JERRY'S TESTIMONY

My goal in life was always to be a loving husband, a good father and to live a happy life with my family. Somewhere along the line, something went terribly wrong. Somewhere along the line, I went terribly wrong.

My wife Joannie and I were married when she was sixteen years old and I was seventeen. In bang-bang succession, we had our first two sons, Stephen and David, who were born in 1960 and 1961. As a young husband and father, I worked as an auto mechanic, and Joannie busied herself with raising our two rambunctious boys. At nights when I came home, I was tired from a long day spent under hot motors, and I'd settle into television and having a few beers.

I had joined the Army and enjoyed spending time with my friends. When the Viet Nam war was into full swing, I was sent (even though I had small children) with the US 25th Div and served for two years and two months in such places as Ambush Alley, Tay Ninh-Dau Tieng and Duc Co. M-16s became a way of life. I've seen men blown to bits where a few seconds before they were standing not twenty feet from me. It was a nightmare, one I try to forget. When I returned home in 1967, drinking became my way of helping me to forget.

In 1968, our twin sons (Kris and Kyle) were born. But by that time, my drinking had reached a point where Joannie could no longer deal with it. We were separated for several months, and we were divorced the next year. But we were both pretty lonely, and I went to her a couple years later and convinced her that my drinking days were behind me. We were remarried.

By then, our older two boys were becoming as rebellious as any two teenagers could be. No amount of punishment seemed to phase them. They ran with a bad crowd, probably because they were bad and fit in with them. No decent kid would hang around my sons because by fourteen and fifteen they were already drinking themselves and sneaking out to buy pot. Although I smoked it myself, I didn't like the idea of kids that young doing it. At sixteen, our oldest son Stephen quit school, left home and went to Los Angeles where he began working on a fishing boat. The next year, David turned sixteen and ran off with his girlfriend. We maybe saw the boys two or three times over the next four years. After that I didn't see Stephen again for the next twenty years.

In 1978, Joannie had our fifth child, another son who we named Eric. But the marriage wasn't working. She blamed me for causing our two sons to leave home. She blamed me for alot of things. When Eric was six months old, I moved to Los Angeles, where I live today. I own a Harley-Davidson shop and repair business. My life's been pretty empty in the years that have passed since then. Empty and unhappy. Occasionally Kris, Kyle or Eric will pay a visit, but other than that, I'm pretty much on my own.

But not long ago, my baby boy Eric called me and told me that he had become a Christian. A Christian?, I thought. We've always been Catholic, and I couldn't even figure out what he was talking about. He's Catholic, isn't that a Christian? But the more he told me, the more I could hear that Eric was different now. Well, I was happy for him, but it made no big splash with me.

Then a couple weeks ago, something pretty miraculous happened. I was at home one night when the phone rang. It was my oldest son, Stephen, with David on another line. They were just calling, they said, to tell me that they loved me. My reaction was, I'm sure, not what they were hoping for. I asked them how much this was going to cost me, because I was sure they must be in deep trouble to be calling me. I asked them if they were in jail, or if maybe Stephen had OD'd again (as I had heard he had three times in the past). They assured me that they were not in trouble, and that things were going better for them than it ever had. Then they dropped the bomb.

They told me that they had also became Christians, even before Eric, and they were so excited to tell me all about the good things, like the happiness and the love they had found in their lives. They said I was the first person they wanted to share it with. I listened as those two boys of mine went on (long distance calling at that!) for about two hours about Jesus and peace and love and a ministry which had helped them, New Jerusalem Ministries and their new friend, Pastor Steve. When they hung up, Stephen told me that he was entering a drug rehab facility and would be away for the next couple of months, but would be out for two days at Christmas.

After that call, I couldn't stop thinking about my boys. About how truly happy they sounded. That was a first, because David and Stephen were rebellious and strong-willed, but they had never seemed happy a day in their lives. I had felt something different in them, just as I had with Eric. Only this time, I WANTED it. I had to find a way to be as happy as they seemed to be all of a sudden. When I talked to Eric, I asked for the email address of that Pastor they had all talked about, and I wrote him a letter.

When Pastor Steve wrote back, he explained what needed to be done in terms that even a child could have understood. He even sent me a prayer to pray. I did pray, even adding a few things that I knew needed to be said between the Lord and me. And when I was done, I felt lighter and more free than I had since I was a kid myself.

Through a friend of my sons and of Pastor Steve, I made arrangement to surprise my kids at Christmas by dropping in on them. I had told the Pastor that I wanted to give my boys a new Dad for Christmas, and that's exactly what they helped me to do.

And I had a surprise waiting ahead for me, too, that truly only the Lord Jesus Christ could have provided. Last night, my ex-wife came to David's home (where I'm staying for a week) and asked if I would pray with her so that she could join the rest of our family in being a Christian. And after talking half the night away, we're even going to give our marriage one more try! They say the third time's the charm, and with the Lord the head of our lives now, I know it will be.

I have so much to be thankful for right now. I'm a new man. As the Pastor told me, ALL things are made new when you find your way to Jesus. I'm so happy to have my sons love now and to be facing a new start with Joannie. But it's more than that. Those are just the perks! Christ has given me a desire for life, a new life which only He can give. And He took away my desire for the old things that weighed me down. I've discovered that He not only took away all of the sin, He takes away the very sin nature from where it stems. He gets sin by its root and de-weeds the garden of your soul.

If I were to die today, I can say I died a happy man. But I still have two sons to go before things have come full circle. And I pray for Kris and Kyle constantly. I know I've been no example to them whatsoever and I can't just expect them to say, "Let's get saved, Dad did!" But the Lord has many agents, and I'm hoping that He will send one of them around to my boys so that they can see what they need in their lives.

UPDATE! My two sons Kris & Kyle gave their hearts and lives to Christ ...Praise His Name! and not only that, I've been reunited with two other sons, Tommy & Tony and they too have become Christians! What more could a Born-Again Dad ask for...thank you, Lord Jesus!

As a U.S. Veteran, I used to say that Viet Nam was like being in Hell. It's funny how we say things when we have no idea what we're talking about. I imagine anyone in Hell today would willingly go to Viet Nam in exchange. NOTHING is as bad as what the real Hell must surely be like. I just thank Christ Jesus that my family and I will be spared THAT tour of duty! That for eternity, we will be united as a family and kneel before our Father and give Him the praise and worship so deserving to Him.