Dan Snyderi asked my teammate, holland cox,
what i should blog about today and she said “change.”  as soon as she said it, i knew that it was time to blog about the change that has happened in my life over the last seven months.  i have thought about writing these things in the past but honestly haven’t because of fear. fear that my testimony is too dark, fear that my walk in faith hasn’t been “long enough” and fear that i would be judged by others.  but it’s time to talk about how powerful my redeemer is, and how much he has completely changed me.
today is day 61 of the august, ’09 world race.  i’m sitting on a tupperware box in the upstairs of a mansion in niksic, montenegro using a ping-pong table as my desk.  today also happens to be day 183 in my new walk with christ.

I grew up Catholic, went to a Jesuit high school and even pondered entering the Jesuit priesthood before college.  I continued my walk in faith through college and into my career field…law enforcement. Shortly after entering law enforcement in 2004, I stopped my walk in faith and began walking a life of darkness.  I was an egotistical, materialistic, addicted police officer who considered himself a “man.”

Up until March 22 I was battling alcohol addiction.  I had become someone who I hated, embarrassed to look at myself in the mirror.  I tried to quit drinking on my own will but couldn’t…I failed countless times.

On April 10 I sat in a candle lit Good Friday service alone and crying.  I had no idea what had happened to my life and had no idea how to change it.  I had been going to church for about five months but was just going through the motions.  As I sat in tears, I turned my life over to the Lord and asked for His help in my life.

awakening arms lifted

change. 
about a week later, i left my job as a police officer and started working construction…on the surface i was working to build a house but more importantly, i was working to re-build my life…to redefine what made me a man…to be like christ.  although i had stopped drinking on march 22, i went to an addiction counselor and started going to AA.

on october 10, 2009, i am a man free of strongholds who is doing god’s work through the world…i woke up this morning and prayed, read the bible and looked into the bathroom mirror to speak truth over myself. i said things like, “i am daniel christ snyder, i am a man of god, i am
chosen, god is my judge, i am good enough, i am loved” and i smiled because i knew that these things were true.

i want so much more, i want to become less so that he can become more. my greatest desire is to be defined as a man of god…nothing else. when i meet people, i want them to think “there’s something different about him” and realize its because i am in love with my god and that i
put others first.  i don’t want to be defined by anything of this earth…i want to be defined through him. my challenge to the people who read this is to not give up on
people (or yourself).  i look at myself and the change that has happened in my life and know that it can happen to ANYONE…if the lord is powerful enough to completely change my life (and countless others), he can change ANYONE…we just need to be the example that christ calls us to be and pray without ceasing!!!

god is love, nothing is impossible.