I was born in my forty-first year of life. Up until that point, I was like so many others in this world -- going through the motions, but not really knowing how to reach what seemed to be the unattainable. To most people, I would have seemed to be the man who "has it all". I taught high school art, I had a nice home in San Diego, California, I had been married to my lovely wife for eighteen years, and we had a beautiful family. I was set for life, right? WRONG!

Inside, I was miserable. Nothing ever seemed to be "enough". I was lost, lonely and eternally searching. The problem was, I didn't even know what I was searching for. I just knew that there was a void, a massive gulf that could never be filled. It wasn't that I didn't know happiness. There were many wonderfully happy moments in my life. Family vacations, holidays, the simple joys of playing with my children and having them tell me how much they loved me. But these moments of joy and contentment were always short-lived.

I have a brother, almost two years younger than myself. His periods of unhappiness were far worse than mine, as he has suffered from clinical depression since we were both teenagers. Kevin (as you can read in his testimony) was a very unhappy person.

Then something happened in his life. After studying God's Word as a result of his visits to this website (New Jerusalem Ministries), he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. Instantaneous changes occured. I sat back and watched as my younger brother, once so down and out, miraculously became the happiest person I have ever known. And not just his life, but his entire home as well, as he and his wife became Christians within a few days apart. Their home was happier, their love was deeper and stronger, and their relationship with the Lord became the focus of their lives.

I became more and more curious about this new conversion and the amazing changes. The more I was around them, the more contagious the joy in their new lives became. I wanted it. It became all I could think about. They made it seem so easy. Just pray and ask the Lord into my life. But I, who had never even stepped inside of a church in my life, didn't have the first clue as to how to pray.

Then one day, I decided to send an email to Kevin's new friend, Pastor Steve. I didn't know him then, but I explained a little about my life, and asked that he pray for me. He wrote back, and I wish I could convey in words the warmth and love I felt from him. He didn't even know me except through my brother, but I could sense his concern and his sincerity when he told me that he would indeed be praying for me.

The following Sunday, my famiy and I went to church with my brother to watch the baptism of Kevin and his wife, Kirstin. It was a beautiful ceremony, even if I didn't understand exactly what was happening. After the baptism, the minister of the church got up to preach. But the Lord had already spoken to my heart, and I wanted so badly to do something about it. The Lord had also spoken to my brother, because Kevin reached over and put his arm around me and said that if I wanted to go to the front and pray, he would go with me. With tears streaming, I was only able to nod my head. We went up, and as we knealt, I felt as if someone had opened the floodgates to my soul. I poured my heart out to God, and asked for true forgiveness for all that I had been in my past. Ninety minutes later, I rose up -- a new man, with a new life ahead of me. And the blessings had already began in my life -- because also at the front praying was my wife, Leesa, surrendering her heart to Jesus.

The following year, I lost my wife and two of our children in a plane crash. Leesa (who was half Chinese and half Korean) was born and raised in Korea. It is my hope that as I continue to grow in the Lord, I will find an avenue of service in which I might be able to serve that would assist those in her native country. My two surviving children and I all speak both Chinese and Korean, and since I am already a school teacher, it is our prayer that at some point, we might enter the mission field. Who knows what the Lord might have in store for us!

If you have anyone, family or friend, who does not know the Lord, I would strongly recommend that you steer them to New Jerusalem Ministries. I loved the fact that Pastor Steve did not "preach" to me, but the pages were simply written and full of love, while still standing firm in his beliefs.

Five years later, I continue to grow each and every day in my faith. Desipte of my painful losses, I am far happier than I have ever been in my life. My wife and all of our Children had already become Christians, so I know that I have my family for eternity! And I thank God every day for Pastor Steve, and for my brothers Kevin and Randy, who are my Christian brothers, as well as my brother by birth. God has given me so much already. If you would like this in YOUR life, you don't even have to know a lot about Him to accept Him. I certainly didn't. Just invite Him in -- He'll take it from there.

Shortly after giving my heart and life to the Lord, my brother Kevin gave me a copy of the Four Spiritual Laws of Salvation. Pastor Steve was really impressed that I speak Chinese and Korean, and so I thought I would surprise him and put the Four Spiritual Laws on his site -- in English, Chinese and Korean. Just click on the link below to go to that!

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