By Saturday night, I was on system overload. My concept of Jesus and God was turned upside down, and frankly, the whole thing just sounded too good to be true.  "The wind in the bamboos stopped, the air got thick..."
So I went out on the mountain and I asked God to help me know if He was real. The wind in the bamboos stopped, the air got thick and without a vision or audible words, I sensed His presence fill in around me. I felt at home, accepted, free. I felt like a 60 pound rock was removed from my chest. I tasted eternal freedom for the first time.

That weekend I learned the Bible is the most accurate and well-preserved document of all antiquity, and that the four gospels would stand as admissible eyewitness evidence in any civilized courtroom. I felt intellectually lazy that I had never read it! I would never run a new country for P&G without studying language, history, and business culture! But ever since that weekend, I've had an insatiable appetite to read the Bible, and to spend time alone with God. As I grew, God helped me unpack what had happened, and I began to grow.

His Word is alive and he began to speak to me in a fresh and personal way every day! For example, one verse helped me decode the emptiness in my soul. It says that God has put eternity in the hearts of men. "We are wired to need God and the hole inside us cannot be filled with money, sex, wisdom, power, fame. . ." We are wired to need God and the hole inside us cannot be filled with money, sex, wisdom, power, fame, or anything else! Once I had invited Jesus into my life, the hole in my soul got filled. I have not looked at pornography in 8 years. I have a new life with my kids. God cleaned up my language. Those are His miracles!

Jesus transformed my marriage too. One day I was reading about Adam and Eve and how they were naked in the garden and felt no shame. His Word spoke to me.

To be truly free in my marriage, I would need to confess to Marianne. I prayed about this, and got a lot of godly counsel. It was the hardest talk I ever had. I never want to hurt her like that again. But God broke through her tears and my fears. Marianne forgave me, primarily because Christ had first forgiven her. Her "But God broke through her tears and my fears." forgiveness was "living proof" to me that Jesus was real. Now Marianne and I help other couples live freedom in Christ.

God also dealt with my Lone Ranger syndrome. The retreat leaders made a big deal about men's groups, which I thought was weird. I would not be caught dead sharing a hurt or a weakness with anyone, especially other guys. However, I decided to try a group the next Saturday, because the guys seemed like the real deal. There were 8 guys, and we prayed, shared our stuff and encouraged each other. Things moved along OK until our third Saturday, when one of the guys came in totally devastated.

He confessed that after breaking up with his girlfriend the night before, he got mad at God. Feeling like he would never find a wife, he lost his virginity with a prostitute. We were shocked. He had trusted Christ since he was young! But what happened next was a miracle. Three guys, including me confessed sexual sin. Instead of repelling us from each other, it drew us closer in a way none of us had ever experienced. We got real and stayed real. We asked for God to forgive us, heal us, and stop our sin. He did!