What was life like before you met Jesus?
I grew up knowing about God, but I was far from a Christian. I refer to myself back then as what
I like to call a back pocket Christian. Much like a backhanded compliment, you say something
but don’t really mean it. Growing up I was exposed to many unhealthy things in the spiritual sense. With all these things around me, I became addicted to pornography at a very young age. I graduated high school and went away to the army, where I had glimpses of faith, but how could I not see the work of God in such unfortunate places? As I got out of the active duty side of the army, I was married to a woman who I didn’t know as well as I had thought I did. After I was out and we moved back to Des Moines, she had unveiled to me that she wanted to be in an open marriage, and there was no changing her mind on what she wanted.
We ended up getting divorced and a while after I started dating a girl who wouldn’t give me her all. It was as if she wanted to date me at her convenience. This and my recent divorce left me with a feeling of emptiness - like I wasn’t enough to fulfill the wants of my partner. These things combined with my time in the army led me to a time full of nothing but working out, eating, and working. I only was sleeping around two to three hours a night. As this led me to be in the best shape physically, I was in an empty broken mental state. At this point in time, I didn’t realize what I was longing for and feeling empty for was the Holy Spirit. A few months later I finally decided to move back home where I would at least have a supportive home life, at least in the secular sense. As moving home did help me, I still wasn’t living a good life. I was drinking to the point of drunkenness every chance I could get or at least every weekend. I went on living like this for about a year and a half until I met my wife, Cheyenne. Cheyenne and I had only been dating for about three months when we found out that we were expecting a child. We got married and welcome my son Stetson in September of 2020.
How did you meet Jesus?
This was the initial turning point for me as it helped me stop drinking like I had been. After the birth of my second child, I took a job driving a semi since we had decided for my wife to be a stay-at-home mom. Before I left to drive semi, we were so broke that when I left my current job I hardly had the money to drive to work. Even though I am home every night I had some very long hours, and it was causing a lot of marital stress. I give Cheyenne a lot of credit, two kids seventeen months apart isn’t an easy job. Finally, with these stresses in our marriage, I decided it was time for us to get back to church. The very first Sunday back at church I left feeling so much conviction, but yet so loved.
After being saved by Jesus, what is your life like now?
Since the start of us going back to church, the Lord has made such a difference in our lives and marriage. He has already blessed me with more than I could ask for and I never gave him the thanks for what I do have. He has had such a definitive plan for me since the beginning and I was so hard-hearted to see it. Today my purpose is very clear and that is to be a disciple of Jesus.