My Story

The Beginning

I wasn't supposed to live past 4 years old.

Heart failure. Pericarditis. Liver and kidney failure.

The doctors gave me 3 to 8 hours to live.

My mom called my grandmother, who was in church. They stopped the service and the whole congregation started to pray.

I lived.

The Desert Years

We moved to Idaho. My dad got a job cleaning up ash from Mount St. Helens. Then he got hurt in a mining accident -- partial amputation of his foot.

We were broke. That Christmas, we had nothing.

Then a cop showed up. Not to arrest us. To bring us food from the policemen's benevolent fund.

That was our Christmas.

The Fire

I was 4. I liked fire. I lit my mom's bedspread on fire.

She grabbed the burning blanket with her bare hands. Got burned saving the house.

Lesson: Passion in the wrong place destroys.

The Wreck

I was 17. Driving 80 mph. Reached for peach cobbler that had spilled.

I drove off the road. Overcorrected. My tire blew.

My car flipped 10 times.

I walked away with 6 scratches and a 1-inch cut.

An angel covered me.

The Lie

I thought I was gay. I thought I was a pervert. I thought I was broken.

For 15 years, I believed it.

The shame was overwhelming. I wanted to die.

But God had other plans.

The Night I Almost Killed My Dad

We fought for years. He was rough. I had a smart mouth.

One night, I muttered: "You know I could just kill you in your sleep."

He heard me. Got his shotgun. Told me to do it.

I didn't. He slapped me. I laughed. He worked me in the yard for two weeks until my hands bled.

Two weeks later, I left through the window. Never went back.

But we reconciled. Forgiveness is possible.

Today

I'm a husband of 12+ years.

Father of two.

Author. Coach. Speaker. Minister.

The things I thought disqualified me became my testimony.

If God can use me -- a guy who survived heart failure, poverty, addiction, identity crisis, and almost killing his own dad -- He can use you.