Some things…
You might want to know about me.

I am the eldest son of six children: two girls, and four boys, with the girls arriving first and last, like bookends. After what was for me a turbulent childhood, punctuated by my parents’ divorce around the time I turned 10, and my abysmal failures as an older brother, I left home at the age of 17 to join the Marines, and spent the next four years traveling the world. Following which, I bounced around the States, as a Cable-TV Lineman for a year.
And then… I re-entered the Marines.

The 1st time, I had been a parachutist. Having been awarded the “Iron Mike,” as the Distinguished Honor Graduate of my jump-school class, which prompted my Commander to meritoriously promote me to Lance Corporal several months early, and also opened the door for me to become an Embassy Guard. First in war-torn Ethiopia… Then Nairobi, Kenya for a few months… Followed by twelve hours in Khartoum, Sudan and about three in Douala, Cameroon… and then two months in the briefly existing Central African Empire, and lastly a return to Nairobi, before flying to Paris, France where I was stationed for just over a year and a half.

I had not yet met Christ on that 1st tour, but an incident in the San Bernadino National Forrest in which I was very nearly overrun by a wall of flames served to change that… There is much more to say on that incident and what followed… but that will have to wait for a future post.

However, the upshot of that incident, was that I decided to go back into the Marine Corps again. I told myself it was because I wanted to jump out of airplanes and helicopters again… which was true enough… but what I really craved was, more adventure. And I got it, in the form of 1st Recon Battalion, which gave me opportunities to attend Special Forces SCUBA training and U.S. Army Ranger School.

After another two and a half years I got out again and worked for several years as an Electrician. During those years, I completed a body of work dubbed “The Curriculum for Living,” the three core programs (Forum, Advanced Course and The Self-expression & Leadership Course) produced by Landmark Education, which is a Personal-Growth and Professional-Growth Training Organization. Having completed these programs, I was offered an opportunity, to yet again, be of service to my community albeit in a totally new way for me, as a Childcare Worker. Twelve years later, having become burnt-out, from dealing with all the trauma the kids I had been working with had endured… I sought-out a much-needed break.

That break proved to be more self-destruction than actual break… due in large part to my own… as yet undiagnosed PTSD/OCD issues. This led to something like 8 years of walking away from God and self-medicating. It required the Lord to yank me back on track. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to hear about all the miracles involved in that “yanking-me-back” if you spend any time on this web page.

I hope you will stick around with me… on my latest adventure… This time, I hope and pray it is in answer to God’s call.