For most of my life, I thought Christianity was kind of ridiculous. Not trying to be rude. That's just honestly what I thought.

I had Christian friends, but I never took any of it seriously. One of my closest friends became a Christian. Like really became one.

He started reading his Bible all the time. He started talking about Jesus all the time. And honestly, I thought he had lost it.

We'd go back and forth for hours. I would throw questions at him about science, suffering, the church...whatever I could think of. He never seemed rattled by any of it and that really annoyed me.

One day he asked me: "Have you actually read the Bible for yourself?" The answer was no.

That question bothered me for weeks because I realized most of what I believed about Christianity came from other people, not from actually looking into it myself.

So I bought a Bible. Not because I was looking for God. I wasn't. I bought it because I wanted to prove my friend wrong.

I remember sitting there with a notebook on my lap, highlighting things, writing notes, looking up verses, and trying to find all the reasons Christianity couldn't be true.

But the more I read, the more I realized a lot of my opinions were about a book I had never actually read. That was really hard for me to admit.

The person I couldn't get past was Jesus. Not church. Not religion. Jesus.

I kept reading and thinking, "Who actually talks like this?!"

It's scary what our egos can do. For months I was so focused on proving my friend wrong that I never stopped to ask if I was wrong.

Looking back now, I think underneath all my skepticism was a lot of pride. Some anger. And honestly, a whole lot of shame.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry. As a man, it's a hard thing to admit. Not because I lost an argument or my friend beat me in some debate. I cried because for the first time, I felt like God was real.

Later on, I apologized for being so hard on him. I thanked him for sticking around when I was doing everything I could to prove him wrong.

Looking back now, I can see God was using him the whole time, just to get to me.

And I'll always be grateful for that.