I am a husband, a step-father and a grandpa. I was born near Manassas, Virginia and was on the civil war battlefield there before I was in school. My dad wanted to go to seminary at Liberty Baptist College (now Liberty University) and so we moved to central Virginia. We lived within sight of the Blue Ridge Mountains most of my life, down the road from The Walton's and under the shadow cast by Jerry Falwell. There were car wrecks and broken glasses, games of basketball and board games. We went to church, pretty much every time the doors were open and Christian school off and on. My life has had many chapters and I've tried to learn from each one. Sometimes turning the page is the best thing to do. Other times I can't wait for the next chapter to begin. Life is a journey, filled with struggles, twists and turns but it is made so much sweeter adventuring with the ones you love.
I believe we are spiritual beings at our core and we all have a need to belong to something bigger than ourselves. We desire love and intimacy and affirmation, a sense of belonging. We want to know our place in the world and that somebody out there notices us. I believe that God placed that desire in our hearts and we spend our lives searching ultimately for Him. We try to fill our lives with material things, selfish desires and other things to take our minds off of that search. We have a deep need to love and be loved, finding along the way that He is the only one who will ever love us the way we need to be loved. I have spent most of my life on that search and have only within the last few years really found it to be true.
The story of God is totally unbelievable, and I have found a God that is "crazy generous" with His mercy and grace. It truly doesn't make any sense and yet, because He is not human, it makes perfect sense to Him.
I asked Jesus into my heart at the age of 4, but as I went to school, I found that I had a lot of sinning to do before I could really understand what He had done for me on the cross. Along the way I learned of His unconditional love for me (thanks to Dr. Charles Stanley, In Touch Ministries). I also discovered grace while studying the History of Christianity. During this time, I discovered several authors who had a direct impact on my life, most of all, Philip Yancey. His struggle with the church of his youth struck a chord with me and I went on to discover more of his writings that surprisingly led me to a path to God that I had not seen before. I had believed some things that were not true about His nature and started to feel awakened and unchained in my soul as I moved towards this truth. Since this time I have tried to develop a daily walk with the Creator of the Universe, Maker of my heart, Author of all of my hopes and dreams. I am His and He is mine and there is no greater love that we can experience than this. I do not try to live my life as a religious person following rules, but as a follower of the Way. I am still learning who I am in Christ and this in itself is an exciting journey. He has given each of us gifts and talents that we can choose to use for His glory, or fritter away while pursuing what we want. I am learning that God's plans for me are better than anything I have tried on my own. I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know Him more and try to keep in step with Him as I attempt to walk with Him. Sometimes running and skipping. Sometimes stumbling and falling. But always, getting back up and following my Savior.
I believe we are spiritual beings at our core and we all have a need to belong to something bigger than ourselves. We desire love and intimacy and affirmation, a sense of belonging. We want to know our place in the world and that somebody out there notices us. I believe that God placed that desire in our hearts and we spend our lives searching ultimately for Him. We try to fill our lives with material things, selfish desires and other things to take our minds off of that search. We have a deep need to love and be loved, finding along the way that He is the only one who will ever love us the way we need to be loved. I have spent most of my life on that search and have only within the last few years really found it to be true.
The story of God is totally unbelievable, and I have found a God that is "crazy generous" with His mercy and grace. It truly doesn't make any sense and yet, because He is not human, it makes perfect sense to Him.
I asked Jesus into my heart at the age of 4, but as I went to school, I found that I had a lot of sinning to do before I could really understand what He had done for me on the cross. Along the way I learned of His unconditional love for me (thanks to Dr. Charles Stanley, In Touch Ministries). I also discovered grace while studying the History of Christianity. During this time, I discovered several authors who had a direct impact on my life, most of all, Philip Yancey. His struggle with the church of his youth struck a chord with me and I went on to discover more of his writings that surprisingly led me to a path to God that I had not seen before. I had believed some things that were not true about His nature and started to feel awakened and unchained in my soul as I moved towards this truth. Since this time I have tried to develop a daily walk with the Creator of the Universe, Maker of my heart, Author of all of my hopes and dreams. I am His and He is mine and there is no greater love that we can experience than this. I do not try to live my life as a religious person following rules, but as a follower of the Way. I am still learning who I am in Christ and this in itself is an exciting journey. He has given each of us gifts and talents that we can choose to use for His glory, or fritter away while pursuing what we want. I am learning that God's plans for me are better than anything I have tried on my own. I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know Him more and try to keep in step with Him as I attempt to walk with Him. Sometimes running and skipping. Sometimes stumbling and falling. But always, getting back up and following my Savior.
