Early Life

I’d consider myself to be a fairly normal guy. I grew up in the Midwest. I was the son of a butcher. Sort of. My parents divorced when I was 10. My dad remarried when I was 11 and my mom remarried when I was 13. My mom was able to stay home with the kids. Both of my families enjoyed activities like downhill skiing, boating, water skiing, cycling, camping. You could say because of that I had a natural inclination for the outdoors. I went to church on Sundays. We were Methodists. I went to cosmetology school after I received my associates degree. My outdoor activities, primarily skiing, gave me the strength, will, and self-confidence that I needed to survive my teenage years.

By the time I was about 15, I started to lose interest in church. Like most other families I knew, we discussed religion only on Sunday, if at all. At the time of my “big” experience, I wasn’t looking for some kind of life-changing revelation. The experience was a bit like having a flying dream. In the moment it’s exquisite and happens thoughtlessly. It’s only when I woke up that I begin to long for the moment again.

With little idea of how to satiate the longing you go back to sleep. I had no frame of reference for this experience. I told some friends halfheartedly that I saw God that day. Although my tone would suggest I wasn’t serious, in fact I was quite serious. Something happened to me that day that would forever affect me.