Then I worked for a while attending school part time.  Then I went to school full time at the University of Michigan where I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Engineering.

    Then I returned to Hawaii and began working in marine management for a Honolulu shipyard.  I had obtained my goal which was to graduate from the best university in the country for my major of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.   I had a good paying job and management was favorable toward me. I was not sad or in the dumps.

    At this time God opened my eyes up to some things.  For instance, I was impressed by my mom's unselfishness towards me.  So I asked her what she wanted for Mother's Day.  She wanted to think about it.  After a while she said she wanted me to go with her to a meeting with her.  I said "What kind of meeting?" she said "A Full Gospel Businessmen's Meeting."  I said "Oh no, anything but that religious stuff."  But later I thought about it.   I really did want to give her what she wanted, so I ended up going.

    At this meeting a man from Michigan was sharing.  He was a millionaire, but by the time I heard him, he was fully devoted to ministry.  God had given him dreams.  These dreams gave him ideas on how to develop stamping equipment for Pontiac bumpers.  This is how he got wealthy.

    At any rate this man told us that God expects us to live holy and pure lives and we can't do it on our own, we need help.  Well I totally agreed with that.   He said the only way we can fulfil God's destiny for our lives is if we let Jesus come into our hearts as Savior and Lord.  I had tried everything else.  Among other things I tried booze, women, drugs, and atheism.  So I decided to give God a shot.  Why not?  So at this meeting I prayed along with everyone else.  In this prayer I asked God forgiveness for my sins, and then I asked Jesus to be the Lord of my life.  I meant it, but I did not go up afterward and show everyone what I had done.  I told no one at the time and felt nothing.

    But I met a man named Alex at the meeting.  He was a Harvard graduate and I was at that time education.  We agreed to have lunch together.  At lunch he was very open and transparent before me.  I was very impressed by his humility.  He asked me what I did at the meeting.  I said I asked Jesus into my heart.  That I prayed the prayer that everyone prayed.  Alex told me I would meet someone at work.  This person would help me to know God better.  The key for me was that Alex is the first person that I confessed to about making Jesus my Lord.   The Bible says "If we confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in our hearts God raised him from the dead, we shall be saved." 

    Not too long later on my way to work, I remember muttering to myself over and over again.  "I want to give God a shot, I want to do it His way."  As I approached the entrance to work I was overcome by this power flowing up from my belly.  I experienced for the first time in my life that God personally loved me.  It was awesome, the God of the universe had time for me.   I was so overcome with joy I could not stop weeping.  Being a male I usually never cry, but this force was just too powerful for me.  Since I was in no condition to go to work I drove from Honolulu to the North Shore of Oahu.  This is about a 45 minute drive.  At Sunset Beach I remember asking God to back off, because His love is just too powerful for me to handle.  So He did, but I still experience His presence often, but not normally as intensely as that first experience.  Now mostly I sense His presence and it has a peaceful calming effect on me.  His presence also tends to make me fearless when sharing a message for Him.  At times He gives me eyes to see people through His immense love for them. 

    Even though I had this encounter with God, but did not know what to do about it.  I was still going to the bars drinking.  But I did not really enjoy it anymore.   The people seemed to be acting, plastic is what I called it.  I did not fit anymore, so I felt weird.

    Well we hired a new mechanical engineer at work.  I was assigned to be his boss.  His name was Dan.  I mentioned to him I felt weird, that I did not enjoy what I used to like.  He said what did I do?  So I went over the whole scenario about the prayer at the meeting.  He said to me "Your not weird, the rest of the world is."  He said I needed to get into prayer, Bible study, and go to church.   But he would not tell me what church to go to.  He said you pray and God will show you.  I was frustrated because I did not want to go to church with all those hypocrites.  He would not even give me a clue, he would not even tell me what church he went to.  As far as the hypocrites go, he said you don't go to church for the people there, you go to church for God.

    So I prayed and felt led to go to a church that a girl named Nani used go to.  When I had dated her I thought she was nice, but a bit whacky because she was telling me about all this Jesus stuff.  Well I was whacky now too, just like her.   So I went.  The church was in a out of the way place and hard to find.   When I got there the pastor, whose name was Leon, asked me what brought me there.   I said God.  He just laughed and said that's the only way you can find this place.  This pastor was a man of prayer, the Bible, and worshipped God a lot.

    So I went back to Dan and said I was going to an Assembly of God.   Then he finally told me he was going to two churches.  He was going to a Baptist church because their strong emphasis on the Word, and a Assembly of God church because their strong emphasis on the Holy Spirit.  I landed up in a church with a strong emphasis on both.  But Dan got his initial exposure to the things of God through the Greek Orthodox Church.

    At Dan's direction I started to go to a new Christians class at church and started to going to home meetings also.  Dan said to share the Gospel with all my old friends.  I said if I did I would lose them.  I was right I lost all of them except one.  But Dan said God would give me better friends.  And God did just that, besides Dan, I made a lot of friends at church and through the home meeting.   The quality of relationship with these new friends was much better.  Shortly after I was established in this new church Dan got laid off and went away to California with his family.  But he continued to write.

    Not too long later I felt impressed to leave my job and become self employed.  It was much much harder than I expected.  This is when I truly learned to pray and rely on God.  Actually I had no choice in the matter and I'm still not perfect in prayer and relying on God.  But I was growing and was learning how to better hear God for myself.  During this time, at the prompting of another Christian brother named Gardiner, I started to read a lot of Christian books.  So now I was being mentored by these authors and they were great and mighty men of God.

    Well eventually, it certainly was not overnight, I joined together into a group called Youth With A Mission (YWAM).  This group was interdenominational with a strong emphasis on spiritual warfare and evangelism.  They lived by their motto, which is: "To know God and to Make Him Known."   For outreach we ended up going to Waikiki, Los Angeles Olympics and to El Salvador. 

    During this time, El Salvador was in the middle of a bloody civil war.  I found it very interesting.  In Waikiki I was a bit frustrated with the people.  When we tried to share with them about God they usually brushed us aside, because most just wanted to party.  But in El Salvador they were interested and showed a respect for the things of God.  The war brought an awareness of death that helped these people to focus on matters that are really matter.  We shared the Gospel through testimony, skits, dance, sermons, tracts, and music.  We distributed clothing to the poor and refugees.  We visited a military hospital where we were impressed by the heroism and valor of the soldiers.  We visited orphanages where the unselfish example of the staff members were just awesome.  I could go on and on about this experience.

    After I returned I met my wife Lee through Nani.  Lee had gone through many similar encounters with God.  She graduated from the "Christ for the Nations" school in Dallas, Texas.  God provided us with a wonderful wedding and honeymoon.   When we married our libraries were combined.  I was amazed to see how many of the same books we had read.  We have two lovely daughters Abigail and Hannah.   They both know the Lord which makes their daddy real happy.

    Rick is the pastor of the church we now go to.  Once again this is another Divine appointment.  On first meeting him I said you can go and spy out a land.  But you cannot take a land without an army and a country behind that army.   Armies (missionaries, prophets, evangelist, pastors, and teachers) need supplies (finances to operate), artillery and air support (prayer), reinforcements (fresh ministers), and encouragement from the people back home (the local church).  If the whole country does not get behind the effort it will be difficult for the army to function properly.  Rick agreed and said he sees the church as an aircraft carrier.  As a self supporting city of war.  It can repeatedly send out planes with fresh ordinance and fuel.  Everyone on the ship has to work together for it to work properly.  We both are concerned about the world evangelism.  So with similar attitudes we get along fine.

    As you can see my life is one divine appointment after another and I'm enjoying them.  God is so good to me.  I wonder what neat thing He will do next.   You can ask Him to give you tokens of His love, and He will.

    If this message will help someone you know, then please pass on the link for this site to them.  E-mail me if it has touched your heart and especially if you accepted the Lord as a result of it.  If you want more details on how to genuinely know God in a personal way click on the "go against the flow" banner below.  The site that this banner links to will explain all you need to know.