In the last Peanuts, I said I would give my testimony – in this case, what God has done in my life. And of course, it all starts out with my parents. They were missionaries in Japan in May of 1952 when I was born, so you could say I was made in Japan. In the 60’s and 70’s this was as common as ‘made in China’ is today. At a very early age I was taught about Jesus: how I was a sinner, that God loved me, Jesus came, and died on the cross for my sin, and at an early age I accepted Jesus as my Savior from sin. And then I lived happily ever after, right? – WRONG!
The following two incidents are, I believe, God’s providential leading in my life. When I was 10 months old, and learning to walk, I grabbed hold of the handle of a pot of boiling water, and yes, pulled it down on myself and burned large areas of my body which still bear the scars. Dr. Nero told my parents it would be a miracle if I lived – and God performed that miracle. Then when I was 18, the summer after my first year of college, we had just finished working in a field in Minnesota when I was stung by a little black bee. Within 15 minutes, I had passed out and was thrown into the back seat of my uncle’s brother’s car. We were 10 miles from town and I was told later that Eldie drove over 100 miles an hour and went through a red light getting me to the hospital. The nurses were ready with the serum, but when they tried to inject the needle, my veins collapsed. By God’s grace the doctor was able to get the serum in and soon I was on my way to recovery. How close was I to death’s door? Let’s say I remember something about an out-of-body experience, and no, I did not see a white light. It seems evident to me that God had something else for me to do on this earth, and since He saved me from physical death twice and from spiritual death once, I owe a whole lot to Him.
During my college days, I attended Bob Jones University, a fundamental Bible-believing school in South Carolina that recently has been in the headlines for refusing interracial dating among students. Actually this rule was put in place in the 50’s because of flack by parents whose daughter married Billy Kim of South Korea, who took her back there. So originally it had nothing to do with Blacks. My parents had both attended the school and I along with my 3 brothers and 2 sisters dutifully graduated from BJU. And since I am admittedly not the sharpest tool in the woodshed, I barely got out with just above a ‘C’ average. And that was with an education major!
I taught for a couple years, but I wasn’t very good and didn’t really like it all that much. Soon after, I was married to the most wonderful gal. God was very good to me. I certainly didn’t deserve Kathy, but after only seven months of dating we were married. A couple years after we were married, I tried my hand as principal of a small Christian school. Although I enjoyed it and feel I did a good job, after three years we had a new pastor and he wanted to do my job as well as his, so with our third child on the way, Kathy and I headed to Pennsylvania to teach at a Christian school just outside of Reading. Because of circumstances, I left after a year, very disillusioned with teaching, and very much in need of a good job. Christian schools typically don’t pay a lot. This was in the early 80’s and jobs were scarce. I tried to get a decent job, but the best I could do was selling baby pictures, life insurance, and vacuum cleaners. During this time, we had some dear friends who brought groceries and assisted in other ways as we were going through a very dark valley. In January of 1985, again due to circumstances, we left PA and headed for Findlay, OH, where Kathy’s parents lived. Although Kathy’s Dad, Morrie Snook, got me a job doing what he was very good at – selling life insurance, I just wasn’t cut out for it. At one point I was flipping hamburgers at McDonalds for minimum wage. I was in my 30’s, with three kids and 4th on the way. I saw no future, no hope – I believed that God no longer loved or cared for me. I felt abandoned.
Then in November of 1985 I got a job at a local plant that did machining and assembly work. I begged the plant superintendent to let me sweep floors for free for a week and if he thought I did a good job, he could hire me. Well, I guess it made an impression on him, because a couple days later I had a job there making $6.00 an hour – not much but a lot better than I had, especially since there was a lot of overtime. It was a time of healing for me. I had been beaten down psychologically and God was there, allowing me to care for my family.
A little over two years later one-third of the workforce was laid off, including me. Deciding to try management, I made a call to a company that evidently did not exist, but the company I reached was a plastics distributorship. After a couple minutes the guy at the other end asked if I would like to come in for an interview. To make the story short, I went to the interview on Saturday (and wondered if this kind of business was legitimate!), asked my pastor to pray for me Sunday morning, and got a call that afternoon to report to work the next day. I don’t know about you, but I see the hand of God all through the whole episode. We see through a glass dimly, not knowing the future. God looks at the big picture from an entirely different perspective – eternity. He sees the future as clearly as the past.
So 21 years have passed under the bridge since I got into the plastics business. For 6 ½ years I worked with that first distributorship, then the Lord worked it out so I could start out on my own in 1994. In 2000 we bought our first grinder and embarked on a whole new episode. 2005 saw us move into our own building and now we have 60,000 square feet, three grinders and two shredders, and a whole new set of headaches.
Although I believe I have been blessed in an unusual way, I have tried to keep things in perspective. God owns everything: the company, my possessions and house, my family, and myself. I own nothing. And when there are problems, it is such a relief to know that they are not mine – they belong to God. And even though I make some awful decisions, He is there to help me out.
For those of us who have been bought by the blood of Jesus, we need to understand that no matter how dark the way may be, if we are seeking to live for God, He will guide us, with His loving arm wrapped around us, and sometimes when the way is especially trying, He will carry us. That’s when we look back and see only one set of footprints.
And for those who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, please let me know. It would be my joy to introduce you to my Savior and my best friend.
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