I Know The Plans I Have For You
I Know The Plans I Have For You
Jeremiah 29:11-13 NLT
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”
Psalms 34 (Read whole chapter)
God is calling to the greatness inside each and every one of us. As the Word says, before we were formed in our mother‘s womb, He knew us.
Maybe you are the only one in your family that is currently trying to serve God and fulfill the calling that He has on your life…
As for me, there is a family history of preachers and evangelists, pastors, etc., but that does not mean it is a cakewalk for my life to be in the position that I’m in.
My grandfather was the youngest of four children, and his oldest brother was also a minister.
I remember him telling the story at my uncle Raymond’s funeral.
My grandfather asked God for the anointing on his life, and God honored that request.
My grandfather was a minister for as long as I can remember and he passed on to my mother, who is also a minister.
And to my knowledge, out of all of my grandfather’s 5 grandchildren, I am the only one that is trying to continue the legacy.
My Grandfather only had two children, my mother and my uncle.
My uncle's three children all died of drug overdose and never fulfilled the call of God on their life.
My uncle also died at a very young age, never fulfilling the call of God on his life.
My great uncle Raymond had 11 children and to my knowledge there is only one that is currently Pastoring.
My two younger brothers also have a great call of God on their life, but are currently not walking in the fullness of what God has for them.
As for me, my particular story starts out being born into a church and ministry setting as far back as I can remember.
I grew up in church and like many preacher’s kids, did not take God seriously even though I was at church at conventions in many numerous revivals.
I became FAMILIAR with the setting, but I never understood the importance of a dedicated relationship with God.
It became “same ol’ same ol’ or old hat” to be around the things of God in a church setting.
That’s why we feel so strongly in the Vision of this Ministry to DISCIPLE and Develop our walk with God.
You see when there’s no PERSONAL CONNECTION and PERSONAL COMMITMENT beyond knowing ABOUT the things of God, it gives you no ROOTS to make you GROW.
God placed certain people in my path along the years that would provide encouragement to me during challenges I was going through.
One of those people is who I ended up marrying.
I remember late night phone calls talking for hours on the phone with Donna and she would always encourage me to do the right things and to keep God a priority no matter what was going on.
I’d try to help her, and she tried to encourage me.
I know Donna was also going through a lot of things at the same time, and I wasn’t even sure I was an encouragement to her at the time, but I do know God put us in each other’s lives to BE there for each other. She has a story of her own and that is for her to share….but for now this is my story…LOL….
Be very careful of who you surround yourself with in testing times of your life, they will either draw you closer to God or move you further away.
I also had my grandmother, as well as my mother, praying for me, as well as my brothers and cousins, but never knew the seriousness of developing a commitment to the things of God.
By the time I was 16 I had already made the decision to put other things a priority rather than church.
Things in my life that were challenging just caused me to want to “do my own thing” and find my outlet dealing with stuff in a bad way.
I started hanging around with the wrong people going to parties in the late 80's into the early 90's.
It was on Thanksgiving weekend 1992 when I got a serious wake up call…
It was no big thing for me to go to parties on the weekends. I had a decent job working for a construction company.
I had moved in with a couple of my friends to an apartment that we rented, and it seemed that all I was living for was to start partying on Friday after work and try to get sobered up before going back to work on Monday morning, just to start the cycle all over again.
I never had a problem getting a hold of beer or alcohol when I was a teenager. I’ve always looked older than I am especially in high school.
I was the only one in my graduating class they had a full mustache lol.
Likewise, I never had a problem getting into bars or buying alcohol and if I did, all I had to do was call somebody that I was hanging around with, and it was available to me.
But on that Thanksgiving weekend in 1992, It was something a little different.
I had already been to all the bars in the county hanging out with who I thought we’re friends and ended up in the last bar that was still open in the entire County till about 3am.
When we finally left the bar, the people I was with would not let me drive, so they drove me and my car to their place and left me in the car. Their mistake was, they also left the keys in the car with me.
I’m not sure at exactly what time it was, but I do know it was still dark and that it was time to go home.
I remember leaving and headed down the back road to the town that I lived in that the locals called “the bottom road”.
It was a very winding road that ran alongside the creek which ran through our town and was about 7 miles long, maybe 10.
And I remember thinking, driving, barely able to stay on the road that if I could just make it home, I just wanted to get home and go to bed.
I ended up passing out at the wheel on a 90° corner that the locals called “dead man’s curve”.
I missed that corner and hit a tree head on. I have no idea how fast I was going, but when I hit the tree, I was totally limp. My chest hit the steering wheel and bent it over.
My knees went through the dash, my chin bounced off of the air vent in the dash, and my head hit the corner post for the windshield and the door, and bent it about an inch.
When I finally came to, I was stuck in the car. The driver’s door was so jammed I could not open it and I had to crawl out the passenger side.
I stumbled up to a nearby house and awakened a little old lady there and asked if I could use her phone.
I think I remember her praying as she was very concerned about my condition. I would not let her call the ambulance. I was afraid that I would lose my license if the police showed up.
I called my mother and she came and got me. She knew exactly where I was and she brought me home.
I don’t remember much after that, but she told me that I had passed out again in the bathroom and was convulsing.
She did call the paramedics and they came picked me up and took me to the hospital.
At the hospital, I remember them checking me out and they brought in a sheriff’s deputy who was asking me all kinds of questions.
And the one question I remember him asking was whose case of beer was in the car and asked if I had been drinking.
I told him yes it was mine, and I had been drinking, and it was only by the grace of God that he did not take my license.
I believe it was because he could not prove that I was the one driving the car.
After several tests and x-rays, they determined that I had broken my neck, and I was somehow able to still function to some extent.
They took me up to a hospital room and placed me in a C-collar and immobilized me where they could observe and figure out what was going to be the next course of action.
I can’t remember exactly how long I was there, but it was one morning, maybe two days after that accident that they were scheduling me for more x-rays and there was a doctor that was dressed in all white and I asked when can I go home.
And from what I can recall, the doctor told me after the x-rays if I could get up and walk, that they would release me.
I am a pretty determined person when it comes time for me to get something done when I set my mind to it. I can usually accomplish the task. So as you can imagine, my adrenaline was already at high-level because I don’t like hospitals in the first place, so with everything in me, I found a way to stand up out of the wheelchair and walk.
To my knowledge, nobody knows who that doctor was or have any record of him telling me I could leave.
I got home and my mother tended to me, trying to make me comfortable as much as possible, but it wasn’t very long before I was getting antsy and could not sit still and thinking that I had cheated death, so I went back to trying to live the lifestyle again that God had just spared my life from.
I’m not sure how long it was, maybe a few months, but I went right back into drinking on the weekends and hanging out with a different set of people but still a bad influence.
But I did remember and learned my lesson to not drink and drive so I found somebody to drive my truck for me so that I could drink.
As we were cruising through town, it didn’t take long for a sheriff deputy to recognize who was driving my truck and pulled us over.
They made me leave the truck and took me to the county jail where they placed me in a drunk tank to let me sober up at the time.
I did not know exactly who was driving my truck, but the police officer did and it ended up that she was the state's attorney‘s daughter, who by the way did not have a license.
Once I sobered up, they gave me the keys back to my truck, and I walked to where we had left it and they told me I needed to go straight home which I did.
After several months of evaluating the consequences of my actions, my mother had a revival scheduled in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and asked me if I wanted to go with her.
That was not uncommon for her to ask if I was willing to go on a revival with her as I had done several times in my younger years with my grandfather, and with her.
We would go on weeklong revivals and I would play guitar or drums and have basically the time of my life away from home and having fun. (I didn’t realize it was because of the calling on my life that I felt a sense of “doing what I was supposed to be doing” that made me feel peace and joy).
But this revival was different. I think part of the reason I wanted to go on the revival was to reconnect with Donna as she lived in that area with her family.
To make a long story even longer lol that revival meeting was less than a year after that horrific accident on Thanksgiving weekend as I ended up proposing to my wife at the end of July 1993 and approximately eight weeks later on September 25, 1993 Donna and I were married and started a life that I could have only dreamed of.
I knew that if I wanted to do something for God and respond to the call of God that he had on my life, I had to make a serious and drastic change, not only make a commitment to Him, but also make a commitment to someone that could help keep me accountable and I’m here today to give testimony and share with you.
How grateful I am that God not only spared my life, but He gave me a wonderful companion to walk with, and to help me grow in the things of God.
We signed our marriage license at the age of 19 as she is 10 days older than I am and we were married just two days after I turned 20 and 12 days after she turned 20.
I never really had a father figure growing up. Some of the earliest memories that I have of my dad were not great.
I remember being thrown through a wall at a hotel room. I remember him and my mother fighting and I remember my mother telling me I had to step up and be the man of the house at the age of eight years old when my father left to pursue his own life.
My father came in and out of our lives for a while, and I think that is part of the reason why I turned to the world and drinking and stuff, because of when he came back into our lives after approximately eight years and tried to pick up where he left off, there’s just a saying that goes, “a day late and a dollar short”… well he was about eight years too late and several thousand dollars short, if you know what I mean.
I had a lot of built-up bitterness and anger to deal with as a result of a lot of things.
I am so very grateful for Pastor Ken coming into my life as my father-in-law and helping me understand more of how a real father should be, and I tried the best that I could by his example which he followed after God and was a very God-fearing man.
He wasn’t perfect, but he had a tender heart towards God and respected His ways and lived a committed life to God who He served.
I’m thankful that in my Dad’s later years, God was able to bring some restoration in many ways and I was able to be an example of a changed life before he died.
What I’m saying is, God will use EVERYTHING you’ve been though… every failure and downfall, every moment that we listen to His call to bring about the purpose He has planned for our life; but we have to say YES to His will in our life.
And Yes, God will allow terrible things to happen to us to get our attention in an effort to give us one more chance to get right with Him!
Psalms 34
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”
Psalms 34 (Read whole chapter)
God is calling to the greatness inside each and every one of us. As the Word says, before we were formed in our mother‘s womb, He knew us.
Maybe you are the only one in your family that is currently trying to serve God and fulfill the calling that He has on your life…
As for me, there is a family history of preachers and evangelists, pastors, etc., but that does not mean it is a cakewalk for my life to be in the position that I’m in.
My grandfather was the youngest of four children, and his oldest brother was also a minister.
I remember him telling the story at my uncle Raymond’s funeral.
My grandfather asked God for the anointing on his life, and God honored that request.
My grandfather was a minister for as long as I can remember and he passed on to my mother, who is also a minister.
And to my knowledge, out of all of my grandfather’s 5 grandchildren, I am the only one that is trying to continue the legacy.
My Grandfather only had two children, my mother and my uncle.
My uncle's three children all died of drug overdose and never fulfilled the call of God on their life.
My uncle also died at a very young age, never fulfilling the call of God on his life.
My great uncle Raymond had 11 children and to my knowledge there is only one that is currently Pastoring.
My two younger brothers also have a great call of God on their life, but are currently not walking in the fullness of what God has for them.
As for me, my particular story starts out being born into a church and ministry setting as far back as I can remember.
I grew up in church and like many preacher’s kids, did not take God seriously even though I was at church at conventions in many numerous revivals.
I became FAMILIAR with the setting, but I never understood the importance of a dedicated relationship with God.
It became “same ol’ same ol’ or old hat” to be around the things of God in a church setting.
That’s why we feel so strongly in the Vision of this Ministry to DISCIPLE and Develop our walk with God.
You see when there’s no PERSONAL CONNECTION and PERSONAL COMMITMENT beyond knowing ABOUT the things of God, it gives you no ROOTS to make you GROW.
God placed certain people in my path along the years that would provide encouragement to me during challenges I was going through.
One of those people is who I ended up marrying.
I remember late night phone calls talking for hours on the phone with Donna and she would always encourage me to do the right things and to keep God a priority no matter what was going on.
I’d try to help her, and she tried to encourage me.
I know Donna was also going through a lot of things at the same time, and I wasn’t even sure I was an encouragement to her at the time, but I do know God put us in each other’s lives to BE there for each other. She has a story of her own and that is for her to share….but for now this is my story…LOL….
Be very careful of who you surround yourself with in testing times of your life, they will either draw you closer to God or move you further away.
I also had my grandmother, as well as my mother, praying for me, as well as my brothers and cousins, but never knew the seriousness of developing a commitment to the things of God.
By the time I was 16 I had already made the decision to put other things a priority rather than church.
Things in my life that were challenging just caused me to want to “do my own thing” and find my outlet dealing with stuff in a bad way.
I started hanging around with the wrong people going to parties in the late 80's into the early 90's.
It was on Thanksgiving weekend 1992 when I got a serious wake up call…
It was no big thing for me to go to parties on the weekends. I had a decent job working for a construction company.
I had moved in with a couple of my friends to an apartment that we rented, and it seemed that all I was living for was to start partying on Friday after work and try to get sobered up before going back to work on Monday morning, just to start the cycle all over again.
I never had a problem getting a hold of beer or alcohol when I was a teenager. I’ve always looked older than I am especially in high school.
I was the only one in my graduating class they had a full mustache lol.
Likewise, I never had a problem getting into bars or buying alcohol and if I did, all I had to do was call somebody that I was hanging around with, and it was available to me.
But on that Thanksgiving weekend in 1992, It was something a little different.
I had already been to all the bars in the county hanging out with who I thought we’re friends and ended up in the last bar that was still open in the entire County till about 3am.
When we finally left the bar, the people I was with would not let me drive, so they drove me and my car to their place and left me in the car. Their mistake was, they also left the keys in the car with me.
I’m not sure at exactly what time it was, but I do know it was still dark and that it was time to go home.
I remember leaving and headed down the back road to the town that I lived in that the locals called “the bottom road”.
It was a very winding road that ran alongside the creek which ran through our town and was about 7 miles long, maybe 10.
And I remember thinking, driving, barely able to stay on the road that if I could just make it home, I just wanted to get home and go to bed.
I ended up passing out at the wheel on a 90° corner that the locals called “dead man’s curve”.
I missed that corner and hit a tree head on. I have no idea how fast I was going, but when I hit the tree, I was totally limp. My chest hit the steering wheel and bent it over.
My knees went through the dash, my chin bounced off of the air vent in the dash, and my head hit the corner post for the windshield and the door, and bent it about an inch.
When I finally came to, I was stuck in the car. The driver’s door was so jammed I could not open it and I had to crawl out the passenger side.
I stumbled up to a nearby house and awakened a little old lady there and asked if I could use her phone.
I think I remember her praying as she was very concerned about my condition. I would not let her call the ambulance. I was afraid that I would lose my license if the police showed up.
I called my mother and she came and got me. She knew exactly where I was and she brought me home.
I don’t remember much after that, but she told me that I had passed out again in the bathroom and was convulsing.
She did call the paramedics and they came picked me up and took me to the hospital.
At the hospital, I remember them checking me out and they brought in a sheriff’s deputy who was asking me all kinds of questions.
And the one question I remember him asking was whose case of beer was in the car and asked if I had been drinking.
I told him yes it was mine, and I had been drinking, and it was only by the grace of God that he did not take my license.
I believe it was because he could not prove that I was the one driving the car.
After several tests and x-rays, they determined that I had broken my neck, and I was somehow able to still function to some extent.
They took me up to a hospital room and placed me in a C-collar and immobilized me where they could observe and figure out what was going to be the next course of action.
I can’t remember exactly how long I was there, but it was one morning, maybe two days after that accident that they were scheduling me for more x-rays and there was a doctor that was dressed in all white and I asked when can I go home.
And from what I can recall, the doctor told me after the x-rays if I could get up and walk, that they would release me.
I am a pretty determined person when it comes time for me to get something done when I set my mind to it. I can usually accomplish the task. So as you can imagine, my adrenaline was already at high-level because I don’t like hospitals in the first place, so with everything in me, I found a way to stand up out of the wheelchair and walk.
To my knowledge, nobody knows who that doctor was or have any record of him telling me I could leave.
I got home and my mother tended to me, trying to make me comfortable as much as possible, but it wasn’t very long before I was getting antsy and could not sit still and thinking that I had cheated death, so I went back to trying to live the lifestyle again that God had just spared my life from.
I’m not sure how long it was, maybe a few months, but I went right back into drinking on the weekends and hanging out with a different set of people but still a bad influence.
But I did remember and learned my lesson to not drink and drive so I found somebody to drive my truck for me so that I could drink.
As we were cruising through town, it didn’t take long for a sheriff deputy to recognize who was driving my truck and pulled us over.
They made me leave the truck and took me to the county jail where they placed me in a drunk tank to let me sober up at the time.
I did not know exactly who was driving my truck, but the police officer did and it ended up that she was the state's attorney‘s daughter, who by the way did not have a license.
Once I sobered up, they gave me the keys back to my truck, and I walked to where we had left it and they told me I needed to go straight home which I did.
After several months of evaluating the consequences of my actions, my mother had a revival scheduled in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and asked me if I wanted to go with her.
That was not uncommon for her to ask if I was willing to go on a revival with her as I had done several times in my younger years with my grandfather, and with her.
We would go on weeklong revivals and I would play guitar or drums and have basically the time of my life away from home and having fun. (I didn’t realize it was because of the calling on my life that I felt a sense of “doing what I was supposed to be doing” that made me feel peace and joy).
But this revival was different. I think part of the reason I wanted to go on the revival was to reconnect with Donna as she lived in that area with her family.
To make a long story even longer lol that revival meeting was less than a year after that horrific accident on Thanksgiving weekend as I ended up proposing to my wife at the end of July 1993 and approximately eight weeks later on September 25, 1993 Donna and I were married and started a life that I could have only dreamed of.
I knew that if I wanted to do something for God and respond to the call of God that he had on my life, I had to make a serious and drastic change, not only make a commitment to Him, but also make a commitment to someone that could help keep me accountable and I’m here today to give testimony and share with you.
How grateful I am that God not only spared my life, but He gave me a wonderful companion to walk with, and to help me grow in the things of God.
We signed our marriage license at the age of 19 as she is 10 days older than I am and we were married just two days after I turned 20 and 12 days after she turned 20.
I never really had a father figure growing up. Some of the earliest memories that I have of my dad were not great.
I remember being thrown through a wall at a hotel room. I remember him and my mother fighting and I remember my mother telling me I had to step up and be the man of the house at the age of eight years old when my father left to pursue his own life.
My father came in and out of our lives for a while, and I think that is part of the reason why I turned to the world and drinking and stuff, because of when he came back into our lives after approximately eight years and tried to pick up where he left off, there’s just a saying that goes, “a day late and a dollar short”… well he was about eight years too late and several thousand dollars short, if you know what I mean.
I had a lot of built-up bitterness and anger to deal with as a result of a lot of things.
I am so very grateful for Pastor Ken coming into my life as my father-in-law and helping me understand more of how a real father should be, and I tried the best that I could by his example which he followed after God and was a very God-fearing man.
He wasn’t perfect, but he had a tender heart towards God and respected His ways and lived a committed life to God who He served.
I’m thankful that in my Dad’s later years, God was able to bring some restoration in many ways and I was able to be an example of a changed life before he died.
What I’m saying is, God will use EVERYTHING you’ve been though… every failure and downfall, every moment that we listen to His call to bring about the purpose He has planned for our life; but we have to say YES to His will in our life.
And Yes, God will allow terrible things to happen to us to get our attention in an effort to give us one more chance to get right with Him!
Psalms 34
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