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What a long strange trip it's been!
If you remember me, you know I grew up as a preacher's kid.
After High School, I thought about being a preacher and attended Ozark Christian College, but found I didn't quite fit in.
I moved back to Wichita and attended WSU for a year.
I'd later go back to Ozark, but was eventually asked to leave.
I then attended the Univ. of Tulsa for a couple of years - didn't graduate - had several different jobs (including living in and working in a mortuary) - basically, I couldn't decide what I wanted to be when I grew up.
In 1972 or '73, I decided I was missing out on life and set out to see what life had to offer.
I moved to Colorado for a while, became a bartender, and did that for the next 10 years.
I got involved in sports gambling, then bookmaking, and in 1980 was arrested and charged in Federal Court with Extortion. I was found not guilty, decided to change professions, and became a drug dealer, mostly large quantities of marijuana, but some of everything.
In 1987, I was arrested and eventually found guilty of 6 Federal drug charges from conspiracy to intent to distribute, and on July 3, 1987, at age 36, I turned myself in at Leavenworth Federal Prison Camp, Leavenworth, KS.
My first full day in prison would be July 4th, Independence Day (the irony was not lost.)
The second full day would be my 37th birthday (not one of my best!)
The first place I was shown on my "entrance tour" was the prison chapel - but that would be my one and only visit to that little chapel. I didn't need God, this was just a temporary setback. I'd been caught and arrested on a fluke and it wouldn't happen again!
Upon release, I would immediately return to that same life.
Although prison didn't change me, God never gave up on me and change would eventually come 4 years later as I watched the ultrasound of an unborn baby as a prelude to abortion.
My hardened heart, which prison, nor anything else could change, was changed in a matter of moments as I watched and listened to that tiny beating heart.
I was in church the next Sunday, by my choice, for the first time in 18 years.
I would never do another drug deal.
I would begin preaching about 5 years later, and began working in prison ministry soon after.
God used all of this as preparation for the ministry I have today!
I am privileged to be the Campus Pastor at God's Shining Light in Tulsa, OK (more of a very large mission than a traditional church). It is a church of about 500 where most are former addicts, ex-cons, recovered alcoholics, and former prostitutes - the forgotten & forsaken of our society - many of them having worked the streets just outside our church doors. But - every one of them is precious to God!
I'm also on the Board of Freedom Ranch, Inc. and Associate Director of Wings of Freedom - a faith-based sober living recovery support program - one of the largest in this part of the country.
In addition to my ministry, I own 3 businesses - Attorney Resource (a placement agency for legal professionals); Faith Financial Solutions (providing easy ways churches and non-profits to accept donations); Law Firm Pay Options (options for Law Firms to accept payment and retainers).
The kids are married and grown, but we're all still very close. Also, my two daughters had babies within 20 days of each other in the late fall of 2020, so I've got a grandson and a granddaughter - and another granddaughter set to arrive in mid-June of 2023.
Oh, yes - the baby in the ultrasound in 1991 would be born and grow into my beautiful 31-year-old daughter, Katie Rutherford McDonald who works with autistic children making an amazing difference in their lives. She completed her Master's Degree at Texas A&M. And God still has a call on her life to reach children around the world with the love of Jesus.
I'm not even thinking of retirement, in fact, I'm busier than I've ever been and love everything I do!
Besides - this story of God's grace and love is still being written, and I do not believe it's anywhere near completion. In fact, I am certain the best is still to come! God has been dealing with me about writing a book - Home From A Far Country - with bits of my story woven into the story of God's mercy, grace and love found in Luke 15 about the Prodigal Son.
UPDATE - 12/11/24
I was diagnosed in April of 2024 with State 4 Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (adenocarcinoma). I told if I did nothing that I would be dead in 6 months, maybe just 3. I began chemo the next day with a 50/50 chance of being alive 18 months later. My Oncologist ordered some very high-tech genetic testing in an attempt to determine what gene had gone crazy and was causing the cancer. I had not been a cigarette smoker, so did not fit the typical lung cancer patient. We discussed some cutting-edge trials of Targeted Therapy - a drug that acts on a specific gene - one specifically which had just been finalized by Pfizer for a gene called ALK positive which showed amazing promise - like 60% of patients on the drug were still alive after 5 years - BUT - the ALK positive gene is responsible for less than 3% of lung cancer. I took a second round of chemo - then we got the news (after about 5 weeks) - the cancer was caused by the ALK positive gene. A few days later, I would start taking a daily pill (thank God Pfizer provides the medication to me at no cost) and since soon after starting that medication, I have been symptom-free. I feel great, I'm no longer short of breath. I am no longer coughing so bad I couldn't carry on a conversation. I'm no longer having to have 2+ litres of fluid drained from the lining of my lungs every 2.5 to 3 weeks. The cancer is not gone, but it is no longer growing or spreading and some of it is shrinking. Doctors tell me I've got 5 to 6 years and maybe well beyond of the cancer remaining as it is and me remaining symptom-free.
What a journey it is!
