As a teenager, while on a short-term mission trip to Peru, that I came to understand and experience for myself the importance of spending time in God’s Word daily. During this time, God also began to steer my heart towards a life of full-time ministry. Fast forward a few years, I was married and began serving with the same organization that had first helped to plant those seeds of love for God’s Word and ministry.
About a decade later, my family moved from the West Coast to the East Coast – I had served as a Bible and Music teacher, a youth pastor, worship leader, and local church missionary. Life after our big move seemed to be going smoothly. I was getting more involved in my local church and my wife had just given birth to our fourth child. I had just accepted my dream job as a youth camp director. I was actively working on my health. Everything was falling into place until it wasn’t.
On December 12, 2011, life as we knew it, changed dramatically. I experienced a severe stroke that has left me without the use of my right arm, limited use of my right leg as well as complications with my speech and processing information. The first couple of years I seemed to make large strides in recovery with the help of occupational, physical, and speech therapies. To this day, over nine years later, I continue to make small amounts of progress as time goes on.
Although my gifts and abilities have been altered for my time here on earth, those seeds sewn years ago, for the love of God and His Word, remain. A consistent, personal time in God’s Word is crucial to one’s spiritual growth. I believe that without a doubt, it was those years of walking closely with my Savior, Jesus Christ, that helped to keep me in step with Him through the darkest days I’ve known. Today, I seek to continue serving Jesus by encouraging others to develop an intimate relationship with God.
Having lost my ability to read and write as well as having difficulties processing information after my stroke, it became increasingly important for me to figure out how to grow my spiritual walk. Having IT and web experience prior to the stroke, I found that it was therapeutic to find ways to work online. Fast forward a few years and what used to be a hobby, has become my lifeline. Developing an online version of a daily devotional has allowed me to have vision again and channel my drive into something that can encourage others in their spiritual walk.
