"My Story"
This is just "a"
story, one of many, of a sinner. But I know a story that is
the greatest story ever told. It is about our loving God,
the Creator of the universe. A God who humbled Himself and
left His riches in heaven, to come live among shameful men,
as a man, only to suffer and die by the hands of men so that
He could restore the personal relationship He once had with
man. He came to die so that He could be our high priest who
died once for all and became our propitiation (appeasement)
for the punishment of sin that we might be saved if we only
believe that He could do this for us.
I was actually called into the ministry when I
was about twenty-four years old and turned it down for
various reasons. Now, at the late age of fifty-one I am
becoming a lay-minister to work for my God. I guess I had to
go through many heart-aches and troubles before I would be
ready to obey God like He wanted me to do.
I was raised in a Wesleyan Methodist Church as a child, and
I learned a lot about God but I never really understood
about the man named Jesus. I can remember spending time in
Sunday school listening to older men and women say things
like; God loves you, believe in Him and pray to Him, He will
supply your every need, He will send angels to protect you
from all harm, and on and on. Then, one day when I was ten
years old, a dear lady was teaching class saying the same
things that I had been hearing from other teachers and
preachers. There was a picture on the wall in the Sunday
school class, and for some reason, I couldn't take my eyes
off of it. It is one that is in most children's classrooms.
It is the one with two small children, an older little girl
walking with an even younger little boy, crossing a river on
an old narrow rickety plank bridge. A plank is missing on
the walk of the bridge, and it has only one hand rail which
is down on one end. I know many people know the picture I am
talking about. What was so amazing to me was that there was
an angel hovering along beside them as if she were
protecting them. All of a sudden, it was like everything
that my teachers had said was being revealed to me as I
stared into that picture. As I stared, I said to my self, "I
believe....I believe that." It was like a rush of joy came
over me, and I have claimed that as my moment of salvation
ever since. After that moment, all I could do was talk about
God to the neighborhood children who seemed to be skeptical
of what I was saying, and me, but I didn't care I loved the
way I felt.
My family life was wonderful for the first ten years of my
life. My dad and I were so close, and he took me everywhere
he went. My dad owned his own welding shop and business, and
before I started to school, and during the summers between
school years, he took me to work with him. I knew what makes a dad. I thought
the sun rose and sat in my dad. I really didn't need any
friends because I had my dad. I thought I was on top of the
world, because I had a dad and a God, who loved me and took
care of me. Then, without warning, my dad left me and his
first family. I was nearly destroyed. All I could think
about was, what am I going to do without my dad. I tried to
make friends and would have done nearly anything for a
friend, but they didn't care for me any more than I cared
for them when I had my dad. I thought, how could my dad and
God, who were suppose to love and protect me, allow my heart
to be broken so completely. In my child's mind, it seemed
like my dad and God had betrayed and abandoned me. I was
crushed.
It goes without saying that I strayed away
from God and everybody. I became a wild teen, but as the old
saying goes, God looks after drunks and fools and I was a
fool's fool headed for eternal destruction.
If we deliberately keep on sinning
after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no
sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation
of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies
of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without
mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much
more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who
has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as
an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified
him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know
him who said, It is mine to avenge; I will repay, and again,
The Lord will judge his people. It is a dreadful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrew
10:26-31)
I became as hard as my so-called friends, and I didn't trust
anyone. At twenty-one I got married, rededicated my life to
God, and started learning about Jesus Christ. About
twenty-four, I felt a call into the ministry, but didn't
know to get advice from the pastor of how to pursue the
call. I didn't answer the call into the ministry after
making the right choice to follow Jesus, and devastation
came into my life again when my marriage split up. This
time, I really took a turn for the worse. To ease the pain I
began to run with my former friends. We drank alcohol and I
grew to become very reckless and impure of heart, hating
everyone.
This
testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that
they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to
Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the
truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who
are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact,
both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim
to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are
detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
(Titus 1:13-16)
I am not going to give any glory to Satan by describing all
I did, for fear of sounding like I'm bragging about it, but
I am going to give God all the glory by revealing all He did
to change me. I grew to become selfish, only caring about
myself, because I didn't trust anyone but myself.
My
bad conduct continued for about four years.
See 1979 Corvette Before the wreck See Corvette After the wreck See Interior and other shots See 1982 Corvette New |
Then, devastation entered my life once again. At thirty years old, on the day after Christmas, in 1981, I was nearly killed in a car wreck when a drunk ran a stop sign and T-boned me in the drivers door of my 1979 Corvette. At thirty years of age, I lay in a coma for three weeks. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:51–52; Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and “we will be changed”. We shall be changed in a twinkling of an eye, and I traveled three weeks into the future in a twinkling of an eye. (I was one breath or one step from stepping over into eternity. It has made me think a lot about eternity ever since.) As a result of the accident, my left eye had been knocked out of the socket, the bone around it was crushed, my nose was crushed and nearly cut off, both cheek bones were broken, my jaw was broken on both sides and dislocated on one side, all my teeth were knocked loose, I had several facial lacerations. What a Christmas present for my mother and family. My mother was at the hospital day and night, and later she said that while I was in a coma, the Doctor advised her to pull the plug. She said that he advised that I would not be anything but a vegetable if I lived, but she said that she would deal with that when that time came; she gave me live and saved my live, Praise God for my mother! My Doctor said that my brain was like scrambled eggs. For the next 10 years of my life, I lived in a state of dumbfoundedness and could not recall or retrieve information that the brain stores. Impaired memory is one of the universal problems of people with head injury. I suffered and everyone else suffered too.
It goes without saying that my physical fitness suffered as well. I couldn't do anything, because I was so weak. I was determined to get back into shape. For years all I did was exercise and now I believe I am as physically fit as I have ever been. I am nearly a fitness freak now, and I advice everyone to take care of themselves and exercise; not only exercise but try to eat properly so the exercise will help.
In today's society, medical professionals try to drug the symptoms of failing health when we should cure our bodies the natural way with herbs. Learn how to make a difference in your life and those around you by taking part in a mission to nourish health and sustain wellness by clicking Here to visit Ask Dr. Ernst, and learn that Dr. Ernst is about healing you and not about drugging your condition. He is not only a chiropractor, but an holistic dr who specializes in functional medicine. Presently, he has done so much for me that people can't believe all I can do. Call him for a free consultation and know that he can teach you how to cure yourself. I am convenced that if he can do it for me, he can and will do it for you if you listen and do all that he says.
My recovery from the accident was very slow, but I believe my progress advanced because of my dedication to get healthy and stay health. I worked out constantly and tried to take care of myself by eating properly and taking plenty of vitamins.
After I recovered, I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ, but I still chased my dad. I was trying to have the same kind of relationship I had with him as a child. Then, after thirty-four years of chasing him, a light bulb came on, and I realized that he was never going to care for me the way he seemed to when I was a child. I put my dad on the back burner when I turned forty-four and chose God to be my Father. It was my choice all the time. I realized that God loves me so much that He gives me the privilege of making the right choice. I don't have to continue making the wrong choices over and over again since I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savoir. I learned that I can have the kind of Father that will love and take care of me forever, just like I always wanted. He is the God of a second chance; not only a second chance, but a third, forth, fifth, and on and on until I finally learn who I can trust. He is the kind of Father that I can have a personal relationship with forever, and He will never stop loving me. He has a plan for my life and I know that now. I know that I have been saved by the perfect blood of Jesus Christ, my God and Savior, and someday He is going to return for me and millions of my brothers and sisters in the Lord who have genuinely accepted Him as their Lord and Savior. Will you be left behind simply because you accepted some other way rather than accepting Jesus into you heart? If you would like to know for sure what your eternal destination is, just Click Here.
I want nothing but His will to be done in my life for the
rest of my life. I once hated everyone, including myself,
until I learned that Jesus is God and that He loves us all.
I want to share that love with others for the rest of my
life. He is a missionary God, because He reached out to us
first by loving us first. He is so good, and I want to
praise Him by the way I live for the rest of my
life. 