He describes his lifelong relationship with Jesus as a friendship he has always known and his blessings as meant to share. He says, “growing up the youngest of four children, much of my early life seemed like a long receiving line of hand-me-downs. Within our church community, those hand-me-downs passed from me to others as a routine matter of course. Sharing what we had within the family and those around us was just a way of life. However, it made me very aware that the blessings I received were not a result of my earning them, but were gifts that were passed on from others.”
Ever since childhood he’s had a particular heart for missions, saying “My interest in missions was kindled in Sunday school, the summer of second grade, when Albert Schweitzer’s book on his missionary experiences in Africa was read to us over the summer.”
He’s been a leader in his church throughout his life and considered his faith strong and settled. He grew up to become a physician, and began participating in missions outreach, first locally in providing services to the homeless in his community in Florida, and then expanding to medical missions in Haiti. Eventually he became responsible for organizing and leading mission trips for his church in Florida.
In many respects he could have been thought to have arrived at a comfortable place in his faith walk from which to live out his life. But his “Friend” took their relationship to a new level following his return from a medical mission trip he led to Haiti. He describes the return from one of his medical missions.
“I was catching up on paying bills, and opened the bill to insure my new sailboat. On opening it, I noticed that the amount of the bill was nearly identical to the cost of medical supplies that we had used on the mission trip. Within my head, I heard a question posed to me: “Would you give up your sailboat in order to provide for those in greater need?” I supposed it was the Holy Spirit, and not wanting to lie to God, I answered honestly—‘No!’ The sailboat in question was the culmination of a lifelong dream. Having learned to sail at a young age, I had always dreamed of living on the water in Florida, and sailing right from my backyard to the Bahamas and the Florida Keys. Named “Integrity”, she was a 35 foot customized Shannon Shoalsailer that I had watched being built from the first layer of fiberglass to the stepping of the mast. I had taken delivery earlier that year, and had not yet taken any of those long trips of my dreams.
“God and I repeatedly discussed this request. He refused to take “No” for an answer and leave me alone. I sought out brothers in Christ to pray with me and seek to understand God’s will. They reinforced the conclusion that this was something God was calling me to do. After five months of wrestling with God, I put the boat up for sale. I took the money from the boat, purchased land, set up a faith-based education and microenterprise mission in an impoverished region in the foothills of northeast Jamaica.”
That moment of obedience has changed his life, and the lives of his family members, forever. “Giving up my dream in order to pursue God’s dream was a turning point from which there has been no turning back. No matter where life takes turns of discouragement, anger or frustration, I know with certainty that He is never going to let go of me. And so I follow His dream.”
By Melissa Hoagland, Volunteer Storyteller
