My Story

Raised in a home with Godly parents, I didn’t know just how fortunate I was. As I was growing up, I realized later that my Mom and Dad were growing up as well, in their faith.

They would later say, I caused them to grow closer to The Lord, unintentionally of course, by my running from Him. As the youngest, they had to be glad that there were four and no more. (My older brother, John, used to joke that if I had been the first, I still would have been the last!) Though my siblings before me were not perfect, they had all stayed in close relationship to my parents. After a falling out with my dad, I ran away from everything I had been taught and began to openly rebel against them and their God. I was “breaking all the rules” while breaking the hearts of the two people that loved me the most. The day after my High School graduation, I moved out and began to do whatever I pleased which led to a slippery slope which in turn became a downward spiral for the next four years. I remember leaving home one day and saying, “I am leaving here and that church and I am never coming back”. Wow, could I have said that? 

It was during this tumultuous time in my life that God would open my eyes to the fact that my parents were the “real deal”. They were not just nice religious folk. Their faith was real and it drove them to their knees before their Heavenly Father for the sake of my eternal soul. They exemplified love and grace while I lived a life of reckless abandon.

In His great mercy, and I’m sure listening to the prayers of my broken-hearted parents, God got my attention through a series of "wake-up calls". This series of events, like dominoes, seemed to fall one upon the other until one night, it all culminated with a dream which turned into a nightmare. In my dream, I watched as my parents sobbed while my siblings tried to comfort them. When I received no response after repeatedly asking what was wrong, it was as though my eyes were opened to see myself as I lay lifeless in a casket. I was overwhelmed with a sense of helplessness. This was more than I could bear. As they walked away I screamed, “I’m alive! I’m alive!” and then I awoke with the awful realization that I was dead. I was spiritually dead and I knew it. I had been running from that reality for years. So, at age 22, there at my bedside, I fell to my knees and in tears cried out to God, "I'm done". I simply meant, “I'm done”, doing my will and I'm ready to do Yours. Psalm 34:6 has become a special Bible verse to me, “This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.” The very next day I told my friends that I had given my life to Jesus Christ. That was about 38 years ago and I have never been more excited about my faith. I reconciled with my God and then my parents which was unbelievably sweet. They showed me His forgiveness and grace. And like the story Jesus told in Luke 15 about the son who had run away only to return repentant, they “ran to me”, full of Grace, Joy and Thanksgiving.

God has since led me on an incredible journey. It has been a real spiritual adventure.

Shortly after my conversion, I went off to study the Bible and train for ministry only to meet the “love of my life”. I said I was going to marry her before we had even met. I didn’t know at the time my words would be prophetic! Penny and I will soon celebrate 35 years of marriage. God has truly blessed us with have 5 children, 2 sons in law, a daughter “in love”, and twin grandsons. It was 38 years ago I really believed that if I wasn’t done, then I was “done for.” Ironically, I began my Christian life with the words, “I’m done.” Now, I want to finish hearing, “Well done.” I hope God has spoken to you through my story, because now, "I'm done".