I was LDS for 30+ years.

A series of deaths got me thinking to the extent that I really wanted to know God. I longed for relationship and understanding. It was the Bible that ultimately led me to a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. As I entered into the process of learning about God, and what is my relationship to Him, I ran into challenges.

First, just a few things did not line up with what I had been taught, then more and finally a flood. It seemed that nearly everything I had been taught was not true. "Just read your Book of Mormon and pray about it," they would say at church, while my heart was breaking. I clung to the Bible and decided to read, well, because it came first. I wanted to fully understand it before I "mixed" it with foreign scripture.

I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and left the LDS religion behind. In 2001 I resigned for my family of 6. This caused a stir.

The cost was very great. My LDS family on both sides rejected my decision.   Some began a campaign to separate myself from my family. The bishop told my wife that we were unequally yoked. Her father said he would do everything in his power to see that I wouldn't be able to take his daughter out of the LDS church. Her sister who lived across the street, continuously worked against our marriage, her and some LDS friends took her to education week to educate her knowing that we were in the process of leaving Mormonism behind…

We have 4 children.
Her sister openly encouraged her to divorce me.
My life was devoted to my family and my children and I was working to save my family, and establish a Christian home centered on the Word of God. Our door said on it, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

In 2002 I received a call at work, my dad had been killed. I went out of town to take care of his affairs, and while away, it is my understanding that our LDS family consulted with my wife and they took a vote, each one explaining why or why not they thought that I must go.

While grieving the death of my father, I faced changed titles, divorce, changed locks on my shop and home. I was quickly replaced.

I became homeless for awhile. That was quite humbling in itself.
There was the legal experience. I did not see it coming and it came like a freight train. Very little was left of what had been…Pretty thoroughly destroyed.

They seemed to take full advantage of the fact I was grieving, hurting, humiliated, in survival mode, and still spinning. It was utterly Brutal.

Despite the situation, God placed Christians in my path, at every step of the way. God said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." Although sometimes it seemed like I could not bear another minute, I was hungry, I missed my children, at one point I took water bottle baths. It seemed that every step I took was "legally recorded" with a legal letter sent. Early on, at the slightest idea of fault I would receive a threat letter. These came nearly every day for a while. Court, contempt accusations, etc.

I made a commitment to take the high road, despite how ugly things got. I had to let go and let God it seemed, everyday.

I found myself reaching up to touch bottom.

Later on, I was on my $100 bed (missing singing with my 4 children) in an apartment, wanting to be angry with God. I said, "but you are all I have……….and I will trust you."

Since that time, God has done a work in me.

He showed me His suffering, and that his blood paid it all…a covering our sins. He showed me His grace. That it is for everyone.

I now have a heart of compassion for my LDS brothers and sisters. I have a boldness to share the truth in love, and to share the gift that God has given to us despite ourselves.

I like to share about the moment of transition that occurred between the Old Testament and the New Testament and ask the question, "Of the things that Jesus Christ accomplished in his walk, at the cross and through his resurrection…..What Changed enough that it required a restoration?"

Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which I now stand. The Church, to me, is the body of Christ for whom He died, all those who get hold of the Gospel "Good News."

Religions of man are merely man's perceptions of God's expectations, nothing more.

A good church is a place where the Word is taught in truth. There is no technical "only true church" (organization). These types seem to breed corruption and deception. The body of Christ is not a group who builds on the idea that they are right and everyone else is wrong.

Jesus, gave everyone of us a blank check. The "gospel" is spreading this good news. When we hear the good news, we can either cash the check or rip it up.

If you have not as yet, I suggest that you read a Bible that prints Jesus' words in red. A million times if you have to, but until you understand what it says.