I went to a Protestant Church until I was 6. When I was 14 my mom and youngest sister became Jehovah Witnesses. All I knew was I wasn’t going to do the same because they didn’t believe in Christmas or birthdays! At that time my dad, my two older sisters, and I stopped having Christmas.

I didn’t start celebrating Christmas again until I met Becky. Until 1981, when I started dating her, I didn’t participate in religion at all. I started going to the Catholic Church off and on, but it really didn’t mean much to me until around 1997. I came across Unshackled on WCRF radio and fell in love with the true life-changing stories.

But I couldn’t understand what this talk was about having a “personal relationship” with Jesus and what a Bible-teaching church was. I would come home and tell Becky about having a personal relationship with Jesus. We talked about looking for a church where we could bring a Bible and learn from it as the preacher spoke. She was hesitant because of her background as a Catholic so we didn’t do anything to find a church.

I was still unaware of what a “born-again Christian” was in September of 1998 when I suffered a major heart attack that 9 out of 10 people do not survive. It wouldn’t be until months later that I would realize that God was involved in the whole event.

I was clinically dead for 7 minutes while the hospital staff refused to give up on me – a 34-year-old husband and father of two. I was shocked with defibrillator paddles numerous times, suffered burns that took six months to heal, and fractured ribs from the CPR. I was air-lifted to a hospital that could perform a heart catheterization. The swelling and damage to of my heart was so severe that the only thing they could do at that time was to put a stent in and get the blood flowing again. For the next three days I laid in intensive care on life support. They told Becky I had only a 50/50 chance of survival.

I did survive, but I went into a severe depression which required medication. I was afraid I would have another heart attack or never be able to rough house with my daughters or just live a normal life.

I knew Roger Kruse through Little League and I knew that he was a preacher but that was all. My brother-in-law knew Roger really well and told Becky that it would be a good idea for me to talk to him. I made an appointment to see Roger. I told him all about the questions I had from listening to Unshackled on the radio and over a period of time he explained the whole wonderful life-saving plan that God had for me and for anyone who came to Him and accepted Jesus as their Savor.

Roger explained that it was Jesus who made me call the ambulance that night and it was Jesus who arranged for me to be at the hospital when I went into full arrest. It was Jesus who gave the doctor, nurses and the staff the ability to save my life.

I gave my life to Christ on Christmas Eve in 1998. Since then God has brought me through a triple by-pass surgery, an experimental procedure called a DOR where my left ventricle and damaged heart muscle was removed, two defibrillators and numerous tests, catheterizations and depression. My wife and daughters are all saved as well.

We have been through a lot over the past nine-and-a-half years. God has always shown Himself to us in our troubles and brought us through it. He continues to prove His love for me while I deal with cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure and severe central sleep apnea. Not to many people can say they were born three times but I can joyfully say I was! I have no regrets and the last birth was the most important one of them all!