My Story

A little about me:
Before reading this, understand that this is a narrative. My defining this as a narrative I am underscoring the fact this is a story. In fact, it is the story of my life. The events below occurred pre-February 1996. Some may not believe in the events that I record, or may have a theological problem with some of my narrative. This is why it is a narrative, not a compendium of my theological stances.

I was raised, essentially, Catholic. Yet, that Catholic upbringing meant that we went to church, maybe, once every two years.

I went to a Baptist school as a child, and believe that I prayed that Jesus would come into my heart, but never really encountered or knew God. In fact, by the early days of high school my belief in God consisted of an alternating image of a man watching the universe on a TV eating popcorn and a nebulous grey cloud in which existed a large question mark concerning the whole issue. My image of Christians was of emotionally handicapped people that needed a crutch to survive the world.

Also early in high school (9th grade), I started using marijuana. By 12th grade, I would smoke, sniff, or eat any drug that I could get my hands on. My life was completely out of control.

It was at that time that I heard God speak to me the first time. He said, “you must give up drugs to follow me.” I was severely impacted, and I gave up drugs the next day. Unfortunately, I was also on LSD and the whole experience was somewhat confusing and cloudy. I stayed off drugs for about 2 months.

Shortly after returning again I had an experience where I was again on LSD and was, in brief, presented with a choice: drugs & darkness or the cross and light. I chose the latter. It was an experience that shook me and shattered me mentally.

I was so broken mentally that I believed that I was on a journey of trials. At the end of my trials my reward would be an experience where I went to heaven and God changed my life.

In this confused journey I was convinced that the whole world was full of “god people” that could read my mind and were seeking to guide me to the conclusion. In the process, I was checked into psych wards in two different states for a few weeks at a time.

After two releases from the hospital, and months of trying, I was no closer to my goal of transformation. I lost hope of success and turned to drugs for relief. I watched my friend become possessed by a demon (they’re real!), I started my brother on the road to drug abuse, and I despaired of my life. I had graduated from high school and would stay in bed till 3:00 pm in total depression. I no longer cared if I lived or died. I had just turned seventeen years old.

One night I was using drugs in that state of mind, and my grandfather caught me. I could have easily died that night. My grandfather told me that God has woke him up, and that it was God that was intervening in my life at that moment.

Soon after this I went to an Alcoholic’s Anonymous meeting. A man named Dave Walker stood up and stated that, once in his life, he had been facing 18 years in jail and had been a drug attic for 20 years. It was then that he got down on his knees and prayed to God the “serenity prayer,” and had an experience where he, spiritually, went up to heaven and gave his life to God. He was changed.

Well, that was exactly what my end goal was…the goal I could never attain before. I went out to eat with Dave at Denny’s. At 1:00am we went in to the parking lot and he asked me if I was saved. I didn’t know what he meant, but I knew that I had been through a lot seeking God so I said, “yes.”

His wife was sleeping in his van and came out, starting to pray in an unintelligible language. Dave told me to raise my hands and repeat after him, “when Dave Walker puts his hands on me it will be the power of the Holy Spirit touching me.” So I repeated after him.

I wasn’t prepared for what happened after that. He placed his hand on my forehead, and, at that moment, I literally felt as though a two ton pickup truck dropped off my back. I felt almost weightless.

Dave gave me a bible, told me to start reading in John, and to go to counseling at a church (he gave me a phone #). The next day I woke up and had an inner joy that I couldn’t explain. I was changed. I called the pastor up for counseling and he told me to come to church.

Sunday church was a little strange J. The congregation would sing the chorus of a song over and over and over.

My first counseling session was counseling/deliverance. When I say deliverance, I’m not referring to the kind where someone is foaming at the mount and speaking in dark, gravelly tones (though those happen too). It was simply spiritual warfare. I went out of that session feeling as though another weight had been lifted off of me.

That next Friday was “Holy Spirit Night,” the pastor preached about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and people came up to receive Him. I went up and was taken to a side room and, in faith, started speaking whatever came to mind. The elder interpreted the tongues as saying, “my soul seeks you Lord.”

Besides this beginning, the two biggest factors in my development as a Christian were reading “Good Morning Holy Spirit” by Benny Hinn and meeting a woman named Marisol Salva.

In “Good Morning Holy Spirit,” I learned that God was personal. God wanted to speak to me—and I mean really speak to me like a man speaks with his friend. That was huge to me.

Marisol Salva was a woman who became my surrogate “spiritual” mother. She spent countless hours with a broken and confused teenager that was trying to figure out life and Christianity, often to three of four o’clock in the morning. She did this while raising her three boys, sometimes waking up at six in the morning to get them up and cook them breakfast.

The main thing she taught me was that I needed to learn from God Himself, that I could walk in a personal relationship with Him and He would answer all my questions. Basically, she put me on the road of discipleship by Christ.

Since Jesus came into my life, I have received a double major Batchelor degree and three Master’s degrees. I found the love of my life, Abigail, and have been married since June 2005. My life is a gift from God, because if He didn’t rescue me I would surely be dead.

 John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.”

–He’s more than just “head knowledge” to me, He’s real.