My Testamony

I was born in Pekin, Illinois on Feb. 8^th, 1951.  My dad was a bricklayer there, and after finishing his training and project he was working on he returned to Maquoketa Iowa where he and my mother were from.  I spent only a few years there, and in my Kindergarten year we moved to Minnesota with my Grandparents who had purchased a Resort.  My Dad was going to help them get it going.  My Mom and my Grandmother never did get along, and it was natural that after about a year in the same house my Mom had had enough.  So in the middle of my First Grade Year we moved Back to Iowa.

My Mom and Dad divorced shortly after that.  We moved again in my 3^rd grade year, in fact I went to 3 different schools in that year.  The last move brought us to Delmar, Iowa where we stayed 3 years.  My Mom met and married my Stepfather there, and in my 6^th grade year we moved to the big city of Bettendorf, Iowa. 

We stayed in Bettendorf until I was in the 9^th Grade and we moved to the neighboring city of Davenport, and only stayed there 10 months, and then moved back to Bettendorf in time for me to start my sophomore year of High School.  I finished High School in Bettendorf.

During my senior year (1969), my buddy, who graduated the year before was worried about being drafted and since we did everything together we enlisted in the Iowa Army National Guard.  I graduated in June of 1969, and in August I went to Basic Training at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

I returned from Active Duty in February 1970 and went to work for the National Guards.  It was a Civil Service job, and I worked in the office, and in the Supply Room taking care of equipment.  Later I was given the job of Helicopter Repairman.

In May of 1971 I married my High School sweetheart.  We had dated for 3 years, and we did what we thought our parents and everyone else expected us to do.  But neither of us were ready for marriage, and our marriage was rocky at best.

In 1974 I realized that there was something missing in my life, and two of my co-workers introduced me to Jesus Christ, and on October 24, 1974 I asked Jesus to come into my life and be my Savior.

I started going to a Baptist Church, which split from its denomination over doctrinal differences, and then split into to two congregations over personally differences between the Pastor and Assistant Pastor, and then the Pastor of the congregation I went with had an affair, and I was split.  I had my eye focused on a man and not on God so when the man failed me I did not recognize that God was still there faithful as always.  I fell from grace, and did some pretty crazy things.  I left my wife and kids after 15 years of marriage and drank and played around like all sinners. 

But a faithful loving God never left me or deserted me. He sent me a faithful loving woman who picked me up and helped me to find my Savior again, and helped me back on the road that leads us home to Our Father in Heaven. Thank you Jesus, for your loving kindness, your mercy, and for taking my place on the Cross.