About Me
Hello. My name's Jim. I'm a sincere, genuine Christian that desires to know and serve Christ with my whole life. I have 4 boys who are the love of my life. I'm a high school history teacher by profession, but after 7 years of teaching, I am currently unemployed.
People who are not Christians cannot understand what us "Jesus Freaks" get out of religion. They think we are weak, and that religion is a "crutch" that we lean on. They enjoy pursuing their own pleasures and living a life that is carefree with no restrictions, other than what they choose to adhere to by their own convictions.
I am not ashamed to say that I am a "Jesus Freak". I love Jesus more than my own life. I think Jesus is awesome! I couldn't live a single moment without Him. And for those who wonder what I get from my relationship with Christ, let me tell you: it is more than just the promise of a heavenly afterlife. He gives purpose to my life here and now.
I didn't become a Christian until I was 19 years old. Up to that point, I pursued life and all the pleasures I wanted. I regularly got drunk, used illegal drugs, chased after women, and did whatever I felt like with no regard for consequences other than to ask myself, "Can I get away with this?" But there came a point in my life, when I found those things to be unfulfilling. Indeed, empty relationships and abusing substances left me feeling hollow inside and wondering if there was more to life than what I was experiencing.
It was then that I decided to give Jesus a try. My mother was a Christian, and was always witnessing to me and praying for me. I became open. She certainly believed Jesus could change my life and give me purpose. Why not try it? I was unfulfilled and searching... the time was ripe.
In the fall of 1989 I entered a Christian college in southern Ohio. I made a serious commitment to try to live a life in accordance with the Gospel of Christ. I gave up cigarettes, snuff, alcohol, drugs, and the other things that I knew Christians weren't supposed to do. I thought, "If I am going to do this, I will not screw around with it, but go the entire distance." That was nearly 20 years ago, and I have not looked back once. My commitment to Christ is even stronger now than it was then.
So what do I get from my relationship with Christ? I have peace of mind and inner peace. No matter what I'm going through I have complete peace inside. I have an inner voice that tells me that this will all turn out for my own betterment in the end (Rom. 8:28). I have freedom from guilt. I have purpose in my life. To me Jesus is not an invisible person I hope to meet someday; He is a real friend, that I can feel. I have heard His voice and felt His comfort. He walks with me and sustains me. Like the Footprints poem says, I have felt Him carrying me through the darkest days of my life. I know Jesus is real, and I know He is the friend of sinners. He changes lives and sets people free from bondage and addictions. People who do not know Him cannot understand. He can only be experienced.
Furthermore, I have seen Jesus change the lives of others around me. I have seen people healed, immediately, right in front of my own eyes... people that I know personally, that have had long sicknesses and bodily problems. I have seen people addicted to alcohol, narcotics, sex, and other addictions, completely set free by the power of Christ. I know Jesus is real, I know He is God, and nothing can ever make me believe otherwise.
In 1994 I graduated from Ohio Christian University with a B.A. in Christian Ministries, and a minor in Christian counseling. I also attended Southeastern University of the Assemblies of God, and for a while was in the process to be ordained by them. In 1998 I graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Education, history was my major.
I am Protestant, Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Arminian. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit at World Harvest Church in Columbus, OH (Rod Parsley's) in 1990 and consider myself fully Pentecostal, fully grounded in God's Word, believing unapologetically in radical manifestations of God's mighty power and His love in the world we live in today. I'm not perfect, just forgiven. I am a sinner saved by grace and nothing more.
I wish to add, that it's doubtful that I would even be a Christian today if it weren't for my mother's prayers. My mother not only prayed me out of a life of sin and into the Kingdom when I was 19, but her love and prayers support me even now, during some of the darkest days of my life. Mothers are one of the greatest blessings God gives us. I want to appeal to mothers to not lose hope, to not give up, to not quit praying. Your prayers do make a difference!
I describe myself as "country". I love the outdoors, horses, pickup trucks, country and western music, dogs, and camp fires. I like jeans and cowboy boots, carhartt jackets, and baseball caps. I love Ohio, it's my home. I like the Cleveland Browns, the Cleveland Indians, and the Cavaliers. I like Ohio State Football and Kentucky Wildcats Basketball. I'm a gentleman. I still believe in saying, "Please", "thank you", and "yes m'am". I think women should be treated as ladies, with gentleness, kindness, and respect, regardless of their words, actions, or behavior. I'm honest and I'm loyal. I like to have fun, and I have a great sense of humor. I like to read and study the Bible, and I know the power of prayer to change lives. I believe the earth and everything on it belongs to God, we are only stewards of it. I believe that what we do on earth echos in eternity. I'm a simple man with simple ways; but when it's all said and done, I'd rather be a simple country man, than sophisticated city folk with all their high falootin ways. And it goes without saying that Christian "country folk" are the kind of people that I prefer to hang out with.
Let's see... some trivial survey type facts about me... I'm left handed, I have blue eyes, I've worn glasses since college, I love Kentucky... especially Harlan County, I'm a Kentucky Colonel, I like turquoise (the stone, not the color), I love the outdoors, I LOVE golf, I love Ladies Professional Golf... my favorite golfers are Morgan Pressel (I love Morgan, she is my favorite), Brittany Lincicome, Lorena Ochoa, and Cristie Kerr; my last 4 vehicles have all been pick-up trucks, I love campfires, I love dogs, I love the ocean, I like Penelope Cruz, I like canoeing, I oil paint, I love Mexican food... the hotter the better. I love jalapenos, I add them to most foods I eat. I love chocolate and chocolate chip cookies but I don't eat them that often. I like iced tea and lemonade. My favorite Old Testament character is King David: we can all learn lessons from his humility and trust in God, and yet his strength, courage, and loyalty are so admireable as well; I think Romans is the greatest doctrinal book of the Bible, but I like 1 Peter the best... I read it over and over. I am a reader, I read every day. I'm an Assisting Minister at my church. I teach an adult Sunday School class every week, and I preach once a month on Sunday morning. I am in the process to become a senior pastor. I enjoy walking, especially in nature. I would like to try coal mining, maybe for a summer, but doubt I ever will. I consider myself fun, funny, and loyal; a deep thinker, but simplistic in most ways. I cannot imagine anything mattering more than God, family, and friends.
I'm very open and honest. If you want to know something, just ask me.
"For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11
Check out this Jesus skit, it's awesome!
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13
The Mighty One of Israel is my stronghold and my protection, my fortress against the blows of the enemy. Surely the LORD God knows how to deliver those whom He smiles upon, and they shall see deliverance by the hand of the Most High.
They shall walk without fear of stumbling, for the LORD God orders their steps. They shall look upon the reward of the wicked, for our God is a just God who loves justice, and administers it with equity.
Surely it is good to be in God's favor and walk in His good graces, for the reward of the righteous is eternal life, while the wicked receive eternal damnation.
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers!" Psalm 122:6,7
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.' Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and for evermore." Isaiah 9:6,7
He, the Son of God, became the Son of Man; that we sons of men, might become sons of God.
