BBN / JUNE 2021
ACROSS OUR DIOCESE
How Paul changed his life with a message from God By Debra Vermeer Paul Cimino says he used to be prideful and arrogant, always needing to come first at all costs, but an encounter with God in prayer late one night changed all that, and taking part in the Alpha course through a local parish helped explain the truth of Jesus and the love of God.
“But as an adult, I went along my whole life thinking I had it all sorted,” he says. “I worked harder and harder and made more and more money but I was always incomplete. There was always something missing. “I’d just finished building my house at Collaroy Beach and it was beautiful, but I still felt I hadn’t completed anything.”
“I did Alpha last year with St Ives Parish and it was kind of like a way to make sense of this overwhelming experience of God that I’d had about three years ago,” Paul says.
A turning point came when Paul realised that his relationship with his three sons was suffering because of how he was acting around them.
Born into a Catholic family, Paul says religion didn’t play a big role in the home as he grew up and he experienced a number of challenges in his life as a young person.
“One night that really hit home for me and I went into my bed at about 10 or 11 o’clock and dropped to my knees and just prayed to God and I was in tears,” he says.
“And a message came through and I knew it was God and He said: ‘I gave you eyes to see everything but you judged’. “Then, while I was there on my knees I went through my whole life and kind of saw everything I did. All my sins and transgressions. I was rude and arrogant. I always had to be the best, whether it was at footy or soccer or at work or at home. I always had the attitude that ‘I’ll beat ‘em’. No matter how much money I earned it was never enough. “I could see that something sinister was going on. This battle was going on. And I could see clearly that the biggest sin I had was pride. “It was a reflection of all my stuff that I wasn’t able to see before. And even though I hadn’t been religious before then, I knew it was to do with God and Jesus.” Paul says that night changed everything for him. “Since that moment, I literally turned everything around,” he says. “I couldn’t stop crying for nights and nights and just couldn’t go back. “I sold my construction business because I couldn’t act in a certain manner anymore. Even things like trying to barter a better deal, I couldn’t do it anymore. “I just want to spend every day at home, spending time with my kids and making up for how I’ve been. They’re aged 19, 17 and 13 now and their childhood wasn’t easy because I wasn’t easy.”
Paul Cimino and family 30 /
Paul says that after his conversion experience he felt a bit lost because
