"Who Are You?" - Too

 "And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence are thou? But Jesus gave him no answer." (John 19:9 KJV)

  "Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manor worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. Don't be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him." (Philippians 1:27-29 NLT)

 Having thought about this, off and on for many years, I have come to realize that God's hand was on my life, even when I had walked away from Him! I left home for six months, although I watched over the family from time to time from a distance. I saw that they had moved from the house we were in when I left, and then tracked down the new house they had moved to.

 This was basically the time when I wanted nothing to do with God, the J.W. organization, or any other organized religion; I had given up on hope, and I focused on getting high on dope. For the most part, I never really got hungry; at least not that I can recall. I spent most of my time in the foothills, which overlook the valley; spend several weeks hanging out with the Diablos MC, which was quite the trip; helped people launch their boats at Lake Arrowhead; and for the most part, made money selling drugs to friends at school. 

 For living on the streets, I felt free and had no worries, besides staying out of sight from the law. As it was, I was on probation; had been since the time I was eleven, all the way up till I was 18, at which time I was granted a waiver to join the Navy. But, from the time I was gone from home, until after my last arrest in 1980, I had never really stepped foot into any church or taken part in any kind of religion.

 My religion was my own, and it was messed up, confused, and really gave me no hope! At seventeen I was forced to leave California and go live with my grandfather in Texas. I had decided to change my ways, stop being the mean guy, and focus upon being good; but it took no time at all, and I had found the same kind of drugs I had left in California, and then some. 

 After joining the Navy, I was sent out to the Fleet, straight out of Bootcamp. They put me on an aircraft carrier, the USS Constellation, which took me to all sorts of drug infested Countries. It wasn't long before I started doing what I did best, selling drugs. 

 There were a few men that I knew from Bootcamp that were also on the ship, one in particular was a Christian, who somehow tried to keep pushing me to come to a Bible Study with him; but I kept turning him down. Finally, after having a dispute with the Legal Officer aboard ship, (over my dealing drugs,) I was flown off the ship on a helicopter to Japan, then transported to Treasure Island for discharge. 

 After moving in with my mother, I started to deal drugs again. Waiting for a package that I mailed to myself from the Philippines, which was a Budda statue that I packed a pound of weed around, as if it was stuffing. The package had come from Japan, which I sent with 8 other packages that were all stereo equipment I had bought on base. The stereo equipment showed up first, put the Budda came last; so, I wondered if I was being watched, and moved out to stay at a friend's house. 

 Then I meet my wife! She heard I was staying with Ted, whom she had used for her weed supply, and she wanted to meet me. She told me later that she had a crush on me since I was in my first year of 9th grade. One of her friends pointed me out, and told her stay away from me, because I was trouble. She said she was drawn to me instead! 

 Long story short, I was arrested in 1980 for selling a large quantity of weed, five pounds of which was sold to undercover police officers. After about a year of litigation, I was convicted and sentenced to one year of County Jail; I fortunately was not immediately taken in but had to surrender myself to the county jail by the 15th of June, in 1981. 

 By this time, I had started reading the Bible again, and had some kind of prayer life, although I don't know how or what it accomplished, except for looking back, I felt blessed. But the whole point of this spat, is to show how God's grace knows no bounds! Because, in this time of my life, is where I came face to face with Jesus! My whole life changed in an instant, my new life had just begun, and it was all about Jesus, and the wonderful love of my Heavenly Father; the Father I never really had, but He was there all that time! 

 So, this is the way I see it, if you can care to relate: I was delivered, if you will, from something that might have kept me captured in a Cult, torn and beaten, given a reason to call out, and God was there to save me, at just the right time, when I didn't even expect it or deserve it, He snatched up and out of the fire...

"The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they ignored all his warnings. So the LORD sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon. But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the LORD his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed, the LORD listened to him and was moved at his request. So the LORD brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh finally realized that the LORD alone is God!" (2 Chronicles 33:10-13 NLT)