I was born and raised in the Central Valley of California. Due largely to the influence and witness of my Godly parents, I believed in Christ at nine years old and was saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). While I am so thankful that by their teaching and example I was spared from a lot of the damage that sin would have done in my life (Romans 6:23), my regular struggle with sin serves as a reminder that I remain a sinner (Romans 7:21-25), though saved by grace (Ephesians 2:3-5).
It was at a Vacation Bible School when the years of scripture, instruction, and example came together, and I finally understood I was a sinner (Romans 3:23) deserving an eternity in hell (Romans 6:23, Revelation 20:15) and that Christ had done all the work paying for my sin on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). There was nothing required in return except trusting in what Christ had already done (Romans 4:5). Upon graduation from high school, I attended the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. It was at Moody where I met my wife Lisa, whom I married upon her graduation (Proverbs 31:10-12). After a year completing my schooling in Tennessee, we moved back to Wisconsin to be near Lisa’s parents.
My twenties involved a lot of searching for God’s “will” in my life. Having trained for and desired to engage in a career as a pilot/mechanic on the mission field, I found that rather than following God’s lead, I had been pursuing my own goals (Philippians 2:21). While God had graciously provided and even taught me a lot through the process (Romans 8:28), I have found that God’s way, though not what I wanted, is so much better (Proverbs 3:5-6).
During my thirties, through the Word and through the blessing of kids, God taught me that His first and foremost will for my life is “who I will be” rather than “what I will do” (Romans 12:2, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 5:16-22, 1 Peter 2:15, Micah 6:8). While a difficult lesson, it is also freeing. I no longer must struggle with activity and performance but rather with resting and depending (Hebrews 4:9-11, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 5:16). I began to understand what it means that the Christian life is a matter of knowing I have been positionally crucified and resurrected with Christ (Romans 6:3,6), reckoning myself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ (Romans 6:11), and yielding myself Him as a slave to righteousness (Romans 6:13, 16, 19). With the change of focus from personal ministry to personal maturity, I was able to come to grips with the loss of my plans (Proverbs 3:5-6). It was during this time that we first started to attend Word of Grace Bible Church. God ministered to me and my family through Word of Grace Bible Church by constant exposure to doctrinally solid, grace-oriented, dispensational teaching from the Word of God, as well as opportunities to build relationships and develop and minister my spiritual gift to others.
In my forties, God gave me further opportunities to minister to others in my local church. I learned that while I am entirely insufficient, He is entirely sufficient (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). He has graciously provided many opportunities to serve Him, from cleaning toilets to teaching. I have learned that the resource to serve as well as the joy in the work is based on my mindset – by His power, for His glory (Colossians 3:17, 1 Corinthians 10:31). Even mundane service is meaningful if done in the power of the Spirit for the glory of God. And it becomes a joy when you have a song in your heart – a joy, not necessarily easy or fun.
I have not yet reached my fifties, but I can say with certainty that God will never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5-6), and that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that day (2 Timothy 1:12). My kids are growing closer and closer to the time they will leave the home, and as a father, I find myself in less and less control and praying more and more. I am reminded that they are His children and that He is a much better father than I am. Perhaps my fifties will be the “trust and pray” decade. It is interesting how God turned my life around. As a teenager my life was “obey and trust”; now it is “trust and obey”. I don’t know what will come before He calls me home by death or by rapture, but I know that the work He began in me will finally be done (Philippians 1:6, 2 Timothy 4:18, Psalm 73:24).