Hello, I’m Joe Pursch, and this is a Transforming Moment. I recently counseled a female college student who wanted to reject Christianity because she felt she hooked up sexually with so many guys that God couldn’t possibly forgive her. Well, that’s not a new problem for God, actually. Augustine lived in the city of Milan in 360 A.D. where he was influenced by the preaching of the great Bishop Ambrose. Increasingly Augustine felt great conviction, but for him Christianity seemed impossible because since his mid teens sexual lust had dominated him. He felt hopeless about conversion. At a low point he heard a voice on the other side of a garden wall singing, “Pick up and read. Pick up and read.” Someone had left a New Testament nearby. When he opened the book his eyes fell on Romans 13:13, 14: “Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality. … But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires”. Instantly, faith in God’s power surged into his fallen heart. From that moment he was a convert by the grace of God. Before he died Augustine left the church a legacy of 5 million words written with quill on parchment. “Augustine shaped the history of the Christian church,” notes John Piper. “His influence in the Western world is simply staggering. “I’m Joe Pursch. For more, go to transforming moments.com.