My Come to Jesus moment came during a life-threatening health crisis. I have gone into detail about it before and won't get into that much detail right now because this is about my journey in the faith and how I want to spread the message and bring others to it.
I was very sick, and at least one doctor told me that my chances of survival were low. He said that if I did survive, I would be sick for the rest of my life. Despite hearing that prognosis, I still did not start praying or seeking God. I didn't get to that point until I got so weak that I could see my own mortality. Intellectually, we all know that we are going to die at some point. But when you come face to face with that reality and realize that it could be imminent, your perspective changes. It was at that point that I turned to God. Obviously, I prayed for healing so that I could continue living. More importantly though, my prayer also was that if it was not in God's plan to heal me, my wife and my family and friends would not suffer terribly at the loss of their husband, son, brother, and friend. I prayed that God would comfort them in that circumstance. I gave it up to Him and believed that regardless, He would work it out. And work it out He did. I began to recover almost immediately. I started to regain my strength, my ability to eat, and I didn't have to rely on oxygen as much. The nurses and therapists all expressed that my recovery was "remarkable." One of them said that they had never seen someone with my diagnosis and in my condition recover so quickly and thoroughly. The doctor who told me that I was probably going to die or need supplemental oxygen for the rest of my life reported after my last exam that I am now operating at 98% lung capacity, there is no scarring on my lungs, and there is no evidence of the condition that landed me in his care.
My prayer was that if God did heal me, I would spend the rest of my life serving Him. I grew up in Church. My Dad has been a preacher for most of my life. Like many PKs, I ran away as far and as fast as I could. I couldn't wait to get out on my own so I didn't have to get up and go to Church every Sunday. It was never real to me. I saw too many Christians with health issues, financial issues, marital issues, bad kids, and various other issues, so I didn't see a point in worshipping a God who allowed those things to happen. What I didn't understand was the peace that many of those people had in knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was going to work it out in his timing. We live in a fallen world awash in sin. God doesn't make people sick or poor. Those situations are a result of the sinful world we inhabit, and very often, our poor choices.
My experience with severe illness has allowed me to see firsthand, and in no uncertain terms, the power and mercy of Almighty God. I need to let everyone know so that they have the opportunity to come to know him before they suffer illness or encounter a circumstance where they beg God for deliverance as a last resort. Men need to hear this message.
There's an often-cited statistic that when a father accepts Jesus Christ and begins to attend Church, 93% of the families follow. The research on that stat is a bit thin, but Scripture has given men a mandate to lead. One that comes to mind is 1 Timothy 3:2-5 "Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?" When men lead their households, the family unit, which is the building block of society, is strong. When families are strong, society is strong. This is the reason they are so fixated on attacking manhood, masculinity, and Christianity.
Strong Christian men are directly in their crosshairs because they know that men who are united and covered in the full armor of God, would never allow anyone to tell their sons that they are really girls. They would never allow boys who think they are girls to compete in sporting events against their daughters. The forces that are at work feminizing men, attacking manhood and masculinity, are undermining the family; and, by extension, breaking down society. It's long past time for men to step up and stand in the gap to prevent these forces from doing any more damage than has already been done. That is our mission, and we must be ready.
