I can’t recall a time in my life when I didn’t believe in God, but He was never personal to me. I had a Bible but didn’t read it very often. I attended church faithfully, but I never considered myself to be religious. When I entered middle school, things really changed in my life. I started developing some bad habits over the next few years that eventually became addictions.
When I got to High School, I was a poor student. In my senior year, I was expelled so I joined the Navy. When I went to “Boot Camp,” I fell in love with the Navy. It was the first time in my life I had experienced disciplined structure, and I loved it. The Navy sent me to school in Lakehurst, NJ, where I learned about meteorology and weather observing. None of my bad habits interfered with my education because I had a sense of purpose and worked hard with my studies.
My next assignment was the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. I met Linda a few months later, and we married on August 27, 1963. My habits had become addictions, and they were destroying my family. I didn’t want a failed marriage, and yet, when I tried to stop, I discovered they had a hold on me that I couldn’t break. What started as pleasure had turned into a nightmare.
It was then that God sent a man into my life who offered me hope from my despair. After a few months of him sharing the gospel with me, I turned my life over to God and experienced new life in Jesus Christ. By God’s grace, I was immediately set free from my addiction to alcohol, and over the next few months and years, my other addictions were overcome. Linda and I joined a church and began a new journey that saved our marriage. When our Lord Jesus Christ became the center of our home, He began to put our lives into alignment with His purpose, and a few months from now, we will celebrate sixty years of marriage. Praise the Lord!