It was during my later teen years that I began experimenting with drugs in the psychedelic category. Later, after a number of years of university studies, began research on substances with unique psycho active properties; among which were substances capable of increasing human memory ability. It was during these university years that skills with manipulating organic chemical compounds developed. It wasn’t long before simple purification skills made it possible to separate toxic impurities from substances like cocaine and meth (methalamphetamine). During these years, my associations were among both university students and faculty members, as well as purveyors of street drugs. During a meeting with a friend named Bob, an economically impoverished street dealer, he gave me a warning about an individual present in his living room one night; the fellow was a very tough looking man with dark circles under his eyes; my friend told me confidentially that this man was working for organized crime running drugs over the Mexican border in false bottom water trucks; immediately took note of this dubious looking individual committing him to memory. One night, some three weeks later a knock came on my door; opening the door, was shocked to find Bob my dealer friend wearing a three piece pastel blue suit instead of his usual tattered dirty jeans, immediately behind Bob was the very man working for organized crime he had warned me about. Standing at the door speechless, a paralyzing fear shot through my entire body instantly. Bob’s eyes kept darting back and forth as he tried to make me aware of the man right behind him; in a muffled urgent fearful voice he kept saying, “Let us in..let us in!” Everything in my mind said this was wrong, yet fear had me and I motioned them inside. The man with connections to the Mafia wasted no time and took out a parcel of cocaine telling me it was mixed with a filler he wanted me to remove by performing an ether solvent purification process. Fear continued to build in my heart, feeling like a cornered dog facing a dangerous threat, ready for fight or flight. The man from the Mafia continued to speak with mixed words holding subtile threats if I failed to do his bidding. All the horrible thoughts of Mafia style killings and torture flooded my mind, in one burst of fear I jumped up and shouted to both Bob and the guy from the Mafia, “GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!” They both jumped up and began moving for the front door, at which point the guy from the Mafia stopped and asked, “How about I leave the cocaine with you to work on and we'll come back for it later?” I said, “NO! TAKE YOUR #%*! AND GET OUT NOW!!” Immediately both quickly left shutting the door behind them. After they left, fears began to mount, recalling that the Mafia would do away with any threat to their identity and activity. Immediately called the police to report the incident, but police authorities laughed at me saying, “Ha ha..sure thing, the Mafia came to your house. Now take it easy and get a good night's rest.” Couldn’t believe law enforcement didn’t believe me. Later, one by one my three house mates came home; each one of whom I told what happen with the Mafia, and each one, with pale faced fear and wide eyes quickly took off leaving me in the house alone. After the last one left, paralyzing fears engulfed my life as I was left alone, expecting the Mafia to come back at any moment to get rid of a threat to their activities by killing me. Alone in the kitchen with unbearable fear consuming my heart and mind, fell to my knees. There on the kitchen floor in a face down position, began searching my heart to patter some words that soon became a prayer. Began to pray, “God I don’t know if You are real or if Jesus is a fairy tale, but if You are REAL, please help me, please save me from this horror surrounding me.” In a split second, all fear vanished like a heavy rancid dark blanket was suddenly lifted off of me. Still kneeling in the kitchen, looked up, and there was only this awesome peace pervading my entire being. I asked myself, “What just happened?” Then it dawned on me that God must be VERY REAL and there is an awesome power in the Name of Jesus.” Minutes after this event, received a phone call from a university professor friend who "just happened" to call to invite me to his house for a snack and refreshments, to which I said, “Yes of course!” About five minutes later, my friend arrived to take me to his place. Didn’t tell him what happened with the drug dealer and Mafia, but knew the timing of his call and invitation were continued manifestations of God’s deliverance and mercy. In the weeks that followed, met a neighbor who “just happened” to be a Christian. He asked me if I’d be interested in house sitting for him while he was on vacation; saying, "Yes, I’d be glad to.” Upon his return a few weeks later, he expressed his gratitude by inviting me to his church where I met many wonderfully kind people. But the amazing thing that later happened was when this Christian neighbor invited me to help him teach at a High School in La Jolla California. This invitation to work with him at La Jolla High School was the Lord’s most profound direction for my life. Only three weeks after the Mafia had come to threaten me, driving me to my knees before Jesus as He saved my soul, to working as an assistant teacher at La Jolla High School. This amazing commission became the direction the Lord had set for the rest of my life, a commission which culminated in eleven years of joyful service among the children and parents in Korea. Can’t thank the Lord enough for His Love and Mercy have Saved me Forever! It has been forty-four years since that faithful night in Mira Mesa California; not once in all those years has the Lord ever left me alone or without help. As it was during the night that He took away all fear of death radically saving and changing my life, to this very day there is no fear of death; however, the one change that has developed is an expectation and hope of death to all physical temptation and weakness. Knowing now that life in these physical bodies is a heuristic tool designed and employed by God to separate those bound for an eternity of light and life in heaven, from those who are bound for eternal darkness; God did this so we can gain forgiveness from sin through Jesus Christ, who took the punishment due our sin, dying in our stead; this He did in oder that we could gain salvation by His Grace alone; discovering what little of His beauty can be experienced in this world’s nature is but a tiny foretaste of a greater world beyond the limits of space-time awaiting those whom Jesus has delivered from sin and death. Pretty Awesome!! Before this event, I made every effort to avoid anyone trying to tell me about God or Jesus; now, having discovered the truth, I found myself wanting to tell the world about how God used organized crime to wake me up to His love and salvation in Jesus. Forty-four years have passed, now daily, faced with a world fill with lost people, find it a challenge to get around the obstinate sin that kept me fishing at the edge of a lake in hell. The main guidance I must remember, is to follow the direction of God's presence in His daily guiding grace and to keep in mind the words of one sincere Navy co-worker, without whose genuine tearful concern, about my life so far from God, I'd still be lost or forever dead. |
