When I was 13 years old I gave my life to Jesus. At the time I was living with my mom and my two sisters in Houston with a support system of believers, both in my family and through our church. Not long after I was saved, I moved up to Illinois to live with my dad. It was very different than the life I had in Houston. Throughout my high school years I was not plugged in with a group of believers and pursued things “of this world” which got me in all kinds of trouble.
My daughter, Ashley was born when I was 16. It was my sophomore year in high school. I knew I had made some bad choices and I had to take responsibility for them. It was anything but easy and I know there was no way I could have made it through this on my own. In fact, it wasn't until years later that I found out about all the different people that were praying for me during this time.
The summer after my freshmen year I moved out of my dad’s house so I could be there for my daughter and take care of my soon-to-be wife, Christy. This was after being caught in the middle of and dealing with years of my parent’s ugly divorce and soon becoming an emancipated minor. The next few years I stayed in high school, worked as many hours as I could, and took some classes at the local community college. My last year in high school, I married Christy at age 18.
Not long after we were married Christy began dealing with some health issues, and because of this we made the decision to have our second child. It was before I had even graduated from high school.
Soon after I graduated Christy was pregnant with our son Jordan. We went on a trip to Houston to visit my mom and extended family for Thanksgiving. It was not an easy trip—filled with a car accident and Christy ending up in the hospital with complications in her pregnancy. But it was there that I felt God tugging on my heart in a way I had not felt since I was 13, when I gave my life to Christ.
After Jordan was born it became clear that we needed to move back to Texas, so I packed up my family and we headed south. At the time Christy did not know the Lord and I wasn't even sure how to begin sharing the story of salvation with her.
After moving to Texas, Jordan's health took a turn for the worst, he was 6 months old. We found ourselves in and out of the hospital with no idea what was wrong with our son. We just knew he was very sick. After three blood transfusions, tests, and 12 different specialists working to find out what was wrong with him, they began to test him for Cystic Fibrosis.
When the tests began coming back positive I started to lose control. Not that I had control in the first place, but I didn't understand that at the time. All I knew was that I was devastated and didn't understand why God wanted to take my son from me. After days of asking why, a pastor came to visit us and after talking with him I realized Jordan wasn't mine in the first place, he was God’s child and God had placed him in my care for this time on earth. It was at this point that I realized God knew what He was doing. I knew what I had to do and that was to give Jordan to God.
The moment I lifted him up to God, a huge weight was lifted and an amazing sense of peace came over me. I knew everything was going to work out. Our Lord and Savior was in control. From that point on the tests started coming back negative and the doctors were amazed, it didn't make sense to them. We spent the next few years dealing with what I would call minor things with Jordan's health. I only call them minor because I know he had been healed.
After that Christy and I went through some tough times as I started a new business with some questionable partners, and Christy continued to search for answers concerning Jordan's health. This quickly became a mess and once again I was losing control of things. It was at this point that we started getting involved at Second Baptist Church in Houston, and that was the best thing we have ever done. It was incredible to see my family excited for the first time about going to church, and to be surrounded by some amazing followers of Christ that would later become some of our best friends. Once again I was at the point where I realized I did not have control of my family or my business but God does. So what did I do? I gave it all to Him.
God began to do some amazing things over the next five years as He began to show me a vision for my life, lead my wife and daughter into a relationship with Him, and transformed the business He gave me to start and learn from. Then He moved us to Bastrop and led my son into a relationship with Him.
At this point God gave me another piece of the vision that I would not understand for a couple of more years. As Christy and I got involved in a local church and started to make a decision to shut down my business, I knew He was calling me into full time ministry but I thought at the time it was to work for a church. It was during this time that God began teaching me about the Church and His kingdom. It was also during this time when God would take me through a very tough personal time, dealing with past and generational sins. These had to be dealt with before He could really use me the way He has planned.
That leads me up to today, although there are many more amazing stories and details it would take me a long time to write them all out. What is so amazing to me is that when I look back I can see the Holy Spirit was living in me from when I gave my life to Christ at age 13. Even more amazing is that when I look back at my life and see the lifetime of experience and all of the testimonies God has given me to share and I am only 30.
My daughter, Ashley was born when I was 16. It was my sophomore year in high school. I knew I had made some bad choices and I had to take responsibility for them. It was anything but easy and I know there was no way I could have made it through this on my own. In fact, it wasn't until years later that I found out about all the different people that were praying for me during this time.
The summer after my freshmen year I moved out of my dad’s house so I could be there for my daughter and take care of my soon-to-be wife, Christy. This was after being caught in the middle of and dealing with years of my parent’s ugly divorce and soon becoming an emancipated minor. The next few years I stayed in high school, worked as many hours as I could, and took some classes at the local community college. My last year in high school, I married Christy at age 18.
Not long after we were married Christy began dealing with some health issues, and because of this we made the decision to have our second child. It was before I had even graduated from high school.
Soon after I graduated Christy was pregnant with our son Jordan. We went on a trip to Houston to visit my mom and extended family for Thanksgiving. It was not an easy trip—filled with a car accident and Christy ending up in the hospital with complications in her pregnancy. But it was there that I felt God tugging on my heart in a way I had not felt since I was 13, when I gave my life to Christ.
After Jordan was born it became clear that we needed to move back to Texas, so I packed up my family and we headed south. At the time Christy did not know the Lord and I wasn't even sure how to begin sharing the story of salvation with her.
After moving to Texas, Jordan's health took a turn for the worst, he was 6 months old. We found ourselves in and out of the hospital with no idea what was wrong with our son. We just knew he was very sick. After three blood transfusions, tests, and 12 different specialists working to find out what was wrong with him, they began to test him for Cystic Fibrosis.
When the tests began coming back positive I started to lose control. Not that I had control in the first place, but I didn't understand that at the time. All I knew was that I was devastated and didn't understand why God wanted to take my son from me. After days of asking why, a pastor came to visit us and after talking with him I realized Jordan wasn't mine in the first place, he was God’s child and God had placed him in my care for this time on earth. It was at this point that I realized God knew what He was doing. I knew what I had to do and that was to give Jordan to God.
The moment I lifted him up to God, a huge weight was lifted and an amazing sense of peace came over me. I knew everything was going to work out. Our Lord and Savior was in control. From that point on the tests started coming back negative and the doctors were amazed, it didn't make sense to them. We spent the next few years dealing with what I would call minor things with Jordan's health. I only call them minor because I know he had been healed.
After that Christy and I went through some tough times as I started a new business with some questionable partners, and Christy continued to search for answers concerning Jordan's health. This quickly became a mess and once again I was losing control of things. It was at this point that we started getting involved at Second Baptist Church in Houston, and that was the best thing we have ever done. It was incredible to see my family excited for the first time about going to church, and to be surrounded by some amazing followers of Christ that would later become some of our best friends. Once again I was at the point where I realized I did not have control of my family or my business but God does. So what did I do? I gave it all to Him.
God began to do some amazing things over the next five years as He began to show me a vision for my life, lead my wife and daughter into a relationship with Him, and transformed the business He gave me to start and learn from. Then He moved us to Bastrop and led my son into a relationship with Him.
At this point God gave me another piece of the vision that I would not understand for a couple of more years. As Christy and I got involved in a local church and started to make a decision to shut down my business, I knew He was calling me into full time ministry but I thought at the time it was to work for a church. It was during this time that God began teaching me about the Church and His kingdom. It was also during this time when God would take me through a very tough personal time, dealing with past and generational sins. These had to be dealt with before He could really use me the way He has planned.
That leads me up to today, although there are many more amazing stories and details it would take me a long time to write them all out. What is so amazing to me is that when I look back I can see the Holy Spirit was living in me from when I gave my life to Christ at age 13. Even more amazing is that when I look back at my life and see the lifetime of experience and all of the testimonies God has given me to share and I am only 30.
