During the 1970’s the economy was booming and we had purchased additional property, invested in a small trucking business of my own. When the early 1980s came along interest rates had jumped up to over 20% and the economy crashed. The housing market fell and there was little work in the trucking business. When this crash came we owned three houses and two large trucks and trailers. I still had my job in the Auto Body business, people were still crashing cars so we still had a pay cheque. I was able to sell off some of the trucking equipment. The houses were rented, and we were lucky only one mortgage came due during the high interest rates. This was a wake up call for me. When you think you have things under control, it can all change. When I look back on it now, I feel God was calling my attention. I was to caught up in the things of world.
When I was 33 years old a major change came in my life unexpectedly. My wife and I had bought a rental house and my wife looked in the newspaper to see if anyone had an ad looking for a place to rent, And sure enough there was an ad in there
( Christian couple looking for a rental ) and my wife called them and it was just what they were looking for. They moved in and after they were in they invited us to attend a local Church in Victoria with them. I had been to Sunday school as a kid so didn’t think it was anything unusual. My wife had been to a Catholic Church a few times with her Grandmother. After attending that Church we decided to attend a Christian crusade going on at the arena in town by a man by the name of Terry Winter. We attended the crusade and after the message there was a call given to come forward to receive a new life in Jesus Christ and I had this strong urge to go forward and my wife, my daughter and my son all went forward. I remember the feeling of excitement, but at the same time I had tears in my eyes. I had never had this feeling going to
church before. This happened 25 years ago, and I will never forget it. You know the thing that happened after that was I got an old Bible out and started reading it and I couldn’t stop. Everyday I couldn’t wait to get home from work to read the thing and I couldn’t get enough of it. This went on for about a year and it changed my whole outlook on life. Things that were so important to me were not so interesting anymore. Chasing the world for all I could get out of it was not so interesting and my love for people changed. It just seamed like a big weight was lifted off me, I felt free and at peace with myself. It seamed like I fell in love with my wife all over again and we became much closer together. This is something that is almost impossible to explain. It just happened. My wife and I have been in different Bible studies over the last 25 years and it seams the longer you study the Bible the deeper it gets. It’s not like a book you read once and you have no interest in reading it again, every time you read and study it you get more out off it. I am writing this little book because I would like to share what happened to me with someone else, as maybe you have never been invited to a Church or never thought of attending a Church. Maybe when you were brought up you were taught to stay away from churches. I went to Church for many years as a kid but never got the feeling strong enough to go forward when there was a call to come forward. I thought by going to Church and Sunday school was all you needed to get to Heaven. I had some knowledge of the Bible, but had never had a life changing experience. But it happened to me, and it can happen to you.