|
|
A little about me... I was born on October 3, 1969 into a military family in Augusta, GA. Within six months, my family moved to Vicenza, Italy. From there we moved to Maryland, Germany, Georgia, back to Germany and then North Carolina. I went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for undergraduate and received a BA in Peace, War and Defense. Yes, go figure! I wasn't too sure I'd get a real job with a degree in PWAD so I decided to go on to graduate school. I went to Harvard University in order to pursue a doctorate in government. It was while I was at Harvard that I underwent a spiritual crisis that started me along the path of African religions and their off-shoots (Santeria, Voodoo, Candomble, Obeah, etc.). I didn't like the "gods" found in these religions (I never really wanted to worship anything that was moodier and meaner than me), so I began to search for more. I started delving into New Ageism and then into the Eastern Religions (Hinduism and Buddhism). It was at this point that I met the guru "Cha Ma". I was so blown away by the guru, I was so greedy for spiritual "experiences", that immediately I left everything I owned, all the promise held in my life, and disappeared. I traveled to India and began living in the guru's ashram. I saw so many things. I experienced even crazier things. I was enthralled...captivated...by the circus surrounding the guru. The deeper I dove into the life, the crazier and more unstable I became (as the books show). Through events that I can't share yet (to be shared in a later book), I returned to the US. I continued on with the path of meditation, etc for a couple of years after returning from India. It wasn't until I found myself pregnant with my son that I came face-to-face with myself and my beliefs. I can remember that day, clear as a bell, when I was riding on a Boston city bus with a friend and we were talking about all I had seen or experienced. She turned to me and asked, "So, after all you've done and experienced, what are you going to teach your son?" That's when I discovered that it's one thing to act like a fool by yourself, but it's another thing, entirely, to pull a child into your own foolishness. Instantly, that question took root and began to circulate around and around in my head. I remember sitting on my bed crying for hours, in deep spiritual crisis, because I didn't believe in anything enough to pass onto a person new and fresh in this world. Finally, as my pregnancy was drawing to a close, a realization glimmered through: "Every religion of the world acknowledges Jesus to be something greater than ordinary...Hindus believe He's an avatar, although, to them, He's one of many...Buddhists believe Him to be a Great Master...even satanists acknowledge Him, to the point of taking His cross and turning it upside-down. Everyone acknowledges that there is something utterly magnificent about Him. THAT was enough for me to believe in. THAT was the little measure of faith that God needed to do amazing things in and through me. And so, after many years, I finally turned back to Christ. I know now that He was drawing me, that He was always taking care of me and watching over me. So often I should have died, but I didn't. What lengths He went to to draw me back to Him! The way I know Him is marvelous and crazy! Wild and passionate! Intense and utterly male! He's not always soft and
sweet with me. The Christ I know isn't the "beatific, harmless guy holding a little lamb." No, my Christ is altogether
different. I pray that everyone who reads this book gets a revelation of Him in all His greatness, even if it's just an inkling!
Not the namby-pamby Jesus that we often want to make him out to be; but the dedicated, focused, assured and powerful God of
the Universe who can reach into anyone's world, anywhere at any time and snatch them out of their chaos and madness, their
sin and despair. That is what He is to me. |
|
|