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My Second Chance
The Lord God Yeshua HaMashiach is the great healer!
I was a rageaholic I was addicted to drugs and cigarettes I was self-centered I was emotionally and physically abusive to women I went from being Catholic to Agnostic to Atheist
Life was a daily struggle and I thought that when I die it's over, pull the plug and fade into nothingness
Upon receiving my salvation then being baptised so the Holy Spirit came upon me me life actually began again and the Lord started using me right away. As a drummer/percussionist for 35 years I joined the praise team, take note I have a paralyze left arm and my left leg is weak so when I play the drums it's literally one arm and leg. Then I built 3 computers for the pastors.
I know that when I die that I will instantly be in the presence of the Lord Jesus for eternity
The following occurred on the evening of June 24th 2002. My parents, girlfriend and I were on our way home from an evening out for dinner. My dad was driving, my mom was in the passengers seat, I was sitting in the rear left seat and my girlfriend (Rhonda) was sitting in the rear right seat and we were approaching a traffic light which was red so we came to a stop. Moments later we were rear ended by a man in a pickup truck. Everyone except my dad exited the vehicle, I called 911 on my cell phone and walked back to his drivers window and what happened next only the Good Lord Jesus knows, however this is what I was able to gather from my mother who was an eye witness. Rhonda was so traumatized that she couldn’t recall anything. The pickup truck sped off into the intersection and “t-boned” another vehicle. Apparently I was hanging on to the open window of the pickup truck and upon the impact I was thrown free impacting the pavement head first, I then continued to slide under the vehicle that was just hit and this man couldn't stop fast enough so I was run over on the entire left side of my body as well as over my head. Shortly thereafter the paramedics arrived in a helicopter. After landing they got out and came over to me and immediately they noticed that I was laying there motionless, they also realized that I wasn’t breathing (respiratory arrest) so they must have given me oxygen, loaded me up and flew me to Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach. I was rushed in for emergency surgery due to the fact that my spleen was ruptured. They examined me further and due to so much trauma to my entire body that they put me in an induced coma. I was given an MRI so they could better understand just what my injuries were. I had a traumatic brain injury and because of so much bleeding the pressure was rising to critical limits so the surgeon had to screw a stainless steel pressure relief valve into my skull. My left arm has nerve root avulsion, that’s when one of the many nerves of the Brachial Plexus nerve structure get yanked out of the spinal column. My left wrist was crushed so it was first wrapped up in gauze followed by a cast. Eventually I was transferred to a recovery room and one of the nurses had to tie my left ankle to the bed frame because it was convulsing violently due to brain damage. One day she came in to change my bed sheets because I had urge incontinence and this is caused by bladder muscles that squeeze so hard that the sphincter can't hold back the urine. This causes a very strong urge to urinate. Overflow incontinence can be caused by something blocking the urethra, which leads to urine building up in the bladder. One day I was put in a wheelchair and my leg kicked out hitting the bed and I tipped the wheelchair over hitting my head on the floor breaking my neck. Once again I was put back into surgery but due to the fact that I had a tracheotomy they decided to put me in a neck collar. As far as the brain damage is concerned I had irreparable damage to my Frontal lobe which has other functions but the memory structure was damaged, the parietal lobe which contains a motor strip section which is responsible for your entire muscle structure, and the occipital lobe which also controls your vision. They moved me into a private room, my good Christian brother from Illinois flew down to visit me when I was still in a coma. He said a prayer from me to come out of my coma and I did. The only reason I know the next explanation is true without the shadow of a doubt is because I have photos. I was in a wheelchair, had a back brace on, a patch over my right eye because my double vision was so extreme and there was a pillow in my lap to support my left arm. Now the good Lord hasn’t revealed to me on how long I was there or how I got home but I do know this. I could barely walk, could only whisper and I was unfamiliar with anyone in my family, the only person that I knew was my dad. I basically lived in bed, I was angry at everyone and I hated my life and I hoped that I would fall asleep and never wake up. I had to wear mens Depend underwear because I would wet the bed constantly. If I could even make it to the bathroom which is in my bedroom and it’s only a few feet to get there. I could barely walk and sometimes I would wet myself. I developed an anger so intense that I was a rageaholic. My parents had purchased my a 4-wheel anti-tip scooter with dual batteries and a canopy. They also purchased several canes. I would limp out to the garage and go for a cruise around the neighborhood. There’s a lake near buy and I would struggle to get to the shoreline and I’d sit there and wonder if I could swim if I jumped in or would I just drown. Hopefully I would drown, killing myself and ending all of the misery I was having. As far as I knew once you’re dead then that’s it, over, done with and you just fade away into nothingness. Something told me that this wasn’t my destiny so that never happened. Eventually I was starting to improve, my mom would make my meals and serve me in bed. They used some of my trust fund and purchased a chair for the shower, an electric toothbrush, and a handicap grab bar so I don’t stub my toes when I step over the marble shelf when I take a shower. More of my trust fund was used to have all the necessary handicap equipment installed on my Jeep. I have a spinner knob that has a quick release button on it so it can be removed if someone who isn’t disabled could drive it, and there’s a turn signal extension rod so I can control the turn signals with my right finger tips. I went to Cruisin’ Concepts in Deland where I use to be employed as an Auto Sound And Security Technician which I’ve done for over 15 years. I had a device called RainX installed, this has a sensor on the windshield and the lightest sprinkle of rain would activate the following: Wipers activate, headlights turn on, windows roll up and if you have a powered sunroof that closes also. My mom drove because my license was temporarily suspended. I wanted to go for a driving test because I felt like I was a safe driver. I took it and passed easily. Now I was excited so I took a drive over to AAA Gun and Pawn in Deland to purchase some DVDs and I met a man there named Shane Fox. I introduced myself and we had a short conversation. He mentioned that he had a cell group meeting by the Lighthouse Church in Deland. He invited me and I accepted. At the first meeting I really wasn’t paying any attention, it just felt good to be around other people. At the next meeting a began to hear something about a man called Jesus Christ. His meetings were coming to a close so he then invited me to a church service. I had nothing to lose so I came to one. I witnessed others there dancing and raising their hands in the air, I thought to myself ‘this is cool’ so I started coming every Sunday. I met a man there named Don Iverstine and he also had a cell group meeting but this was held at his house. So I started going to his, (by this time I was taking over 30 pills, some for depression, fits of anger, loneliness, uselessness even suicidal thoughts. There was a time that Don told me that he was concerned that I might commit suicide. These meetings were more in depth and I was intrigued about this Jesus fellow. We had meals there and we said grace, however I still felt all alone. There was this one service and this time I was sitting still and listening to what Pastor Paul Bryan was saying. Then there was an Alter Call, a still small voice told me to go up there. I got up, walked up on the stage, laid down and began crying and I didn’t know why, however I felt like I was at the end of myself. As this was happening some lady who I never met before came and knelt down beside me and started telling me things about my past. I thought to myself ‘this must be the Lord because this woman knows nothing about me’ I was freaking out because I couldn’t understand why I was so important to this Jesus fellow. My dad used to come with me and he was so loving, patient, kind, just a good man inside and out. But he was coming to the end of his life here on Earth so I decided to find a church closer to home. One day I was driving down Howland Blvd, heading home when something out of the corner of my eye caught the words Christian. Something led to this place, Cornerstone Christian church in Deltona, only a few miles from my house. I began to experience the pastors speaking truthful passages in the Bible, and it was as if the Lord was speaking to me. Praise and Worship was a wonderful experience, I then realized that this was a method of thanking Jesus for all He’s done and will do. It’s a joyful experience. I was now a believer but hadn’t been baptized yet so I made arraignments so this could be accomplished. I had to wash away the old me and rise up as a child of God. From that moment on to this very day I’m so in Love with Jesus that it takes my breath away. Now I know who that was telling me that’s not a good idea when I was going to kill myself. I’ve been delivered from all of my medication with no side effects or withdrawal symptoms, I take better care of myself, I eat foods I’ve never tried before such as grapes, strawberries and cantaloupe. I exercise three times a week to better strengthen my muscles, just so you know I got down to 115 lbs during my recovery. The Lord is using me to utilize my technological skills using my self-designed, assembled, configured and I’m using a graphical image manipulation program and I’m great friends with my Christian brother in Christ who’s a highly skilled photographer. He plans on starting his own business and I’ll be his computer technological associate. As of now he’s emailed me over 3,000 photos and my responsibility is to create a copyright symbol and attach his name then layer that onto one of his photos. We collaborated and came up with an idea to create bible verse photos, he had me create 21 bible verse photos and I created 8 so far. Another program I use is Windows Movie Maker which allows me to insert photos, music, lyrics and these can be aligned within 100 hundredth of a second. I also use a talking bible software, Facebook, in Link, WPS Presentation, Google Chrome, Natural Reader where I can copy scriptures and paste it in the programs window and it recites it back to me. I could go on for hours explaining all the free and legal software I have installed… Bottom line is the enemy tried to erase me from existence but the Lord wouldn’t allow that because He knew that there would come a time that I grew to know and love His son Jesus, and what I’m doing now is all because of Him and for Him.
The following occurred on the evening of June 24th 2002. My parents, girlfriend and I were on our way home from an evening out for dinner. My dad was driving, my mom was in the passengers seat, I was sitting in the rear left seat and my girlfriend (Rhonda) was sitting in the rear right seat and we were approaching a traffic light which was red so we came to a stop. Moments later we were rear ended by a man in a pickup truck. Everyone except my dad exited the vehicle, I called 911 on my cell phone and walked back to his drivers window and what happened next only the Good Lord Jesus knows, however this is what I was able to gather from my mother who was an eye witness. Rhonda was so traumatized that she couldn’t recall anything. The pickup truck sped off into the intersection and “t-boned” another vehicle. Apparently I was hanging on to the open window of the pickup truck and upon the impact I was thrown free impacting the pavement head first, I then continued to slide under the vehicle that was just hit and this man couldn't stop fast enough so I was run over on the entire left side of my body as well as over my head. Shortly thereafter the paramedics arrived in a helicopter. After landing they got out and came over to me and immediately they noticed that I was laying there motionless, they also realized that I wasn’t breathing (respiratory arrest) so they must have given me oxygen, loaded me up and flew me to Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach. I was rushed in for emergency surgery due to the fact that my spleen was ruptured. They examined me further and due to so much trauma to my entire body that they put me in an induced coma. I was given an MRI so they could better understand just what my injuries were. I had a traumatic brain injury and because of so much bleeding the pressure was rising to critical limits so the surgeon had to screw a stainless steel pressure relief valve into my skull. My left arm has nerve root avulsion, that’s when one of the many nerves of the Brachial Plexus nerve structure get yanked out of the spinal column. My left wrist was crushed so it was first wrapped up in gauze followed by a cast. Eventually I was transferred to a recovery room and one of the nurses had to tie my left ankle to the bed frame because it was convulsing violently due to brain damage. One day she came in to change my bed sheets because I had urge incontinence and this is caused by bladder muscles that squeeze so hard that the sphincter can't hold back the urine. This causes a very strong urge to urinate. Overflow incontinence can be caused by something blocking the urethra, which leads to urine building up in the bladder. One day I was put in a wheelchair and my leg kicked out hitting the bed and I tipped the wheelchair over hitting my head on the floor breaking my neck. Once again I was put back into surgery but due to the fact that I had a tracheotomy they decided to put me in a neck collar. As far as the brain damage is concerned I had irreparable damage to my Frontal lobe which has other functions but the memory structure was damaged, the parietal lobe which contains a motor strip section which is responsible for your entire muscle structure, and the occipital lobe which also controls your vision. They moved me into a private room, my good Christian brother from Illinois flew down to visit me when I was still in a coma. He said a prayer from me to come out of my coma and I did. The only reason I know the next explanation is true without the shadow of a doubt is because I have photos. I was in a wheelchair, had a back brace on, a patch over my right eye because my double vision was so extreme and there was a pillow in my lap to support my left arm. Now the good Lord hasn’t revealed to me on how long I was there or how I got home but I do know this. I could barely walk, could only whisper and I was unfamiliar with anyone in my family, the only person that I knew was my dad. I basically lived in bed, I was angry at everyone and I hated my life and I hoped that I would fall asleep and never wake up. I had to wear mens Depend underwear because I would wet the bed constantly. If I could even make it to the bathroom which is in my bedroom and it’s only a few feet to get there. I could barely walk and sometimes I would wet myself. I developed an anger so intense that I was a rageaholic. My parents had purchased my a 4-wheel anti-tip scooter with dual batteries and a canopy. They also purchased several canes. I would limp out to the garage and go for a cruise around the neighborhood. There’s a lake near buy and I would struggle to get to the shoreline and I’d sit there and wonder if I could swim if I jumped in or would I just drown. Hopefully I would drown, killing myself and ending all of the misery I was having. As far as I knew once you’re dead then that’s it, over, done with and you just fade away into nothingness. Something told me that this wasn’t my destiny so that never happened. Eventually I was starting to improve, my mom would make my meals and serve me in bed. They used some of my trust fund and purchased a chair for the shower, an electric toothbrush, and a handicap grab bar so I don’t stub my toes when I step over the marble shelf when I take a shower. More of my trust fund was used to have all the necessary handicap equipment installed on my Jeep. I have a spinner knob that has a quick release button on it so it can be removed if someone who isn’t disabled could drive it, and there’s a turn signal extension rod so I can control the turn signals with my right finger tips. I went to Cruisin’ Concepts in Deland where I use to be employed as an Auto Sound And Security Technician which I’ve done for over 15 years. I had a device called RainX installed, this has a sensor on the windshield and the lightest sprinkle of rain would activate the following: Wipers activate, headlights turn on, windows roll up and if you have a powered sunroof that closes also. My mom drove because my license was temporarily suspended. I wanted to go for a driving test because I felt like I was a safe driver. I took it and passed easily. Now I was excited so I took a drive over to AAA Gun and Pawn in Deland to purchase some DVDs and I met a man there named Shane Fox. I introduced myself and we had a short conversation. He mentioned that he had a cell group meeting by the Lighthouse Church in Deland. He invited me and I accepted. At the first meeting I really wasn’t paying any attention, it just felt good to be around other people. At the next meeting a began to hear something about a man called Jesus Christ. His meetings were coming to a close so he then invited me to a church service. I had nothing to lose so I came to one. I witnessed others there dancing and raising their hands in the air, I thought to myself ‘this is cool’ so I started coming every Sunday. I met a man there named Don Iverstine and he also had a cell group meeting but this was held at his house. So I started going to his, (by this time I was taking over 30 pills, some for depression, fits of anger, loneliness, uselessness even suicidal thoughts. There was a time that Don told me that he was concerned that I might commit suicide. These meetings were more in depth and I was intrigued about this Jesus fellow. We had meals there and we said grace, however I still felt all alone. There was this one service and this time I was sitting still and listening to what Pastor Paul Bryan was saying. Then there was an Alter Call, a still small voice told me to go up there. I got up, walked up on the stage, laid down and began crying and I didn’t know why, however I felt like I was at the end of myself. As this was happening some lady who I never met before came and knelt down beside me and started telling me things about my past. I thought to myself ‘this must be the Lord because this woman knows nothing about me’ I was freaking out because I couldn’t understand why I was so important to this Jesus fellow. My dad used to come with me and he was so loving, patient, kind, just a good man inside and out. But he was coming to the end of his life here on Earth so I decided to find a church closer to home. One day I was driving down Howland Blvd, heading home when something out of the corner of my eye caught the words Christian. Something led to this place, Cornerstone Christian church in Deltona, only a few miles from my house. I began to experience the pastors speaking truthful passages in the Bible, and it was as if the Lord was speaking to me. Praise and Worship was a wonderful experience, I then realized that this was a method of thanking Jesus for all He’s done and will do. It’s a joyful experience. I was now a believer but hadn’t been baptized yet so I made arraignments so this could be accomplished. I had to wash away the old me and rise up as a child of God. From that moment on to this very day I’m so in Love with Jesus that it takes my breath away. Now I know who that was telling me that’s not a good idea when I was going to kill myself. I’ve been delivered from all of my medication with no side effects or withdrawal symptoms, I take better care of myself, I eat foods I’ve never tried before such as grapes, strawberries and cantaloupe. I exercise three times a week to better strengthen my muscles, just so you know I got down to 115 lbs during my recovery. The Lord is using me to utilize my technological skills using my self-designed, assembled, configured and I’m using a graphical image manipulation program and I’m great friends with my Christian brother in Christ who’s a highly skilled photographer. He plans on starting his own business and I’ll be his computer technological associate. As of now he’s emailed me over 3,000 photos and my responsibility is to create a copyright symbol and attach his name then layer that onto one of his photos. We collaborated and came up with an idea to create bible verse photos, he had me create 21 bible verse photos and I created 8 so far. Another program I use is Windows Movie Maker which allows me to insert photos, music, lyrics and these can be aligned within 100 hundredth of a second. I also use a talking bible software, Facebook, in Link, WPS Presentation, Google Chrome, Natural Reader where I can copy scriptures and paste it in the programs window and it recites it back to me. I could go on for hours explaining all the free and legal software I have installed… Bottom line is the enemy tried to erase me from existence but the Lord wouldn’t allow that because He knew that there would come a time that I grew to know and love His son Jesus, and what I’m doing now is all because of Him and for Him.
Your testimony matters too