I can still remember almost 25 years ago, sitting around in my office one evening after work, talking with a co-worker who was also a good friend. We were discussing assorted business and personal things while drinking a beer when out of nowhere he asked me “what do you think God expects of us?” It was a real surprise considering we had never even mentioned God before in all the years we had known each other—neither of us went to church and I know I normally only thought about God when I was really desperate about something. But it didn’t take me long to give what I thought was a really profound answer. I told him “God just wants us to do the best we can”.

A short time later, at the ripe old age of 45, I encountered God, face to face in of all places, Alcoholics Anonymous. And because of that encounter, almost overnight, I became a new person. God had a hold on me. I was watching at least 2 church services every night on TV during the week and many more on the weekend as well as almost weekly driving 30 minutes to the closest Christian bookstore to find another book to read as well as more Christian music to listen to. And even though I had been brought up as a Baptist, I started going to the Catholic Church every Sunday with my wife Linda. It was as though it was impossible to get enough God in me.

This all continued without ever slowing down for almost 10 years (I don’t think I ever missed a Mass in all that time) at which point (after a lot of maneuvering on God’s part) I actually joined the Catholic Church—though most people there thought I was already Catholic since they saw me all the time. After that, things began to pick up. About a month after becoming an official Catholic with a still insatiable appetite for all things God, my wife convinced me to go to a weekend retreat thing called The Christian Experience Weekend where everything seemed to come together when I experienced Christian Community for the first time. It was also through CEW that Linda and I got to know Dick and Marge. I continued to be involved with CEW, later serving as the coordinator for quite a while. I starting attending things like adult formation classes, bible study classes and most anything else that came up and still continue today with two prayer/faith sharing groups that each meet twice a month.

My name’s Bill Eckert and by now, you might be saying to yourself that all this stuff is sort of interesting, but what does it have to do with anything?

Twenty-five years ago, I believed that God just expected us to do the best we could do. Sadly, it’s something that a lot of us Christians seem to believe. That retreat I attended—and it wouldn’t have mattered if it was called CEW or Cursillo or ACTS or CRHP or something else—that retreat opened my eyes to the fact that God expects so much more from us than what we’re currently doing with our lives—so much more than what we want to believe is possible—so much more than we think we are capable of doing. All my watching and listening to all those assorted preachers on TV, all those years reading those books and going to all those classes—It begins to sink in after a while that God not only expects so much, but that He also wants to give so much—to me and to you. And He wants to give it not just later when we eventually get to heaven. He wants to give it right here and right now in this life.

I have absolutely no idea why God chose me of all people for the incredible journey He’s taken me on. He has allowed me to experience a life that is so much more than I ever imagined existed. He has allowed me to Know Him and to Love Him, even if only a little.

My hope—my only reason for contributing to this blog is that God can maybe use something from my journey to help someone else with theirs. And that they might too find this incredible life that is offered to all.