Truthslave
I am a man, husband and father of three children. Passionate about relating to God, and sharing my faith, I began writing music at the age of 8. For me, writing music and searching deeply into God and his nature were always synonymous. As a very small child, I believed and confessed faith in Jesus Christ, but by the age of 18, I felt that my desire to serve God had perhaps always been somewhat prodded by my parents who were themselves devout followers of Jesus. One mid January afternoon, shortly after my 18th birthday, while standing on the edge of a bridge pillar, I recall knowing in my heart that God was real, and that I knew the truth that Jesus Christ is the Lord. Pacing back and forth on that large pillar and looking up at the sky, I violently announced my faith, shouting out to Christ, “My life is your’s, my life is yours!” It was a point in my journey through life that I knew made me different. I believe it was as some describe their moment of conversion, and though I had professed faith in Christ since I could remember, I believe this could have been my true conversion. From this point on, I began to see my life differently, and knew that I was not living only to please myself. My studies in the bible increased, and my boldness to speak the truth grew as well. I remember telling many friends about Christ after this, and for months, I began to speak to people daily about the reality of God and his Son.
Though I grew in love of God and understanding, some difficult times were also ahead for me, and I would soon learn that following Christ would often be very painful, and that sins had real consequences. At the age of 21 I married the most beautiful woman, 17 year old Michelle Link from a town three hours west of where I lived. Within a year and a half of our marriage, we had our firstborn child, a boy we named Noah. After a short back and forth of plans, we planted ourselves in Wooster, Ohio, the town where I grew up, and we became actively involved in my church family there. We purchased a home, and for several years, we felt fairly comfortable in our situation. In that time we also had two more children. First, a blond haired, blue eyed boy we named Ethan, and last a precious, and beautiful little girl we named Isabella.
In the midst of this Michelle and I both worked for the same company. After our second child was born, we decided that Michelle should stay home with the two children. However, this did not last for very long as, being young, and admittedly, sometimes foolish with money, we found ourselves having difficulties in our finances. With our third child now having recently come into the world, feeling we had no other option, Michelle returned to work, and we both continued to work full time for two more years. Fortunately, there were friends and relatives available for most of this time who would take care of our three small children while we were away. However, this transition was especially difficult for Michelle, as she had been able to spend a brief period at home with our children, only to have it cut short for the sake of finances. During that time at home, Michelle began to feel a real connection with her calling to mother her children. Returning to work never really set right with her and it became a disappointment that she would repeatedly have to deal with through the next several years. I dealt with many questions during this stage, and in some ways, I believe it was the darkest point in my life. I wrestled with many things, but underneath it all it was the question of the reality of what being a man really meant, and I was finding no satisfactory answers.
To add to this, though I was making more money than I ever had before, I found myself feeling intensely oppressed after some managerial changes in my company were made. Trying to deal with it for several months, Michelle and I both felt that it was changing my personality, and I decided that I would leave our company. Looking back, I realize that I could have made a much better decision and that I had resources available that I could have taken advantage of. However, shortsightedness on my part meant that I would leave my job, hoping to find something else quickly, but with no real plan. I believe this was one of the worst mistakes of my life, and it lead to all sorts of confusion and difficulty in the time ahead, which included us losing our home. Nevertheless, God also began to work good out of it, and with very few decent employment prospects in the area of Ohio we lived in, we moved to Nashville, Tennessee with the plan for me to work on my music, and to find gainful employment. Michelle was also able to transfer within her company so that she could continue to bring in a good income.
In this transition, having left the situation we had been accustomed to, I began to evaluate my actions, my attitudes, and even some of my beliefs. While I had always gravitated toward deep, analytical thinking, for me this became a time like no other of intense reflection on the purpose of my life, meaning my responsibility to God, and responsibility to others, starting with my family. Through the truth that I have discovered in the written word of God, I have come to the faith that, “what you are is as important as who you are”. I believe that through the death and resurrection of Christ, man has the power to no longer have a mind consumed with death, or the fear of judgment, but to have a mind filled with knowledge, understanding, truth, meaning- the mind of Christ. In this mind, logic is made perfect and we can receive wisdom, or the ability to apply knowledge, the outworking of which is our righteous acts of faith; all things springing forth from the finished work of Christ. Here, I believe that the difficult things of the word of God, actually become the answers to the difficult things in our lives. It is the place where a man has the freedom and the power to be a man. It is the place where a woman finds the courage to trust and follow her husband and raise her children. It is the place where children have a mother AND a father; where divorce ends in the church; the place where money is a tool, and not a lord; it is the place of fulfillment, where all of God’s good creation is enjoyed to it’s fullest.
Michelle has left her career to stay at home with our three children where she plans to educate them herself. We are also looking into foster parenting and adoption. I have taken on the task of being the full time provider, and have vowed to never quit again. I have taken up writing this blog to explore and explain the life changing, society shaking, power of knowing WHAT WE ARE. I hope to use experience and theology to not only bring philosophical challenges to the status quo, nor to merely educate some to the realities of what I call “God’s created order”, but to actually inspire people to take steps in their faith in this tumultuous time in history to promote and demonstrate the power of the word of God in the life, death and resurrection of Christ to bring a man, a woman, and a child into the fulness of their calling, bringing glory to God. I believe this is not just a personal, quiet experience, but that it reaches into all areas political, educational, sexual, familial, and societal, and that this is what is intended by God when he first commissioned man to be fruitful and multiply, and to replenish the earth, and when in a like manner, Jesus reiterated this calling through what we commonly refer to as “the great commission”. I intend on exploring all these areas, no matter how controversial or uncomfortable, and look forward to the opportunity to converse and relate with others about what Jesus called “the Kingdom of God”.
