🧠 AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH — MY STORY
Written by: Jeric Yurkanin
March 13th, 2026…
I found out I was diagnosed with autism — Level 1.
And honestly…
my whole life suddenly made sense.
I was raised in evangelical Christianity.
Fear of hell. End-times. Sin.
What most people would call “normal” American Christianity.
I didn’t question it.
I trusted it.
Then at 25… I went ALL IN.
Not halfway.
Not casually.
Fully committed. Obsessed.
I loved it. I believed it.
But here’s what I didn’t understand at the time:
Autistic minds don’t do “gray.”
We see things clearly.
Literally.
Black and white.
So when I read the Bible…
I didn’t see metaphor.
I saw truth.
Absolute. Unchanging. Final.
And that intensity?
It can be powerful…
but it can also be dangerous.
Because when you take everything literally —
without understanding history, context, or change —
you can start believing things that don’t hold up.
So I did what my brain naturally does…
I went deeper.
I researched.
I studied.
I questioned everything.
And slowly…
the cracks started to show.
• “God never changes”… but everything around Him did
• Churches changed
• Teachings changed
• Politics changed
Depending on where you went…
God looked different.
That didn’t sit right with me.
So I kept asking:
If faith healers are real… why aren’t they in hospitals?
Why does so much money stay in churches instead of helping people?
Why doesn’t behavior match what’s preached?
By 2023…
After years of wrestling with it…
I walked away from institutional Christianity.
And that wasn’t easy.
If you knew me — you know how real my faith was.
Now let me be clear:
I’m not saying God doesn’t exist.
I’m not saying there’s no afterlife.
I’m saying…
I don’t know.
And I’m okay with that.
What I DO believe:
Be kind.
Be compassionate.
Be a good human.
That matters more than anything.
But here’s the part I want people to understand…
Autism didn’t just make things harder.
It gave me strengths.
It made me:
• Focused
• Committed
• Honest
• Unafraid to ask hard questions
And even my time in that faith?
It wasn’t wasted.
It taught me discipline.
Passion.
Purpose.
And here’s where this connects to sports…
That same mindset?
That intensity… that focus…
That’s what makes athletes on the spectrum different.
And sometimes…
that difference becomes their greatest strength.
So this Autism Awareness Month…
It’s not just about awareness.
It’s about understanding.
It’s about recognizing that
different doesn’t mean less.
Sometimes…
it means wired for something special.
This is my story.
Not everyone’s.
But it’s real.
And for the first time in my life…
it’s honest.
💙
Agape Freedom Sports LLC 
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