My Salvation Story: Seeing Life Through a New Lens -
My Salvation Story: Seeing Life Through a New Lens. The story of Seven11’s founder and lead photographer and how he found Jesus.
My Salvation Story: Seeing Life Through a New Lens

This is my salvation story
As a child of two military members, I spent most of my childhood moving every few years; only complicated with my parent’s divorce when I was about three. There was always one constant to all this and that was my grandparents. Both sets lived in the same place my entire childhood. It was nice to have a little normalcy, at least as I look back. In particular was my father’s mom, I called her Nannie.
Nannie lived with my Pawpaw in Odessa, TX. I remember as a kid, flying out with my dad to Dallas. We would watch a Texas Rangers game, then catch a quick flight to Odessa. Pawpaw and Nannie were the type to not only be at church every time the doors were open, but they also had the keys. They bought me my first Bible in 1994. In fact, it is sitting on the table right next to me now. That old King James Bible has made it around the world. That includes my time in the Navy, college, my first home, and now here in Georgia.
The year I met Jesus
The most memorable trip was in the Summer of 1995. My dad flew out with me to Dallas, as was the norm; but this time we stopped by Justin boots Co. Within an hour, I was walking out with a brand-new pair of brown cowboy boots. He also bought me a white cowboy hat, just like George Strait. My Pawpaw worked in the oil fields and as a ranch hand most of his life and was a true American cowboy as far as I was concerned; and now I looked just like him in my mind. Looking back, I imagine I looked more like Woody from Toy Story. But when we went to church, got to hang my new cowboy hat right next to Pawpaw’s as we entered the sanctuary.
I was 11 years old that summer, and that Pentecostal church became a second home, and that Bible was like an appendage. I guess I was just old enough to understand the love of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice and that I needed him in my life. So, I prayed my prayer of salvation and became a child of God during a church revival. I walked out of the church a little taller that day and it wasn’t just because of my new boots. That’s where my salvation story really started, in West Texas. It has taken me a long time since that summer to be filled with the spirit and to hear God’s voice as clearly as I heard it in the summer of ’95.
Going Home
I returned home to my mother’s home who now lived in Murphy, NC. The first church service I stepped forward and was baptized in Blairsville, GA. My mom was Church of Christ and I later learned how different the two churches were, but I knew that Jesus was baptized and that was a good enough reason for me. David Macy was the pastor who baptized me, and I was convinced that I would go into ministry just like him. David mentored me and poured knowledge and love out endlessly.
We ended up moving from that little North Carolina town to Huntsville, AL. I quickly fell away from the church once that connection was broken. Throughout my teens, I was more concerned with girls and friends than church and soon stopped attending all together. In college, I found anything and everything that altered my reality and filled a void I could never explain. As my life spiraled, God was still with me. When I needed him, I would still pray, and he kept me safe when my goal was self-destruction.
Salvation Story Round 2
With my life in turmoil and living without direction, I joined the Navy and returned to college once my tour of duty was over. God was still there with me, but he was not the center of my life. But one day I just couldn’t take it anymore and I kneeled beside my bed and prayed. I prayed for my life to change, for me to find meaning, and I prayed for a good woman who wouldn’t break my heart; like it had been shattered so many times in the past.
That is when I met Kathleen, who reintroduced me to my faith, my appreciation for life and my hope for the future. I may have hung up my cowboy hat and boots for a Braves ball cap and some Nike sneakers, but I was right back to 1995, and God came like a flood, filling my soul until it poured out.
Conclusion
I won’t speak to the theology of “once saved always saved,” but I can tell you, God was with me through it all. He never pushed me away, I pushed his perfection away with the filth of my actions and mindset. But Christ is that bridge that continued to keep me linked to God even if I wasn’t focused on him. I finally understood the verse in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
I was so young when I accepted Christ and had never felt the emptiness of life without God. It’s an emptiness that grows and creates a God sized void; nothing can fill it. At least not until you come back and make him the center of your life again. That void was hunger and thirst for my heavenly father, and he can fill it much quicker than you can ever empty it. Over and over, he will come back; with him comes unexplainable peace, clarity and a limitless love that is indescribable.
The creator of the universe loves me, even more than I love my two beautiful boys (which is hard to believe). When I was lost, Christ left the flock behind and came looking for me. He left no stone unturned, and I heard his voice and came running back to him. It is that kind of love that reassures me that I am right where I need to be in my life.
Photography and writing by Jon Frederick, Photographer for Seven11
Jon is a photographer and author for Seven11 Photography. He specializes in conceptual fine art, Christian inspiration writing and teaching others to further their skills in photography.
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