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.

“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.

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. “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.”

A turning point came when Paul realised that his relationship with his three sons was suffering because of how he was acting around them.

“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 says that after his conversion experience he felt a bit lost because he didn’t know anyone he could talk to about his new relationship with God. So when his friend Jo invited him to take part in the Alpha course through Corpus Christi Parish at St Ives, he jumped at the chance.

Alpha is a series of interactive sessions exploring the Christian faith. It provides the opportunity for participants to explore life and the Christian faith, to ask questions, and share their point of view in an open, friendly environment. Alpha is not a program but an ‘experience’. Each session normally includes a meal, a talk and small group discussion, where no question is too simple or too hard.

“The Alpha group was so good for me,” he says. “Because it gave me the chance to talk about what had happened to me.

“It’s like this huge thing happens to you and everyone is looking at you like you’re an alien, because you’ve changed. Meeting like-minded people in the Alpha group, allowed me to breathe again. At Alpha everyone understands, and they love you.

“It also helped me in adding to what I understood about Jesus. It was like opening up all these little windows in my mind that had been closed and a lot of things fell into place.

“I made so many nice friends through Alpha.”

Due to COVID, the St Ives Parish Alpha group ran online last year, but Paul says a highlight was the chance to all meet in person for a retreat day at Terrey Hills at the end of the course.

Paul is now attending Mass regularly either at Mona Vale or St Ives with his Alpha group members who keep in touch via a WhatsApp group. He says that learning about the unconditional love of Jesus for each person has given him a model for his own life.

“I’ve kind of paraphrased that unconditional love of Jesus into the saying, ‘Whatever it takes’. And that’s how I live my life now. I’ll do whatever it takes to love my wife and sons better and whatever it takes to be more compassionate and understanding and to live a better life. That’s my whole focus now.”

Paul says he loves waking early, before dawn, and heading down to the beach for a swim, where he feels close to God and spends time listening to what God is revealing to him about his life.

“I’m just going to follow, step by step. No matter what happens, I always look up now. I feel complete in having been able to change that part of my life and wherever He takes me, I’ll go.”