My testimony is rather long, so forgive me for that. I tried to summarize it, but it is over 50 years in the making, so here goes. The reason I am sharing my rather long story is so others will know that they, too, can have eternal life in heaven, that their sins can be forgiven no matter how many they have or how bad they think they are. Jesus can find you wherever you are, and He wants to forgive you. So, my hope is that you see Jesus in my story and that you will come to believe in Him. This isn’t about me or what I have done, it is about Jesus and what He has done. I hope it is a blessing to you. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

I grew up in a split home. My mom was a Christian, but my father was not. He was a hard-working, tough guy who loved us but had a very negative attitude towards God. Unfortunately, I followed after my dad and his warped beliefs about God and not my mom's. I believed that God was real, but that He was against us, not for us. I wanted nothing to do with Jesus or the church.

As a teenager, I was very rebellious against my parents, well, everything really. I dropped out of high school and got into drugs, drinking, sex, all of it. Stole my parents’ car many times. Just a lot of bad choices. I was fortunate that I never went to jail or got in trouble with the law. Thank you, Jesus!

At 17, I got a girl pregnant, and we chose to put him up for adoption, the only good choice I made in those days. God once again was faithful and used that to show me that I was a loser and needed to make major changes. So, I got my GED, quit drinking, quit drugs, and went to Tech school, and got the 1st of my 2 degrees.

In my mid-twenties, both my parents got sick and died approximately two and a half years apart. I was devastated. I was finally getting my life on track and being a better son, and I lost them. Needless to say, it did not help my bad feelings and my poor attitude towards God.

Losing my parents started me on a long journey of clinical depression, daily suicide attempts, and or an obsession with wanting to die. Dying consumed my every thought. After several years of depression, I met my beautiful angel, Tiffany, who would eventually become my wife. Having her in my life was amazing, but I was still dealing with the depression, well, and now so was she.

I hid the depression from everyone except Tiffany. I remember one of my daily conversations with God, yes, I talked to Him every day, even when I didn't believe in Jesus. It was never a good conversation, it was me being mad and saying Why do you hate me so much? Why will you not let me die? Well, on this occasion, to my shock and amazement, He answered me. He said, "I love you too much to let you die because you aren't going to heaven, you are going to hell". I, of course, blew it off as nothing at that time and had no idea it was God speaking to me. See, I believed in the idea that if you were a good enough person, you would go to heaven, and you didn't need any of that "Jesus nonsense". I had determined that I was good enough, but God's measuring stick is a much tougher standard than mine, and He said I wasn't even close to good enough. God knew I wasn’t, and He needed to keep me alive so He could convince me I was completely wrong about my assessment of how God's plan works. 

So, fast forward to 2009. Me and my family had moved to Idaho the year before and were having a hard time financially. I had started driving long-haul trucking and was gone for months at a time, which did not at all help my depression. It was March, around Tiffany and my anniversary, and I was home for the 1st time in 3 months. We were not married at this time, but had been living together for 9 years. Again, I was a lost sinner who didn't know any better. Tiffany had started attending a small SBC (Southern Baptist Church) church while I was on the road. So, I asked Tiffany if her preacher would marry us. So, she called him and asked, and he said Yes, come on over. So, we got married on his back porch on what we considered our anniversary. March 25th. Well, like any good Southern Baptist pastor would do, he shared about Jesus, and church, and many things that day. The one line that he said just at the end was "Well, son, you don't want to flunk church". Well, the Holy Spirit used that line to get me to attend church with Tiffany and eventually Sunday school. It took a couple of months, but I was going every Sunday. I stopped driving long haul, and on August 16th, 2009, I gave my life to Jesus in front of the church, and the next week I was baptized.

The moment I gave my life to Jesus, that very second, He was so merciful and poured out His grace on me. To me, a man who had hated Him and rebelled against Him for 40 years. He removed the depression from me completely. There are a few things, like memory issues, that still linger, but what an awesome God we serve. I am so grateful to God that He loved me even when I hated Him. He loved me so much that He kept me alive for 13 years, well 40 years, that He allowed me to go through the depression and saved a wretch like me.

I was so stubborn and so lost that He had to go to extreme measures to get me to see Him for who He really is. A God of love, mercy, and grace. Who sent His only Son to die for me because of my many sins. No matter how much I hated HIm, He never for a second stopped loving me. He never left me, even though I did everything to make Him leave. He stayed by my side through it all. He is the only reason I am still alive. I should be dead and in hell, I deserved that based on what I had done, but He loved me too much to let me make the worst choice I could have ever made.

Oh, how I love you, Jesus! Thank you, amazing Lord of all, Jesus Christ. 

He is waiting to do the same for you. Yes, you can be saved. Don’t believe Satan’s lies that you can’t be forgiven or that God doesn’t love you. He does, He loves you more than anyone could. No matter what you have done, you can be forgiven, and you can be given a new life in Jesus. I can’t promise healing for you or an easy life, but I can promise you that trusting in Jesus will change your life forever in ways I can’t describe to you.

Following Jesus is better than anything you can imagine, and no matter what may happen, it will be worth every second. You will never regret giving your life over to the one and only Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. The kind of peace and joy that comes only from Jesus can’t be explained; it must be personally experienced. Jesus died for you, took your penalty, and God raised Him from the dead. He lives today, He wants you to live as well.

Your life will not suddenly be perfect without any trouble or hardships, but believing in Jesus is always worth it. Jesus doesn’t promise an easy life; He says it will be hard. The world will hate you for believing in Jesus, but wouldn’t you rather have the perfect love of God than the flawed, messed-up approval of lost sinners (people)?

All this world can offer is pain and misery and lies. God offers peace, joy, real love, love that is honest and tells you the truth even if the truth is painful to hear, and eternity with Him. Take your bad habits and your bad choices to the cross and be forgiven, and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe that God raised HIm from the dead.

Live for Him and not for this broken world. Live for Him, not yourself. You have tried it your way; now is the time to try a new way. Trust in Jesus and let Him run your life. I promise it will be worth it.

I never thought He would call me to be a pastor, but He did, and I am so grateful He did. It is the joy of my life. I love serving others and serving my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I love teaching His Holy Word.

We would love to introduce you to Jesus, so please join us on Sundays at 9:30 am for Sunday Learning and 11 am for Sunday service, or Wednesday night for an in-depth Bible teaching at 6 pm.