Back to The Beginning

     Like the woman at the well,(the Samaritan) my introduction to belief in the Lord was a prophetic moment. the year was 1979  and I was in a new town trying to make it on my own.  Alone for the first time and away from family influence it was unremarkable except for the fact that Americans had just been taken hostage by a group of young Iranians and it was my first exposure to a terrorist mentality. China Syndrome was playing at the theaters and for those who do not know what that was it was a movie about nuclear meltdown and Three Mile Island had just happened after the release of that movie.So it was an unnerving time. I myself was intent in not being evicted from my new apartment.  I had no income, no job and my girlfriend had just moved in with me.  Separated from any help financially at all we both wondered what would soon happen to us.
     My father was a marine and finished up his career in the late 60's and some how managed to become involved in the Vietnam War.  He came back to the states broken, alcoholic and a bitter man. We never saw eye to eye and he wanted me to become a marine also!  Why? I couldn't put it all together.  The 60's movements were a powerful influence on me and so "Hell no I won't Go was a prevalent theme in my life. I was by no means a radical but I wanted to live! And not find myself in a jungle.
     So back to my situation.  Eviction was not  going to happen.  I had an aha! moment...why not enlist before something happens and let the government pay for my way!  My thinking, my solution!
     How could I go down this road? Considering my father?  So I did the required ASVAB test which is like a military SAT and scored high for mechanical work and or ability.  I was on my way to something...Albany and signing up for duty!  Next stop Lackland Air Force Base.
                                                             
                                                                ENTER GOD
   
     That night my girlfriend could not sleep well and woke me quite frantically in the morning.  She then proceeded to tell me that I should not go to Albany and sign up for the Air Force.  I said why? Perplexed because we both had agreed this would be best.  She then proceeded to tell me of a dream that night all about my immediate future and what would happen to me if I made that decision. (I would have ended up some what like my father). She had also told me things about my father she couldn't have known very well but did so and it made scary sense to me in a way I could not explain but nevertheless understood it to be some kind of intervention to change my course.  I was not a believing Christian at the time but always had wondered about God.  In the back of my mind I assumed there was a God but unknown to me at this point.  So I never went to Albany and instead started pursuing a God whose name I did not know. We both did.
      Scripture declares that "I will be found by you if you search for me with all of your heart." 
It also says that he is a rewarder to those who diligently search for him.  And I'm glad to say that it is so.  Thirty years later I am in still in awe of Jesus, in that before I was formed he knew me, and also my wife who had that prophetic dream so many years ago now.  
     Come said the Samaritan woman, let me tell you of a man who told me all of ever I did....