The Rest of the Story

I arrived in my hometown in April of 89. My cousin Donna, and her husband Jim, true to their word, got me on with the local trucking company. In fact my breakin trip was with Jim. We went kinda north toward Green Bay, WI. It was winter and so I got a good breakin, driving in ice and snow for most of the trip. I lived in the basement of Donna and Jim's house for the rest of that year. Then moved to my own apartment for a bit more privacy. I drove for that local company on and off for the next five years. I enjoyed the small town life. My rent was only $125 per month. Hard to beat. Started hanging around the airport, getting more and more interested in flying again. In the meantime I bought a Harley Davidson 1986 FXST (almost the original Softail). That made it mandatory that I start going to Sturgis South Dakota for the big Black Hills yearly rally. Met a lot of great Harley folks everywhere I rode. I had a little left over from the sale of my boat and out of that I bought a neat ultralight aircraft called a Tierra Teratorn. The newer models are called T-Birds. I picked up a few more hobbies also. I became interested in kites. The FBO who ran the grass-strip airfield where I kept my airplane, let me fly my kites there since it was fairly open and not much air traffic. I started building kites with the idea of selling them but I liked my creations so much I never parted with any. I still enjoy flying them today and so do some of my friends.
I also started doing some oil painting based on the technique of Bob Ross, the bushy haired TV artist. I got good enough to impress myself but I never sold a painting. Gave a few away and probably have ten more hanging in different room throughout the house now. I have a room set aside for painting but since I did that, I haven't painted a lick.

In early 95, something occured, that at any point in my life prior to that, I would have laughed if you had even suggested it. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior. If you have been perusing the pages of this site, you may have already surmised that I'm a Christian. Can't tell you exactly how it happened except that I felt drawn to things that had always turned me off before. I believe He has been shaping me for some time before but I didn't have the eyes yet to see. I'm aware now that He's shaping and working with me every day. And sometimes I'm not very malleable. But my sailors vocabulary is almost non-existant (and I used to cuss with the best..or worse, depending on your perspective). God continues to work in my life. He led me to my wife, who was born into our church. We were married December of 95. And thru her I was led to a church whose pastor was also the right guy at the right time. Had it not been for my wife and Pastor Rod and of course, our father God, I'm sure I would have went on to different things and down the wrong roads again long ago. But He is my Rock.

Amen and amen!

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