I am sitting alone in my studio apartment in the capitol hill area of Seattle, Washington. No one else is around. I am sitting on my bed just thinking about my life. Here I was in my mid-twenties; I was thousands of miles from my home in South Carolina. I had a job that I hated working as a collection’s agent. My wife and I had separated after a few years of marriage. Because of the separation, she wasn’t allowing me to have any contact with my son. I sat there on there on that bed, wondering how did I get here?

As a child, I grew up in the church. We attended service regularly. My father was in the military, and we spent a lot of time in Hinesville, Georgia. There we attended Pleasant Grove A.M.E. church. I remember joining and being a junior usher. My mother brought my brother and me down to the altar for baptism. I remember the preacher asking me if I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior. I remember saying yes, but wasn’t entirely sure what he meant. We were both baptized a short time later by immersion. Afterward, I felt as though God was trying to speak to me. I didn’t know what he wanted, but I knew he had plans for me. Things were progressing well until my parents separated when I was 14.

My entire world changed; we moved from Georgia back to our hometown in South Carolina. It hurt that my parents were no longer together. We moved back to South Carolina, and I made it through high school. With no significant issues or problem. Knowing my mother could not afford to send me off to college, I joined the US Army just like my father. I was only seventeen and my mother had to sign the papers for me.

Five days after I graduated, I left and joined the military. After Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training, I was sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Only being there a little while, I to Fort Polk, Louisiana. After another brief stint, the Army stationed in Okinawa, Japan. During my time there, I met a young lady, and we ended up having a baby, but I had already had plans to attend college. So, I left and came back to the United States. I was only back home for a while when I decided I missed my son and moved back to Japan. We got married, and the marriage was rocky from the start and ended with me flying back on a whim. Upon my arrival, I find out that a girl I was dating while I was in the States was pregnant with my kid. I felt myself spiraling until a friend of mine invited me to come to Seattle.

When I arrive in Seattle, I was staying with someone I met, but that didn’t last long, and I was asked to leave. I moved in with a friend, and after another short stint, they told me to go. Finally, a lady whom I didn’t know invited me to move in with her. I arrived with her, and I found a job and was starting to progress. One morning while I was at her place, I felt a burning sensation on the inside. A feeling I had never felt before, but I knew I had to go to church. I got up that morning caught two buses to Ebenezer A.M.E. Zion Church in Seattle. After a short time there, I joined the church. A lady who attended help me get my first apartment

That’s where I was sitting that night feeling so sad and depressed. I didn’t know what to do; the only thing I could think to do was to call out to God. I was tired, I was beaten up, and I was ready to surrender fully to his will. I didn’t know all the words to say, but I submitted my life to him in that apartment. My life has never been the same since.