My life instantly changed

I was born in Arcadia, Florida and I received Jesus as my Savior when I was seven years old, along with my dad and my twin brother, Don. Then when my parents divorced when I was around ten, my two brothers and
my sister moved with my mother to Bradenton, Florida. My mother set a very good example of a Christian for us, and she kept us going to church. It really helped having a heavenly Father to pray to during these difficult years without an earthly dad around. I really liked baseball, and during my junior year, I won Manatee High school's baseball team's highest batting average. But during my senior year, I switched to the tennis team, due to a girl on the tennis team I liked a lot. My tennis double's partner and I went to the finals in the regional tennis tournament. I later played tennis for two different colleges. The one at Stetson University, I also came in third in their college fraternity track meet, with a high jump of 5' 10''.

During my early years, I got to see God's mighty protective power. The first time it occurred, I was around 16 years old. My twin brother accidentally shot me with a spear, from a spear gun! By a miracle, the spear hit my bottom teeth, next to the side of the front teeth, and that slowed the spear down enough to only go in a few more inches.

The second time God stepped in to protect me was when I found out that I had cancer. I was 23, and at the University of Florida at the time. But after I was diagnosed with cancer, thanks to a booklet from my mother, explaining how God could come down from heaven, through His Son Jesus, and come into my heart by His Holy Spirit and be my Lord, I immediately got on my knees and invited Jesus into my heart as my Lord. It
was so comforting to know that God could live in me.

My life instantly changed from an empty life, to a life full of joy and purpose. I also had a new boldness to share Jesus with others that I had never been able to do before, when Jesus was only my Savior. Jesus then helped me through 50 cobalt treatments I took that summer of 1972. I was even able to continue back to college in August, then graduated from the University of Florida in 1974. As soon as I graduated, I started teaching math. I taught math for 18 years in Florida. Then God led me to leave a public school I had been teaching at for 15 years. That resulted in the principal at Temple Baptist Academy, then in 1992, Stan Hlad, inviting me to teach math here. I accepted, and this year, I'll be starting my 11th year of teaching here. I'm looking forward to teaching all of the students who will be in my classes during this school year of 2002-2003!