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Ken's Testimony
On January 15, 2006, I walked into Temple Baptist Church here in Tacoma. Over the next 90 minutes, God changed me. Actually, it only took about 2 minutes, but I stayed for the whole service.
I had been a drug addict for 37 years and, at 50, was pretty sure I would die that way. On that day, God reached into Hell, pulled me out and told the devil, "This one belongs to me." I will be forever grateful. I had been using pat for 37 years, cocaine for 20 and meth for 10. I had tried to quit meth several times and couldn't. On that day, God kicked over the rock I was hiding under and hit me with the Light of Christ. It was so bright, there were no more shadows or darkness to run to.
When I walked in, a woman gave me a prayer card (I call it a pain card) to write down anything I might want the pastor to talk to me about or pray for me. I wrote all my self-pity, all my despair and all my hopelessness down, front, back and around the edges. I started with, "No one loves me."
It had been 38 years since I had been in a church and I had forgotten about the singing and greeting, so when it started, I put the card in my pocket. With tears running down my face, I shook hands with people I didn't know (at the time). By the time we finished singing, I had pulled myself together.
Then this man I didn't know (whom I now know as Pastor Mike Roberts) got up and began to speak and the most wonderful thing happened. The pastor was talking about Galations and the fruit of the Spirit, but all I heard was God saying, "Ken, I love you." I started to cry again. He said, "I have been chasing you for a long time trying to give you something you need to live (and HE was not talking about living on this earth.)" "Will you take it now?" I said yes and HE took all my self-pity, hopelessness and despair and gave me the Holy Spirit.
I did not walk out pumping my fists in the air and claiming my salvation. This wasn't a tent revival,(actually, it took a couple of days for me to understand), but I knew I had been changed. I walked out not craving my drugs and on the couple of occasions I smoked pot again, I couldn't stand the separation from the Spirit. It has now been 3 years.
I could go on, but why. You all know God's blessings. One of them is shown above in the picture with me. God started 2006 with my salvation and ended it with my marriage to a woman of God with whom to share my love of God.
Oh yeah, on that first day, when I put that card in my pocket, over the next 60 minutes, God dealt with every issue I and written down.
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