited me to accept Christ – right then and there. I did – and soon realized something significant in my life had changed. From that time on, my life has been different. God has done (and is doing) a work in my life that was just – well, wonderful. Although I doubtless have failed Him far too frequently, God has never failed me – He has always been faithful. He has always been pure, righteous, holy, and lovely. The Lord Jesus Christ became my Redeemer – my Savior, that day. I thank God for that Bible study w...(read more)