Free Forgiven: One Man's Journey from Self-Glorification to Sanctification by Vince Russo Page A

Amy’s grandmother and aunt were named Ora and Ura, for crying out loud! Getting back to Alta, she didn’t approve of me and I knew it. I was everything she did not want in a son-in-law. I took great exception to this. I treated Amy like gold and literally cherished the ground she walked on. But in my view, this made no difference to Alta. On more occasions than one, I tried to have civil conversations with Alta, trying to let her know how I truly felt about her daughter, but those words seem to fall on deaf ears. It seems that every conversation we had, Alta would turn to her Bible and start quoting from it — a ritual that rubbed me the wrong way. I never appreciated, and still don’t, when people use the Bible to, in a sense, “scold you.” If you are a non-Christian, the words aren’t going to mean anything to you — nothing. This was exactly where I stood. Even though she felt she was doing the right thing at the time
    — in essence Alta was distancing herself from me.
    Since becoming a Christian, life in general has become much clearer. If Alta sat down with me today and recited those same words, we would be in unison on each and every verse. But back then — write down these words — I wasn’t ready.
    In the past year, I’ve learned first-hand that you can’t force Christianity 48
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    Forgiven
    on anybody. If they aren’t ready to receive it, they won’t. No matter how hard you preach, it will simply go in one ear and out the other, just like Alta’s words did with me. To accept the words of God your heart has to be ready. The only one who can do that is God himself. God spent 42
    years preparing me to understand his vision, but that vision was fully understood not on anyone else’s time, but on his.
    As much as I respect and appreciate my mother-in-law today, I feel she made a mistake in quoting the Bible to me at a time when I wasn’t ready to understand. Today, as I spread God’s word among the boys, I too am faced with that dilemma. You’re not going to save anybody, and quite frankly it’s not the job of Christians to even attempt to do so. All we can do is try to lead you to the Lord, or make you aware of him. If your heart is ready he will take it from there.
    While I’m on the subject, I’d like to clarify one point. Even though I’m a Christian, I am not “religious.” In being a Christian, I am simply saying that I’m a follower of Christ. I read his word, study the Bible, pray on it and attempt to walk this earth in the manner that he did. Religion to me means rules and regulations. You can do this, but you can’t do that.
    Religion is man-made, while Christ is the real magilla. Remember, there is only one God. No religion is necessarily right or wrong — it’s just an interpretation of God’s word. That’s why I was turned away from religion, and turned toward God — I just didn’t realize it at the time. The difference between these two schools of thought is crucial. Don’t let religion scare you. Rather allow God, himself, to enlighten you.
    Despite the religious differences between Alta and myself, the truth was I loved Amy for who she was, not what she was, I just wish that her mother had understood that. But the harder Alta made it for me, the more determined I became. I wasn’t going to lose Amy, regardless of the circumstances.
    So the struggle continued. Alta would pull Amy one way, while I yanked her in the other. It went back and forth this way for awhile, until Alta gave me the motivation I needed. I’ll never forget it — one day during one of our “Coming to Jesus” conversations, Alta looked 49
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    Vince Russo
    me square in the eye and said, “I just don’t see your point, Vin. When you graduate college you’re going to go back to New York anyway.” Without hesitation, I replied, “How do you know that? How do you know I won’t marry your daughter and take her with me?” Alta