I met Jesus on the Island

As young man, bound for an eternity apart from God, I met Jesus Christ on Word of Life Island. God is interested in every life and wants to change your life and use you in ways you could never imagine. I know this, because it has been my experience, and it all began when I met Jesus on the Island!.

My family lived in Lakeland, Florida. I was the youngest, with three older sisters. My father´s drinking affected me tremendously, causing bitterness, anguish and fear. Many nights I would hear him beating my mother, and more than once he chased me around the house at midnight. He was a big man who weighed more than 300 lbs. when dad was drunk and enraged, we all learned to stay out of this way.

As I was growing up, my parents sent me to church. I was in the right place, but learned nothing there helped me with the horror that went on in our house.

By the time I was 13, I began hanging around with kids who were 18 or 19. In spite of my vow to be different from Dad, I began to pick up bad habits. My sister, Barb, tried many times to warm where this would lead. Outside the home, I was wild and unruly and often got into fights because of the anger that boiled inside of me. I began drinking too, but soon discovered it didn’t help.

In the eighth grade my life hit rock bottom, and I felt trapped by my sin and my home life. Everything would have ended in disaster if it had not been for Barb, who was determined to see me com to know God personally.

Barb knew a Christian businessman in Lakeland named Don Kelso. Every summer Mr. K, as the kids called him, took a bus load of teenagers to a youth camp on Word of Life Island in Schroon Lake, New York. Mr. K, along with Lakeland judge, Jim Welch, who knew me well, put together the trip and paid my way to go to this very special island.

When I arrived in Schroon Lake, I got into speedboat and headed for the Island. As the boat arrived, I met a very excited, dynamic man named Robbie Robertson. He took one look at me and said, “Welcome to Word of Life Island. You are going to meet Jesus on this island!” I replied “Really?” and he said, “Yes” I asked, “When?” He said, “Tonight.” I asked “Where?” and he said, “Pine Pavilion.” That night as I walked into Pine Pavilion, I heard Jack Wyrtzen, the Founder of Word of Life, preaching about how I needed to be born again. However, I didn’t make a decision during the meeting. While walking back to my cabin with a group of the guys, Mr. K’s son, Don, turned to me and asked, “isn’t it great to know you are going to heaven?” although I said, “Sure it is,” I did not know for sure that I was saved. As I crawled into my bunk that night, God broke my heart, and I asked Jesus Christ to forgive my sins and save me.

When I returned home at the end of summer, my mom and sister were thrilled to hear oy my new life in Christ; Dad, however, had no interest. I loved sports and longed for him to watch me playing baseball or basketball, but he was consumed with drinking. At the end of that school year, I again went back to camp and grew more excited about living for Christ. That would prove a bigger challenge than I had realized.

That fall something happened that profoundly impacted my life. Larry, one of my friends on the basketball team, had gone hunting with another friend. Larry had recently purchased a gun. Larry’s friend asked to see the gun, and it went off accidently, killing Larry. As I walked past his casket a few days later, I was convicted by the knowledge that we had talked about smoking, drinking and chasing girls, but I had never talked to Larry about Christ. I failed him and God. The guilt was overwhelming, but instead of seeking forgiveness, I ran from God.

I began to avoid my Christian friends. By the end of that school year, I was again smoking, drinking and running with the wrong crowd. I was so miserable and my home life didn´t help. Drunkenness and fighting occurred all the time and Mom bore the brunt of Dad’s rage – as well as the bruises. That summer I went to work for my Uncle Jim. I was living away from home, but even further away from God. The money I made during the week was wasted on the weekend with wild living.

After about a month, I received a phone call that changed the direction of my life. Mr. K, the Christian businessman who had paid my way to camp earlier, was taking another bus load of teenagers to Word of Life Island. Once again, he offered to pay my way to camp.

For some reason I wanted to go back to Word of Life camp, so I quit my job and went home. There, I learned that Mr. Kelso wanted to meet me at the bus station. What did he want? Did he know about the Kind of Life I had been living – drinking, smoking and carousing? I threw away my cigarettes, cleaned up my act and went to meet him. I could not believe my ears. Mr. Kelso asked if I would be interested in working at camp for the rest of the summer. I jumped at the opportunity!

I had been told I would be working in the kitchen, but when I arrived at camp I got a big surprise. They wanted me to counsel. How could I be a counselor after the way I had been living?! I hadn’t read the Bible or prayed for six months. I had fallen away from the Lord, living in sin, especially during the last month when there was no one to check up on me. I got alone with God and told Him I had been a fool. I asked Him to forgive me and change my life. He did! I was a counselor for the rest of the summer. When I started school again, I had a whole new outlook on life. Unfortunately, my home life was the same.

Because of his drinking, Dad’s health was failing. Many times Dad had promised to stop drinking, but he didn’t keep any of his promises. He continued drinking and beating my mother. One day I come home from school to find he had been rushed to the hospital, hemorrhaging again. I was sure he would quit drinking after that, but he didn´t. all I could do was pray for him. That summer I went back to Word of Life as a counselor for junior high kids.

I returned home at the end of summer to begin y senior year of high school. That year our Bible Club at church saw more than 300 students come to know Christ as Savior. Things at church were great, but things al home were no different.

One night, about two weeks before graduation, I come home to an empty house. The lights were on and everything was a mess. I got on my knees and asked God to prepare me for what lay ahead… it was Mom. Depressed because of my father’s drinking, Mom had tried to commit suicide. Mom spent a week in the hospital and come home just in time for my graduation.

I would not have made I though those years, one crisis after another, without the Lord.

After high school, I attended Tennessee Temple University (TTU). While there, I received a wonderful letter from my parents saying that a local pastor had led them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Dad quit drinking for a time, but his faith was weak and he again began drinking. Dad died a few years later from cirrhosis of the liver.

During those years at TTU, God gave me a desire to share the Gospel. By God’s grace, in 1971, my wife and I began a missionary work in Argentina for Word of Life. During those early days of establishing the ministry we struggled against many obstacles.

One night in Argentina, I was very discouraged. I turned on the radio and heard a familiar voice. The voice I heard was Jack Wyrtzen, speaking on the radio from the United State. As I listened to the message, Jack said, “What is that in your hand? That’s what God said to Moses, and he says the same to you. In other words, uses what He has given you, whatever is it hand, to serve Him; and He will turn your life into a victory for Christ, you don’t need wealth or new technology. All you need is a heart completely yielded to God. He will do the rest.”

That message, heard on a Christian radio program, gave me the encouragement I needed. My wife and I spent 20 years in Argentina, sharing Christ and helping to establish a Word of Life Bible Institute that now has over 500 students. Some of the young men who were saved at that Bible Institute are now serving the Lord in ministry all over South America as well as in Italy, Spain, Romania and the Ukraine.

God blesses our home with three children and has enriched our lives beyond measure. Today I have the privilege and responsibility of being the Executive Director of Word of Life Fellowship, the ministry that introduced me to the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. It all started when I met Jesus on the island.

A song I learned there, many years ago, speaks volumes about what the Lord did for me:

Meet Jesus on the Island when your heart is sick with sin.

Meet Jesus, bid Him enter, to His Fold He’ll draw you in.

How about you? Do you know the Savior of the world? You can. His name is Jesus Christ, God the Son. Jesus came to offer His spotless life as a ransom for your sinful life (Mark 10:45). The Bible clearly says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It also says that sin must be paid for, “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This death is not speaking of physical death, but rather spiritual death and separation from God for eternity in Hell (Revelation 20:15). This is bad news, but the Gospel is good news. The same good news that changed my life can change your life. This good news is the gift of salvation that god has provided in His Son. (Ephesians 2:8,9; 1st John 5:11-13).

Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? Have you called upon the Son of God to forgive your sins and gibe newness of life? If not, you can make this most important decision today by confessing your sins to God, and placing your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. If you have made this most important decision, write or e-mail me so that I can rejoice with you!