Contents: 1.
Birth and Baptism | 2. Religious Upbringing and Fascination of God
| 3. A Different Church | 4. Youth Group | 5. Accepting Christ at
White Mills | 6. Immersion Baptism | 7. Cross Country | 8. Found |
9. Dating | 10. Bible College | 11. Miracles
1.
Birth and Baptism
Well,
I guess my birth story is pretty significant to the history of me.
I was born the day after the Washington Redskins won Super Bowl
XVII, Monday, January 31, 1983. Yes, they actually won the Super
Bowl. It was a very cold, January morning at 10:03 a.m. when I came
into this crazy world.
Soon after I was born, I developed
near pneumonia. Now, you may or may not know this, but that can
kill a newborn baby. The doc said it might end up as a case of S.I.D.S.
(Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Whoa! Now, you have to understand
at this point, my entire family was Catholic. The Catholic Church
believes that if you’re not baptized, you can’t have
eternal life. Since I was really sick, I was baptized into the Catholic
Church February 27, 1983, less than a month after my birth. So started,
I guess technically, my religious life.
My infant illness obviously
got better! Yay!
2.
Religious Upbringing and Fascination of God
The
Catholic Church put some fascination in my mind. Now, you know how
they say kids ask the darnest things? Yeah, I was the worst of them
all. I asked the CRAZIEST questions like, “What zip code are
we in?” when we traveled. Now, because God is such a crazy,
mysterious Guy, I naturally asked some weird questions about Him:
“Who made God?” “Where is God?” “What
body part is my soul?” “If I ask God a question, how
do I hear His answer?” “Praying gives me extra credit
points, right?” “Does God ever stop forgiving me?”
“How do I know if I’m good enough to go to Heaven?”
And, of course, the favorite question, “How did God make me?”
I was very fascinated by God.
Even as a child, I searched and searched for truth. The usual answers
I’d get from those questions were, “I dunno,”
or, “Well, I GUESS God does such-and-such.” I could
never get full, good, truthful answers. I remember when I asked
if God ever stops forgiving me, one of my school teachers said,
“God allows you a certain number of sins before He stops forgiving
you.” So, I decided to try not to use up my quota so early
in life.
Eventually, I read a little
bit of the Bible. I loved the story of Adam and Eve because that
answered my question, “Who was the first person?” I
also liked the 10 Commandments, Jonah, and Noah. “Who built
the ark? Noah, Noah. Who built the ark? Brother Noah built the ark!”
Finally, when I was in seventh
grade, I was told that Jesus was God. I had always been told that
God was the Old Man who sat up in the clouds, and Jesus was the
Man who died on the cross. I went to a grade school from Kindergarten
to eighth grade called Holy Trinity School, and I never knew what
the Trinity was until seventh grade. So, that helped me out some.
3.
A Different Church
One
night, sometime when I was in middle school, my family sat down
at the dinner table to eat. Dad said, “What would you all
think about going to a different kind of church, just to see how
it’s different?” The curiosity got to us, so we decided
to try it. We went to Northeast Christian Church. It WAS different!
There was contemporary music, GOOD and upbeat musicians, comfortable
theater seats, and a really uplifting and bright atmosphere. The
best part for me was the preaching. So many of those totally random
questions I had were answered. The Bible was taught as it was. It
wasn’t a matter of interpretation anymore. It was a matter
of studying it in its proper context. I LIKED that!
Unfortunately, it caused some
issues in my family. See, the Catholic Church, especially the hardcore
Catholics, believe that if you leave the Catholic Church, even to
go to Protestant Christian, you’re going to hell. Dad and
my brother wanted the Biblical truth and the more uplifting service.
Mom wanted to play it safe and stay with the Catholic Church. Being
still young, I wanted to please my family, so I made a compromise.
I switched off churches every other weekend. One time, I went to
Northeast Christian two weekends in a row because I loved it so
much. I remember getting yelled at for that.
Fortunately, in order to keep
the family together, Mom joined along with us after a while. The
rest of my family’s religious story comes later.
4.
Youth Group
At
the beginning of eighth grade, I decided to try out the youth group
at Northeast Christian Church. You have to understand, I really
didn’t have any friends. I was not only AN outcast; I was
THE outcast. I was the outcast of all outcasts. No one would ever
accept me. Many times, I even became suicidal. My first time at
the Northeast youth group, I was welcomed. Other kids my age came
up to me, seeing that it was my first time, and introduced themselves.
They were so nice to me, nicer than anyone my age had been to me
before! Not only that, but Brian Kiser was speaking for us that
night. He was a well-known basketball player for the University
of Louisville. Now, although I’m a University of Kentucky
fan, and always have been, it was still cool to see this well-known
guy talk about God and the Bible.
Later on, I got to know the
youth minister there, Brad Stone. He talked about how he just recently
graduated from Cincinnati Bible College. I was like, “WHOA!
Hang on here! You mean to tell me there is such a thing as a Bible
college?” I knew as soon as I heard the name of that college
that I wanted to go there. I wanted to study the Bible and know
it! Then, he mentioned how being a youth minister was his full-time
job. I thought, “WOW! Being a youth minister is a full time
job you can be paid for? I wanna do that!” So, that’s
when I knew I wanted to go to Cincinnati Bible College, major in
youth ministry, and become a youth minister!
The ironic thing… I made
that decision before I made my decision for Christ.
5.
Accepting Christ at White Mills
The
summer after eighth grade, before freshman year of high school,
I went to White Mills Christian Camp. Now, something I noticed here
was that Christian girls were a lot better looking than non-Christian
girls. We’ll just say I was very glad to be at a Christian
camp! Along with chasing girls all week, and not being successful,
I found out a lot about God. It was so cool! I found out what it’s
like to worship God with really loud rock music, and after that,
I never could understand how someone didn’t like to scream
out songs to God! It was this week that started my long journey
of music interest, especially Christian music.
I remember hearing the song
“Shine” by the Newsboys playing on the CD player in
the chapel. I went up to another camper and asked, “Who sings
this? I like this song!” He said, “The Newsboys.”
I then asked him if he could sit down and write out a list of some
good Christian music albums for me to buy. I still remember that
list. He wrote on there Newsboys’ Going Public, Audio Adrenaline’s
Bloom, Jars of Clay’s self-titled album, and dc Talk’s
Jesus Freak. (My first CD I ever bought for myself was Newsboys’
Going Public at Wellspring Christian Bookstore.)
One night, we had a speaker
who explained the Gospel message so simply and clearly. He said
how Jesus died the most painful death anyone could possibly go through
in order to forgive ANY sin I have committed or ever will commit.
It didn’t matter how bad the sin was. It didn’t matter
how many times I had sinned. I was like, whoa! So, there was no
quota of sin? Jesus just simply loves me like that? I mean, I always
knew Jesus loved me, but I had no idea He loved me so much He would
die THAT kind of death for me! At the end of this guy’s talk,
he said, “If you have never known this before, if you want
to accept this, if you want to be baptized, stand up.” I thought,
“Shoot! That’s me!” So, I stood up, officially
accepting Christ as my personal Savior, after the fact that I had
already decided to go to Bible college to become a youth minister.
Man, this God stuff was getting cooler and cooler!
Unfortunately, the next morning,
after breakfast, I came back to my bunk and found a nasty prank
had been pulled on me. We’ll just say it was a perverted,
gross prank involving a certain rubber device and a certain bodily
fluid. I was angry. I had just accepted Christ the night before,
and this is what Christians are doing to me? What a nice welcome
into the Body of Christ. I realized though, as angry as I was, it’s
not Christians who are perfect. It’s not Christians that I
worship. It’s God that’s perfect, and it’s God
that I worship. Christians change, but Jesus stays the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Thank You Jesus!
6.
Immersion Baptism
I
met with my high school youth minister, Scott Hatfield, who was
also the dean at White Mills Camp that week I went, and he explained
to me the whole symbolism of baptism. He told me that if I wanted
to, I could count my infant baptism as my baptism, but after seeing
the symbolism and history of immersion, I wanted to be immersed.
Again, this didn’t come
without conflict. The Catholic background really came into play,
but I wasn’t about to let this come in my way. I could choose
either my decision for God, or to appease my Catholic opposition.
I decided to go with God. My whole immediate family ended up getting
baptized along with me! Praise God! I wanted the whole world to
see me get baptized, but my family wanted it to be a private baptism.
I was sad about that, but I gave in. When I walked upstairs to the
baptistry after putting on my baptismal robe, I saw about twenty
of my friends from the youth group there! They didn’t even
know I was getting baptized because I was told not to tell anyone.
I don’t know how they found out! It was so cool though! My
immersion experience was one of the best experiences I’ve
had in my life! I was disappointed though when I came out of the
water and didn’t see the heavens open up and a dove fly overhead,
but I didn’t care that much because I was just symbolically
put to death and raised to a new life in Christ! ROCK N ROLL!!!
7.
Cross Country
August
of 1999, just before my junior year of high school, the first cross
country race of the season, the Tiger Run, took place at Seneca
Park. Those cross country races were the most painful experiences
I’ve ever gone through! 3.1 miles running as fast as you can.
Holy cow! After one year of running, I improved A LOT! I was already
running on the top varsity squad. Not only that, but we were state
runner-up the last year, and that’s only because the winning
team cheated, but we won’t go there. Our head coach, Señor
Rostel, died in the middle of the season the year before, so our
team became really close and supportive of each other. Running cross
country was such a great experience for me in high school. Anydangway,
in this Tiger Run, at the 2-mile mark, I noticed that I was running
right alongside the very top runners in the state who get all the
media attention and everything. I didn’t know what was going
on. I figured I’d keep on running though because maybe I’m
just that good!
In the last quarter mile, a
cross country runner is supposed to give it everything they have
left. I did a little more than that. Sprinting in, my vision clouded
up. Next, my hearing went. I couldn’t hear the fans’
cheers anymore, but I kept on going. About ten yards before the
finish line, I fell. I remember still not being able to see, but
I could hear some man say that I was out of the race. Next thing
I know, I woke up lying on a metal table. There was an IV in my
arm, and blood was everywhere. I looked up, and there was a doctor,
and he announced to everyone that I was awake. I asked how long
I had been there, and he said, “A good 45 minutes!”
I couldn’t believe I was unconscious that long! The whole
cross country team was around me telling me to hang in there and
don’t give up. That scared me. The doctor asked how I felt,
and I said, “I feel like I just finished a cross country race.
I’m out of breath, I’m tired, I’m cramping, but
other than that, I feel fine.” He then said, “Well,
you look horrible!” I found out that the blood was from an
IV in my arm. (They had trouble getting it in.) I remember wanting
to fall asleep, so I closed my eyes, and the doctor panicked and
said, “Keep your eyes open! Stay with us!” I heard that
my heart rate was at 190 bpm. Normal for me 45 minutes after a race
was 60-70 bpm. They couldn’t get my heart rate down no matter
what they did.
When it was evident that there
was a possibility that I wouldn’t make it, I felt a peace
come over me. I always wondered what I’d feel like if I was
about to die. I guess now, I do. It was pretty awesome to tell ya
the truth! I was excited to see God! I felt a lot like Paul in Philippians
1:21-26. It would be better by far for me to die and go be with
my Savior in Heaven, but then again, I really felt like God wanted
me to do so much more for Him in my life. So, I prayed. I told God
if He wanted to take me, go ahead. I was so excited to see Him face
to face. I then told Him, if He has stuff for me to do here, heal
me. Immediately after I prayed that, I heard the doctor say that
my heart rate was going down, and my body temperature was cooling
off. I was thinking, “Okay God, I got the hint.”
That is why I am living, or
at least trying to live, every single moment for Him, for the expanding
of His Kingdom. Life on earth is short. I need to do as much as
I can for Him while I can. Two things I learned from this experience
are that I’m not scared of death because I KNOW where I’m
going, and, second, I’d like to go tell the world about Jesus
so that they can also KNOW where they’re going when they die.
8.
Found
Why
do I have to share this embarrassing area of my past? Golly! It’s
embarrassing because Found was the name of my band in high school
and the beginning of college. I’ll also say that I started
this band not really knowing how to play guitar that well. The other
musicians were also just starting to learn. Now, if we were to pick
it back up now, we’d probably rock everyone’s socks
off! Back then though, we stunk!
We did, however, have passion.
We all knew each other from church. We were all good friends. We
all learned our instruments together. As a result, our playing styles
complemented one another perfectly for a good sounding band. Our
passion was to use our band to do ministry. We wanted to lead others
in worship. We wanted to write songs to tell people about Jesus.
We had our favorite styles of music. We all loved 3 Doors Down and
Creed, and played many covers of their songs. We even went to see
both those bands in concert. Every Saturday night, we’d load
up someone’s trunk with all our amps and instruments, and
we would drive up to Indiana to play in our drummer’s basement
for hours and hours! After we got better, we played at a few different
places. Our favorite gig was at the Trinity High School S.H.O.L.
coffeehouse my senior year of high school. We played some cover
songs of 3 Doors Down and Creed, along with some of our songs, and
some worship songs. We were surprised to look out and see people
singing along with the worship songs with their hands up in the
air. We even got our picture in the Trinity newspaper and yearbook
along with articles about us! Summer of 2001, we set up our own
recording studio in my basement and recorded a 10-song album of
songs we wrote. Listening to that CD… now THAT is embarrassing.
What’s the point of all
this? At White Mills, my passion for Christian music started, so
I decided I wanted to play Christian rock myself. When I started
learning guitar Summer of 1999, I practiced about 5 hours a day,
or until my fingers started bleeding. I wanted to worship God with
my guitar. I wanted to write music for Him. I had high hopes of
getting signed and going on tour with a Christian rock n roll band.
I had a couple friends who were successful in that area, but why
wasn’t God making me successful? I now know why. I had a big
head. I wanted the attention and the fame! I wanted to be the one
on stage that everyone looked at. I wanted the stage lights to shine
on me. I wanted to rock out with my guitar. If I became that Christian
rock star, God would have had to fight me for the fame. Another
big reason… God called me to be a youth minister.
Once I finally gave up those
dreams, I wondered why God gave me such a passion to worship Him
and tell others about Him through music. I played more and more
music and learned new musical instruments, and my music talent really
grew. Why did God do this if I’m not going on tour, if I’m
not going to be a worship leader, and if I can really only use my
music for myself?
Someone answered that for me
recently actually. His name is Thom, the lead guitarist for The
Elms. We were in Coffee Crossing (a Christian coffeeshop here in
Louisville) once talking about music, life, writing, and his band.
The Elms had just switched record labels from Sparrow to Universal.
I told him that he was living my dream, that I had tried and tried
with my music so hard, but it got me nowhere. He then asked me,
“But, did you have fun playing? Are you glad that you learned
music?” I said, “Absolutely!” He said, “Then
it was worth it.” He also reminded me that God may need to
use my music abilities someday. He said that my music abilities
can always be used to worship Him somehow. He also saw my book which
is on display at Coffee Crossing, and he thought that was the coolest
thing. He said it was always his dream to write a book. He said
he hopes to someday, and he described to me his idea.
The conclusion of the whole
matter is that God gave us different gifts and talents. We need
to keep them strong in case He needs them sometime. If He doesn’t
use those gifts right away, it doesn’t matter because He leads
me to do what He needs me to do at the right moment. Right now,
He’s using the gifts of writing and encouragement that He
gave me. As with the illustration of the Body of Christ, a toe cannot
try to be an eye. If it does, that messes up the whole Body system.
If I’m an author, I shouldn’t try to be a rock star,
unless God were to suddenly call me to that. I live day by day what
the Holy Spirit leads me to do using the gifts God has given me.
Found was not meant to be a famous band, but it was meant to be
four guys getting together every week to fellowship, worship, and
learn music together. It was meant to occasionally do public performances
to show others who we are and what we do. God has His plan, and
it’s a fun one!
9.
Dating
(Keep
in mind this section was written a while back. The last two paragraphs
are updated responses to this section.)
Another embarrassing aspect of my life. Wow! I put this in here
because I know a lot of people go through the same thing I went
through. I’ve had 21 girlfriends. I became an addict to dating
when I was in high school. It was difficult to go through emotionally.
I was hurt many times, and I hurt others many times. I hated it!
College was hard too. In the
beginning of college, I dated a girl for a fairly long time. It
was going great, and I even bought an engagement ring for her. We
broke up before I popped the question though. It was a difficult
time, and I began to lose hope.
I dated a couple more times
after that, just hoping and hoping that one of them would be the
one. See, I didn’t date just to date; I dated to find my future
wife. That’s why going through so many relationships was not
a self-esteem booster for me; it was so difficult.
I made some mistakes, but for
the most part, I really tried to keep God in every bit of my dating
relationships. Many of the girls I dated felt the same way, so I
didn’t really understand why they never worked out.
At the time I’m writing
this, I’ve been single for a year and a half, except for a
1-month relationship I had about a year ago. It has been great to
have the freedom of singleness. I have even considered being single
my whole life, but I have such a strong desire to be a spiritual
leader for a family and to love them more than anyone else.
Even though I’m 23 now,
don’t even have a girlfriend, and am nervous about my future,
I know God has a plan worked out in His timing. I’m not sure
what it is, but I have given up my plans. I am no longer dating
anyone I can. I don’t want to hurt them, and I don’t
want to be hurt myself. I will now only date someone I see as an
honest, real possibility of being with forever.
(I am now writing this paragraph
in parenthesis as I edit this… I am currently engaged to an
incredible girl named Rachel. I have never felt so supported and
so loved! I’ve never seen such a great match, and it feels
like we have been designed to be a team together for God! God is
so faithful, and He is so good!)
(This paragraph now I’m
writing as I keep editing this. Yes, my editing process is long.
I am now very happily married to Rachel! Once again, God is so faithful
and so good!)
10.
Bible College
The
four-year career I had at Bible College was a confusing time for
me. God had very clearly called me to go to Cincinnati Bible College,
major in youth ministry, and become a youth minister. Why did He
allow the tough times to come when I was just doing His will?
It started my second semester
there, Spring 2002. I had a few minor differences in beliefs than
some other people at the school, as I expected to happen. I was
fascinated by those differences though, not trying to judge any
of them. As I said in the beginning section of this testimony, I
was (and still am) on a search for truth. If someone believed differently
from me, I wanted to hear about it and hear why. I wanted to study
the Bible heavily and find out the truth. Unfortunately, my different
beliefs were not welcomed. These differences weren’t even
major ones; they were very minor things that didn’t matter
a whole lot. I had people telling me I was going to hell for what
I believed. I was told by some people that I shouldn’t even
call myself a Christian and that they didn’t know why I was
at Bible College. There were some things I was very passionate about
also, things that I loved dearly, and if you know me at all, you
know I go crazy about things I’m passionate about. I can be
pretty weird when I get passionate. I don’t mind getting picked
on for being weird (in fact, I kinda like it), but when the things
I’m passionate about get picked on, that’s a big no-no
to me. It wasn’t just “picking on” though; it
was outright hurtful insults. This all happened, and I went into
a deep depression. I had a very difficult time finding friends.
I felt like the only people who accepted me was the “rebellious”
crowd. I threw down my pride and checked myself into counseling.
It was horrible! Having taken some counseling classes myself, I
knew what a counselor was supposed to do. This counselor did do
things by the book, but I could tell she didn’t have a genuine
interest in me. That’s a lot more important than doing things
by the book.
After my freshman year, I came
home for the summer, thankful that I was with my friends who accepted
me for who I was, even if we did have some differences. This next
story, I’ll warn you, is VERY strange. You may not believe
this story, but it won’t bother me if you can’t. Before
it happened, I wouldn’t have believed it if someone told me
the story, but take what you want from it. One night at the beginning
of the summer, I turned off my bedroom light switch on the other
side of my room from my bed. I walked in the dark to my bed and
fell into it to go to sleep. Before I got to sleep, I saw about
five or six beings circling above me. They started yelling out the
most hurtful insults I have ever heard. I can’t remember what
those insults were now, but they hurt a lot! I do remember that
some of the insults were the same insults that people told me at
school. I tried to talk to them with my heart, the same way I normally
pray to God, saying, “In the Name of Christ, go away!”
They wouldn’t. I felt completely helpless and doomed. I couldn’t
really move around; I just had to take the insults. I finally said
out loud, “God, help me.” Immediately, I was sitting
up in bed, and the light was on. My light switch, like I said, is
on the other side of the room, and I didn’t turn it on. These
beings were gone, and it was peaceful. Someone later told me that
demons can’t hear our hearts because they don’t have
the power that God has; they have equal power to angels who can’t
hear our hearts. A demon can only know what they observe about you.
They can hear what you physically say, but not what you say with
your heart.
I decided that summer that I
would not be going back to Bible College. After almost enrolling
in another college, God hit me hard, reminding me that He very clearly
called me to Cincinnati Bible College to become a youth minister,
so I went back there scared. Sophomore year, I had a roommate, Matt
Cummings, who had even “stranger” views than myself,
but we got along great! He was an extreme liberal which isn’t
very welcome at the school. He went through the same stuff I went
through at the school, so we were both thankful to have each other
as friends and roommates, even though I was and still am pretty
conservative. He decided Bible College wasn’t doing him any
good, so he dropped out and became a missionary in China. He met
another missionary there that he married, and I was privileged enough
to be a groomsman in his wedding!
The issues at Bible College
never really stopped, but I stuck it out, and now I have a Bachelor
of Science in Bible with an emphasis in Youth Ministry!
So, what got me through those tough times? A few things:
1. Romans 12:12. One time, when
I was at my worst of times, I just happen to open my Bible to a
verse I had never noticed before: Romans 12:12. It says, “Be
joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.”
I learned from this that May of 2005 (graduation) was coming, and
I could take joy in that. I learned that, until then, I just needed
to be patient and depend on God by being faithful to Him in prayer.
That verse got me through so many tough times. After studying further
into this verse, I found that it’s in a social context, so
not only does it help me personally, but I need to take this verse
and help others be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful
in prayer!
2. One time I talked to a guy
I knew from the youth program at Northeast Christian Church about
some of my problems in Bible College. I told him how passionate
I was about working with youth and leading people to Christ, but
I felt like my successful ministry style was being criticized by
so many people. What he told me, I will never forget. He said, “Next
time someone criticizes your way of doing ministry, ask them, ‘When
was the last time you lead someone to Christ?’” I don’t
think he meant it literally, but I think he meant it to be encouraging
to me. If my ministry style is leading people to Christ, then there’s
nothing to criticize about it. My ministry style has lead many people
to Christ, and I will keep leading people to Christ until the day
I die!
3.
The classes. I loved learning the Bible and studying context, Greek,
Hebrew, culture, Bible authors, Bible geography, Bible history,
philosophy, apologetics, etc. I went to that school for the classes,
and that’s what I focused on. I looked forward to going to
class and learning new things to strengthen my faith.
4. Prayer. The tough times kept
my relationship with God strong by forcing me into a deeper prayer
life. When you really don’t feel like anyone around you wants
to be your friend, you do have Someone who ALWAYS wants to be your
Friend! God was my Best Friend through college. How can it get better
than that?!
11.
Miracles
After
living a life wondering what the truth was about miracles, some
things happened to me that proved the truth. See, I had seen a lot
of faith healers do their thing, and I’ve seen magic tricks
and stuff that I really questioned. One faith healer even brought
me up on stage because I have a lazy eye and cataract in my right
eye. He tried to heal it, but it didn’t happen. This was on
stage at one of the largest churches in Louisville too! Oops!
Then, in summer of 2004, I went
on a 2-week mission trip to Costa Rica. They speak Spanish there,
and I knew no Spanish, and they knew very little English. At one
point though, in the slum neighborhood where we were working, I
just began talking in Spanish to some kids there about Jesus. I
didn’t even realize what was happening until after it happened!
It was amazing! The kids reacted in amazement, not just because
of what I was suddenly able to do, but because they heard how much
Jesus loves them! That proved to me that the Holy Spirit really
can do miracles and enable us to speak languages we don’t
know.
I began attending a prayer meeting
that met on Monday nights in Louisville. It’s called 11:59
Ministries. One of my first weeks there, a guy stood up and felt
that there was someone in the room with one leg shorter than the
other. A lady came forward, and he said God was about to heal it.
He said if anyone wanted to, come forward and lay hands on her.
I did just so I could see if this would really happen or not. Sure
enough, as I’m laying hands and praying on this lady, I watched
her leg grow! It was something that could not have been faked! I
tried to think of every way this could be faked, but this just could
not be faked! Amazing! God really does heal miraculously! A couple
months later, she told me she went to the doctor, and the doctor
was amazed at how it happened!
Right about that time, I spilled
boiling water on my hand fixing some Ramen Noodles. (I haven’t
been able to eat them since.) It was the most painful thing I think
I have gone through! I think I even made up some curse words! The
pain never really left. My hand was so gross looking that I don’t
even think it could be shown on TV (except maybe those surgery shows
on TLC). It was so ugly! At this same prayer meeting, a woman got
up front to tell of how her hand was healed, and she ironically
said, “If you have a hand that needs healing, go back to those
people. They’re the ones who prayed for me.” So, I went
to the ones she pointed out, and they were freaked out by my hand.
They asked if they could lay hands on it. I hesitated because of
how painful it was, but I touched it lightly myself to see if I
could tolerate it… The pain was completely gone. The first
time in a week I had felt no pain! I let them lay hands on my hand,
and they said about a 30-second prayer on it. When they removed
their hands, my hand was peeling. Two days later, it was completely
healed. Doctors would say this should have taken a few months to
heal, if it would ever even completely heal! I prayed for God to
leave a little scar as a testimony. He did, but it’s such
a faint scar that you really have to look at it for a few seconds
to see it!
Praise God! He DOES do miracles!
That
is my story as of now! I hope it can help people in their faith,
whether they are a believer or not. Now, after spending five hours
in Coffee Crossing writing in this book, I’m going to close
out this chapter. Peace, love, and rock n roll to all!
