All things must start somewhere, and my beginnings are rooted in a rural area outside of a small town in Oklahoma.  Chelsea is its name.  A gentleman who was there at the town's founding suggested it as he was from Chelsea, England.  It is a small town with only one stoplight, and is nice in its own special way.  Nevertheless, I am only recenly getting more adjusted to the town.  Growing up, I actually didn't even live in the town.  I lived about seven miles south of the town.  Life was nice there.  My little sister Angela and I grew up together with few friends very close by, until I was in 4th grade.  That could explain why I was so shy growing up.

I can't remember much of my early life.  To tell the honest truth, it was like I was walking in a fog.  I could only remember random moments here and there, both special and just ordinary, but otherwise, I was simply lost... in the darkness of my mind.

Then something happened to me one day.  It was one of those times when I did go to church on a Sunday morning.  I was about 13 and did not like going to church.  My best friend Jonathan was sitting beside me, and I was seatted beside my Grandpa Bud, after whom I am named.  (His real name was Melvin.)  The preacher there that morning wasn't the usually minister; he was doing something special that weekend, maybe in Missouri.  I sat there through his message, bored and completely not paying attention.  Suddenly, though, this minister began to say, "Come!"  He said it over and over again.  "Come!"

I was scarred.  Who is he talking to? Is he talking to me?  I was really scarred.  Slowly, though... I began to get up and walk that terrible short aisle to the front of the church.  Once there, I knelt at an altar (I didn't know what it was at the time) and began to cry.  My grandpa was soon there, laying a loving hand on me as he began to pray for me, and maybe some others did too.  For my part, I just stayed there crying.

This may sound like a traditional conversion story, but it isn't in this key way.  I had almost no knowledge was about who Jesus was!  If some one would have asked me that day who Jesus was, I would have had to admit that I didn't know.  But despite my lack of nothing of him, Jesus touched me that day in a very special way.  I can remember a day that I think was probably sortly after that Sunday.  I was just standing outside waiting to get on the lunch bus with my sixth grade classmates.  For some reason the glass seemed so much greener, and the sky shown more blue than I remembered.  Jesus had touched my mind and heart, and I was more aware of my surroundings as he had shined his Light in my life. 

Other things changed too after that.  I had reached that rebellious time of my teen years.  I was very angry with my parents and sometimes would curse them.  After Jesus touched me, I decided to stop doing that and also decided to not have sex until after I was married. 

Nevertheless, I still did not really know anything about Christianity or about Jesus.  Several years later, I began to play role playing games and became very involved in them.  I was fancinated by the idea of magic and other such things but never really got involved in them.  Video games and other sci-fi and fantasy things became my obsession.  Granted, I know that video games are not a sin, but there is such a thing as too much.  I had about crossed that line, and besides this, I had not continued toward Jesus and learned about him and what he had in story for my life.

A couple of more years later, however, things began to change.  My little sister, Angela, gave me a Bible for Christmas 1994.  It was a new one with red letters.  These red letters, of course, stood out, and I began to read them.  They were so interesting that I began to even read them during my lunch period.  I had just started coming to that point in my life when I began to question, "What is the secret of life?"  Those amazing red letters, which were the Words of Jesus, enthralled me.  (Try Matthew Chapters 5,6,7.)  I loved them, and in them I found the secret to life.

That summer, between my sophomore and junior year of high school, something else important happened.  As I was too lazy to get my first job, I had a lot of free time.  Then for some reason, I just decided to go to church, somthing that I had dread ever since I was young.  It was a little strange and definitely not my usual habit, but I did go and discovered the one who spoke the words in red letters.  Even though I didn't touch him physically, I met Jesus, the Lover of my soul.

A lot of things changed then.  The Light of God openned my foggy mind again, and I can now remember so much more of life since then.  Also, I now have the ability to put my heart into things.  Before, I was just lazy and just did enought to get by, but after discovering Jesus, I had a new heart and thus could do things and put my heart into them.  I had a desire to do well and to help others.  It was and is cool!  Although I know that I can not write all of the ways that I was changed, the most important thing that changed was indeed my heart.  Not only could I now truly love others and put my heart into things, but my heart was also made pure from all of my evils, and my sins were forgiven, simply because I asked Jesus to forgive me and to be my King.

Meeting Jesus was the best thing in my life, and he has given me purpose, forgiveness, and especially Love... all for free...

Thus I am a lot like silver.  Although I still have problems and still make mistakes, I am tempered or purified like silver in the Master Smith's caring hands.