“I went from being the top guy to being defective in a day,” Tom says. “I was at the end of my rope when I joined the Army and now the Army’s kicking me out. I’ve lost everything. I’m done. Just go grab a gun. Kill yourself, there’s no purpose.’ And that’s when Jesus revealed himself and said, ‘All I’ve ever wanted to do is carry you.’ And I think back and say, ‘What an idiot I was. Imagine how much pain I could have saved myself had I known that Jesus.’ And I submitted myself right there and then in the barracks and said ‘Great. Carry me.’ I saw it all so clearly. I had kept him out of my life just like I had kept everyone else out of my life. And so he was the first one I let in, truly let in.”
Tom was medically discharged from the army, but found new purpose and healing through his relationship with Jesus Christ.
“I finally understood who he was, a God who loved me, who cared for me, who wanted to help me and provide for me and protect me. Slowly we worked through my life, of these people and the episodes and forgiveness for myself and all these different things, my failures. ‘Don’t worry about that,’ Jesus says, ‘Go forward. Don’t look back. Don’t live in the past.’”
Today Tom works in full time ministry. He’s married to a woman who loves martial arts as much as he does, but now he just practices for fun.
He concludes with a smile, “I’m a changed man. I don’t have to be angry. I don’t have to fight anybody. I have nothing to fear. It’s a great thing to know a God who loves you so much where he says, ‘My grace is sufficient. Relax. Just take it easy and I’ll carry you along. Just do what I want you to do, just do what I tell you to do, and you’re going to be amazed at what I’m going to do for you!’”
