I grew up in a somewhat unique environment from a religious perspective – my father was Roman Catholic and my mother was Jewish. So, yes, I’m technically Jewish by birth.It was not your typical marriage combination in ethnic Chicago in 1939. None of my grandparents were happy about the marriage because of the religious differences. My parents decided that rather than pick one religion over the other, they wouldn’t push either one. Neither of them attended church or synagogue, prayed openly or said grace, or even talked much about their religion.However, I did reap the benefit of celebrating both secular Hanukkah and Christmas when I was a kid!

I was the youngest of three – a brother 15 years older and a sister 12 years older.They both started going to church when they moved away to go to college and continued after they got married. So, I was essentially an only child from the age of 6 with no discussion at home about God in my family home. I was into math and science in school and, of course, learned about Big Bang theory and evolution. Not knowing much about God and creation, I didn’t question it, and instead accepted it as fact.

I met my wife in high school. Neither of her parents attended church. Her mother was brought up in the Baptist church and her dad was agnostic. There was no religious teaching in their home, but her mother dropped her off at Sunday school periodically, and she got involved with a church youth group in junior high and Young Life in high school where she accepted Christ as her Savior. She invited me to go to Young Life with her, but I declined. However, as we dated and later married, she planted seeds.

My brother and his wife occasionally took me to church with them when I stayed at their house as a child. My sister and her husband served as missionaries and Bible translators for a tribe in Papua New Guinea for about 15 years. We had family slideshows when my sister and her family were home on furlough and I got to see and hear what God, through them, was doing in Papua New Guinea. More seeds were planted.

About 30 years ago, my wife decided she wanted to start attending church again with our two daughters, but I didn’t go. At first.

After my sister and her family returned to the US, they and my wife had long conversations about theology, intelligent design and God’s plan for humanity. Did I mention my brother-in-law was now a professor at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena? My wife started going to Bible Study Fellowship and would sometimes read parts of her lecture notes to me, asking me what I thought about it. She gave me “The Case For Christ” by Lee Strobel to read. My sister gave me a book on Intelligent Design. More seeds were planted. 

My profession is engineering/computer science, and I retired about 3 years ago from a 44-year career in software design and then cybersecurity engineering with a defense company. Logic and science are what I know. All the seeds planted throughout the years made me realize that I had, in fact, been questioning the evolution story vs Creation in the back of my mind for quite some time. About 25 years ago or so I decided to go to church with my wife and finally accepted Christ as my Savior. I was baptized about a year later.

Shortly after that I had a couple of serious health scares. The “old me” would have worried incessantly about them, tried to “fix” them, and generally been miserable. The “new me” turned it over to God and felt peace. This was so completely unlike me to feel peace about a “problem” that I knew it had to be God.

I felt God calling me to be more involved in our churches in Arizona. I volunteered in several ministries over the decades – working the camera and video equipment, financial secretary, and later an elder. I led the Men’s Ministry for a couple years.  While I have not always felt comfortable or even equipped for some of these positions, God has been faithful to guide me and give me peace. 

When we moved from AZ to NC almost 6 years ago, we were living in Greensboro and finding a church was a priority. We soon found a great church and then COVID happened and we were watching church on TV instead of attending. Once we moved to Troutman when I retired, it took a while but we eventually found LIFE Fellowship…. and here we are.

"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” ~ Psalm 46:10