mpdf-2

My Hope, To You!



I dedicate this book to my family, Jonathan, Tara, Sean, Shauna, Carissa, Rachel, Matthew, Christopher, and
Joshua, and to my grandchildren that are alive now and those that will someday be part of our ever growing
family. This is the story of my belief in God and my faith in Jesus, the ONE who saves. It is my fervent prayer and
hope that each of you will accept him as your Savior, if you haven’t already, and make him LORD of your life.
There is nothing more important than this decision!

"If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved." Romans 10:9

1

WELL THE COVER PICTURE WAS A FEW YEARS AGO!

Mom and I (Aunt Theresa and I) are so thankful to the Lord for each of you and the joy that
you bring to our lives. When we reflect back to the conversations that Mom and I had while
dating, we would have never imagined that we would have the privilege of influencing 9 lives
of such amazing people. You are each a true treasure and bring such richness and uniqueness
to our family that it is difficult to comprehend. Thank you for being such amazing children and
now growing into incredible adults.

In reflection, as a parent (uncle/aunt) we wonder did we do enough? Did we spend enough
time with each of you? Did we love enough? Did we correctly discipline enough? Did we teach
enough of the right things? Did we ask for forgiveness enough? (If not we will pay for the first
counseling session)!

You all know our commitment to the Lord and efforts to live our life following Him. However,
one of the most important questions we ask ourselves is do you know exactly what we believe
and why? During those dark and confusing days of life that we all experience, do you know
enough of our faith story to encourage you to keep trusting the Lord even when it seems that
He has abandoned you?

It is to this end that I (dad/uncle) want to present to you in writing why my hope is in Christ
and Christ alone. I do not want to run the risk of me not being available because of location,
schedules, or I having passed on to the next life. I pray that when the time is right, these words
will speak to your heart and mind and that they will draw you closer to the One who made you
and loves you more than I do.

US ON OUR WEDDING DAY!! YUP..... I MARRIED UP!

2

3

Like all of you, my journey started when I was a young child being born into a Christian home
and shown the love of Jesus early in life. I remember a Friday night revival service in the old
Grace Wesleyan Church in Hastings, MI. I was 9 years old. I could sense the drawing of the
Holy Spirit and my need for Jesus as my Savior. I knelt at the altar and prayed to receive Christ.
I clearly remember the sense of peace I experienced.

4

For the most part, my life was pretty stable and "non-eventful" through high school and into the
first couple years of Hope College. My family was awesome! I was faithful to attend church 3-4
times a week, not much of a party person and stayed away from girls for the most part (not that
I didn’t look) until I was over 18. I also can’t ever remember having any serious doubts about
my faith at all.

5

I went into college studying math and physics, planning on becoming an electrical engineer. It
was during this first two years in college, through the influence of Central Wesleyan Church,
that my parent’s faith became mine.
I was certainly a Christian entering college, but it was during this time that Christ became
first and foremost in my heart and life!

6

In fact, during the spring of my sophomore year while at the beach, I strongly sensed that God
was calling me into something other than engineering. While not an audible voice, I did
experience an incredible sense of his presence like I had never felt before. I
believed his Spirit was calling me into some type of a role with more of a Kingdom focus. I
wanted to help people. I switched my major to Psychology and dove headlong into this new
venture.

That is when all hell broke loose!

7

I took a philosophy class at Hope College as part of my gen eds. All of a sudden my mind was
opened to all kinds of theories and speculations about reality and life. It also was subject to
serious critiques of the Christian faith. For the first time I really questioned if what I learned as
a child and been told about in church was actually true? I entered into a very dark and
confusing time for my faith. Did God really exist? Is Christianity really true? How about all
those people of other faiths? They were going to hell because they were born in the wrong
country? Does God send people to hell? Is the Bible really God's word? There is some pretty
strange stuff in there! Is there really life after death? Where did God come from? Virgin birth?
Only Mary knows for sure! Where did evil come from? Why so much suffering? Does God really
do miracles?

8

I had managed to “hide” my doubts and fears the best I could and finished college. There were
some very dark days and nights as I experienced depression, fear and oppression from the evil
one. I can clearly remember times in the middle of the night that I would “wake up” but not be
able to move or call out. All I could feel was this heavy pressure on me like I was paralyzed. It
was the weirdest thing! It was heavy, dark and ominous. I look back on it now and believe it was
the very presence of evil one wanting my very soul. There was certainly a battle going on as I
struggled with my faith. Once I started to question my faith, all of life became very confusing.

My journey back to a confident faith would take years.

9

I somehow managed to graduate from Hope as you know and even had the desire to go to
seminary to study Counseling Psychology. It was during my time at Trinity that I took a course
in apologetic thought taught by Dr. William Lane Craig. It was amazing!

Finally somebody who could speak into not only
what we believe, but also why.

It was life changing for me and set my path as a life-long learner of what I believe and why. I
began to rebuild my faith based both on experience and knowledge. It was so refreshing to
understand that I did not have to check my brain at the door and "just believe".

As I studied why Christianity was true, I soon
reached a point where it made more logical sense
for me to believe that God exists than he does not.

The logic being that if there is actually no God but I live as if there is, I would live a life based
on great morals and strong character, being a follower of Jesus. I would save myself from
making stupid decisions and creating a lot of pain for myself and those around me. Once I am
dead, I would never know that there was no God! On the other hand if I live like there is no
God, but in reality there is, eternity is going to be a long, lonely, painful, experience! (Also
called Pascal's Wager).

So while I still had questions, this approach allowed
me to study what I needed to study for my mind but
also experience what I needed for my heart and
soul.The more I studied and the more I experienced
God, the deeper my faith grew.

10

So after graduating from seminary, I moved back to Holland and took a part-time counseling
position for a ministry. I would soon realize that being a counselor was not the right profession
for me as I would be relieved when my clients would not show up for their appointments!
This is when I first was introduced into the printing world. I will forever be grateful for Jerry
Baarman, the owner of Holland Litho, for seeing sales potential in me and giving me my first
job in selling print! And the rest is history as they say.
It was about this time that I noticed a beautiful young lady at church, but she always showed
up with this tall great looking dark haired man. I watched her from afar for quite some time.

They were obviously a couple. Unfortunately for me, a
great looking couple! I called them Ken and Barbie!

11

And then one night, it happened, she showed up to a church function ALONE! And even
though she was way out of my league, I was thinking maybe I can get to know her. Ha! I was not
the only one as she sat in the middle of the room with no less than 6 guys around her!
Somehow, by the pure grace of God, she and I started to talk. She mentioned a couple good
books that she had read and I was enthralled with the depth and spiritual maturity of this
gorgeous woman.
So the next night, I called her (no texting) and I asked her what were the names of those books
again? ( I knew the names…. I ied! I just wanted an excuse to call her)

And then a miracle, she agreed to go out for ice cream!

12

We began dating. I quickly found out that her outward beauty was only surpassed by her
inward beauty and faith in God. While very different from each other, we had similar goals and
aspirations about life and serving God. Seemingly a match made in heaven. (In fact 2 weeks into
dating, she told me that if I asked her, she would say yes to marrying me!) BUT I was a
complete idiot (no surprise there) and freaked out over the commitment. After 5 GREAT
months, we parted ways. (Like I said, I was an idiot) She went to the Dominican Republic to
teach and work with Young Life.

It is of course no surprise that we got back together, but
how this happened was evidence of the hand of God.

13

While mom was in the DR she had taken a mini retreat up in the mountains, and sensed God
saying she should rekindle her friendship with me and end her relationship with Ted (She got
back together with Ted after we broke up). Upon returning to Santo Domingo, a mom of one of
her students said God had spoken to her. She asked mom if she had a boyfriend? Upon saying
yes, you need to break it off with him and renew a relationship with an old “friend”.
(me!!) Confirmation of exactly what mom sensed the Lord told her as well!
So while home for the holidays, she called me on Christmas Eve and greeted me with "Feliz
Navidad". We talked for hours! A few days later, I drove 12 hours through an ice storm, to
Louisville, to bring her back to Holland so she could see friends on New Years Eve. I sat home
alone that night! (I am still a touch bitter about the snub...)

14

A few months later, I "found" myself in the DR visiting her. As soon as I saw her at the airport,
I knew something significant was going on with us. However, I was still dealing with a great
deal of fear of commitment etc. For her birthday, we had planned a day up in the same
mountains where God spoke to her about me. During the afternoon, I drifted off for a quick
nap. When I woke up, the first thing I saw was her sitting on a porch reading her Bible.

I strongly sensed the Lord tell me this was my life’s partner
and then suddenly this crazy, amazing peace from God just
overwhelmed my soul. I knew that she was the woman I
was to marry! This peace has not left me for 30 years!

15

So about 3 months later we were married!!! One week after
that, mom was pregnant with Tara, much to our surprise!

At the time we were living in the Dominican Republic, both teaching school and helping with Young Life. Mom
was pretty sick with the pregnancy, seeing how we would have needed to leave our baby with a care giver (mom
made way more than I did as she was a certified teacher), we decided to move back to the States.
We had wanted to stay for at least two years, but that was not to be. This was not the first time things did not go
as planned or as we thought God was leading, nor would it be the last!

16

17

18

The Lord kept surprising us with blessings!

Shauna was born 13 months after Tara and then Carissa 22 months after that! 3 under 3 and all in diapers! Ye
ha what a blast! Mom was busy (under statement) with caring for you all and also did some in home day care. I
kept selling print to pay for everything!

19

20

And then the 3 boys! This is like a Disney movie! Too good
to be true!

God blessed us beyond our wild dreams and
imagination! We were exhausted but
loving it!

21

22

After Josh was born, mom and I sensed that we were done having children. We had all the
blessings we could handle! (In fact, moments after Josh was born, mom turned to me and
said "we are done!!" I could not agree more! (Nor would it have been wise to at that particular
point in time!)
But God was soon to turn the tragedy of Jack and then Cindy dying into a blessing and allow
us to have significant influence into three more lives and give us another daughter! As you
know, it was really hard on Jonathan, Sean and Rachel to have both their dad and mom die.

However to have Rachel join our family as a sister and a
daughter, as well as Sean and Jonathan as nephews that
we see as our own, has been a true blessing and
privilege!!!

23

For a guy who didn't know if he wanted kids at all, to having 9 kids,
4 cats and a dog in our home at one time is pretty remarkable. I
believe God has a sense of humor.

Now I would not trade it for all the milk
chocolate in the world!!!!

24

But as the years went on, disappointments in other areas of my
life began to overwhelm my soul with a sense of "God is against
me". I believe that the evil one would whisper in my ear "if God
loves you and is for you then why":

Did my dad die at only 61??? He was a Godly man that worked hard and was faithful to his
wife, his kids and his God. You all would have loved him and his sense of humor. I still miss
him.

Did I stutter? That has been an anchor to my soul for years. Could I not serve him better if that
wasn’t a struggle?

Did Jack and Cindy have to die?

Did I not get to be drum major as that would have given me a great leadership experience?

Did I have to sell print rather than do something I am passionate about?

Did I have a huge loss on a ministry that we thought was God's will?

Did I a buy a commercial building and sustain a huge loss?

Did I buy a house that after owning it for 12 years had a huge loss?

Does my niece, who loves you, struggle with her health so horribly?

Did I buy a business to only walk away after 12 years with no equity?

Did I leave my partnership to work for a non-profit that had serious issues?

Why at at my age do I not have more funds set aside in case I can’t work someday?

It often felt like I was spitting into the wind!

25

While I knew in my head that God
was for me, to be honest, my heart
was being bombarded often with
feelings of abandonment and
disappointment with God!?

Below is last family picture before Grandpa went to be with Jesus.

26

It wasn't until just very recently that this battle raged in my soul more often than I care to
admit. But God, in his grace and mercy, exposed the agreements that I had made with the evil
one. He showed me the truth of what is really going on: God loves me and is FOR me! How
do I know this? Because of what Jesus DID for me!

Because of Jesus:

I do not need to do animal sacrifices- He was the last One!
I am forgiven!
I get eternal life in heaven!

27

When I look at the things he did FOR me and then at the list he did "not" do for me, it is
obvious that there is not one thing on the list he did for me that I would trade for what he did
not do for me.

Would I trade eternal life for equity in a home?
Would my dad trade eternal life for a few more years on
this earth?
Would I trade eternity for a wildly successful business and
great wealth?

What he did for me and you, is far greater than anything in this world we think we "deserve".
What's more is that Jesus told us:

"In this world we will have trouble, but take heart because I
have have overcome this world!" (John 16:33)

So in addition to all he did for us, he also is promising that no matter what crap we experience
in this life he will redeem it (overcome) at some point in future.

The realization of this truth, while I have heard this before, has really sunk into the depths of
my soul and allowed healing to occur.

Where there was disappointment there is now
extreme thankfulness and deep gratitude for Jesus
and what he DID for me!

28

How a miracle deepened my faith!

Miracles are a subject that gets a lot of attention and criticism for obvious reasons. If miracles
exist then something beyond the natural world must exist. It is a question of utmost
importance. One of the greatest and most popular movies in the last 20 years is “Miracle on
Ice”, the story of the 1980 US Hockey team and their victory over the undefeated Soviet Union.
“Do you believe in Miracles” uttered by Al Michaels in the final seconds of the game still rings in
our ears all these years later. It was more than a hockey game for country that had taken its
share of hits in the previous decades. We wanted to believe. We needed to believe. So into this
context emerged a group of well-conditioned college hockey players, with grit and passion
playing out of their minds, beating the Mighty Russians against all odds.

29

While it was called “Miracle On Ice”, most people would not believe that it was a true miracle.
That is a miracle defined as an event that is inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to
be supernatural in origin or an act of God. You could explain away the US victory by applying
natural laws even though it was highly improbable.

And thus is the challenge with the topic of miracles. It seems one person’s miracle is another
person’s coincidence. By definition miracles only happen once in a particular time at a
particular place. They are not something you can put into a laboratory and study.

The beginning of the universe is just such as event. It happened once and you cannot go back
in time to study that event or recreate it. I believe that God created the universe from nothing.
It follows that if He created the universe from nothing then He has the power to cause an
event that is inexplicable by laws of nature. He then is outside of time, space and matter and
the natural order of all things.

As C. S. Lewis observed:

“If we admit God, must we admit miracles. Indeed,
you have no security against it. That is the bargain”.

Many skeptics go around disproving what some people call miracles and thus discredit all
miracles. But one only needs to prove that a single miracle has happened to prove that God
can and does perform miracles.

If there is just ONE miracle that can be proven
beyond a reasonable doubt to have occurred then
that is further proof that God does exists and
miracles do happen.

30

Let me state several miraculous events for you to consider: The beginning of the universe; the creation and
sustaining of life; a new born baby; the multiple prophecies in the Old Testament predicting the coming of
Jesus the Messiah; the miracles Jesus performed; and the resurrection of Jesus. Add to that the thousands and
thousands of accounts of miracles proclaimed by Christians over the centuries. In his book, The Insanity of
Unbelief, Max Davis gives us multiple stories of God’s miraculous intervention in people’s lives (chapter 4).
These are stories that he has vetted and believes that they are indeed verifiable miracles.

Remember it only takes one to be true to prove that they
do happen!

31

As convincing as all these truths are, there is NOTHING like when God shows up in your own
life or someone one you know well.

Ask Josh about his miracle with PRP. It is an amazing story of
God healing him!

It was about 8 years ago that God also showed up in my life in a way that could only be
explained through divine intervention. One of the principles we operated the printing
companies that we owned was to give away 10% of net income to Kingdom initiatives. As
companies have good and bad months the question would be do we give after each 3 month
quarter or do I wait until the end of the year and make sure that we made money annually
before we gave any money away?

It was after a quarter that we did make money and I still had not settled that question in my
mind. At the same time, Mom and I had been challenged to do a 21 day Daniel fast. For three
days I did not eat anything and then for the next 18 days I ate only fruit and vegetables.

It was on the last day of the fast, a Sunday, when I sensed that the Lord wanted me to stay
back and not go to Sunday School but have some quiet time with Him. So I brewed a cup of
coffee and sat down with the Lord. The only thing I could focus on was giving away that 10% of
the quarter’s profits. It was very heavy on my heart.

I was actually kind of ticked at the Lord feeling like
after 21 days of fasting all I am hearing was “give
away the money”!

I picked up the Bible and began to read in Exodus to try and get my mind going in a different
direction. I do not remember why I was reading in Exodus as this is not typical for me to just
read a chapter or two from the Old Testament. But for whatever reason I found myself in
Exodus 22 and within just a few minutes of reading I came across this verse:

32

You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of
your harvest and from the outflow of your
PRESSES”.

Exodus 22:29 ESV

I was simply speechless!

The word PRESSES literally jumped off the page and my heart started racing. I had a very strong sense that God
was speaking. This is probably the only verse in the entire Bible that says anything like this and I “happen” to
read it that day. Also the version I was using, which I had just purchased, was one of the ONLY versions to use
the word “presses” rather than “wine presses” or “vineyards". I wept, prayed, and thanked God for speaking to
me!

But wait, there's more!!

As I prayed I also sensed that there would be a need at church that would manifest itself to which I was to give. I
made note of it but did not really take it too seriously. So I went to church and as we were in corporate prayer
time there was ONE teen that we knew well that went to the altar to pray. She was one of very few people that
day that went up for prayer. I leaned over to mom and asked her if she knew what the issue was? Mom told me
that this young lady had a very strong sense that she was to go to India but did not have the money to go and
today was the last day to commit to the trip and turn in the money. She was at the alter to give up her desire and
calling to go. I instantly remembered that the Lord had told me there would be a need that would present itself
that day that we could meet. I knew this was that need.

The amount she needed?

33

Yup, the exact amount we had to give!

Though tears I told mom that the the Lord had told us to meet that need. Right after church, I told the leader of
the trip that we would cover the cost for her to go. He went to her house that afternoon and shared that God had
heard her prayers after all and she would be going on the trip. What an absolute joy to hear God speak to me
and bless that young lady. I received way more than I gave!

I knew that God had spoken to me and it was a miracle.

It would simply be impossible without divine intervention to be fasting for 21 days, end the fast on this
particular day, own a printing company and be struggling with when and if I should give away 10% of the
profits, be reading a Bible section I rarely read, reading in one of the only translations that uses the word
"presses", have a double meaning to a word from thousands of years ago (wine presses vs presses), sense I was
to give that same day, be presented with a need for the amount that I had to give away on the last day that it
could be met, and be able to bless a young lady by meeting her God given desire to go to India to serve!

Miracle:

An event brought about by the power of God,

A temporary exception to the ordinary cause of
nature,

For the purpose of showing that God has acted in
history.

34

So where am I now in my faith journey? Through these experiences and others, I have had the great privilege to
experience the Lord and His goodness personally. These have all led to a deeper and more confident faith. The
Lord is worthy to be praised and trusted! Concurrently with these life experiences I have also studied the truth
claims of Christianity as well as other world views. As you know, my book shelves are full of apologetic books.
This study, while there are still questions that remain that might never be answered this side of heaven, has led
me to this conclusion:

The sum of the logical evidence and my
personal experiences for the existence of
God and the claims of Jesus of being true is
far beyond any reasonable doubt!

It just simply makes the most sense!

On the next page is a statement of truths that all Christians believe to be true. I have shared some of my
personal "God sightings" in the previous pages. The pages following are summaries of the many logical reasons
why I believe these statements are true. While these are short in length behind them are hours and hours of
personal study.
I hope that you find them helpful in your own journey and search for truth. If at any time you wish to dive
deeper into these question or any other related questions, I would count it a privilege to discuss and discover
together.

35

THIS IS WHAT I BELIEVE!

I BELIEVE IN GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, MAKER OF
HEAVEN AND EARTH; AND IN JESUS CHRIST HIS ONLY SON,

OUR LORD; WHO WAS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT,
BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY, SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS

PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD, AND BURIED;
THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD; HE ASCENDED
INTO HEAVEN, AND SITS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD THE

FATHER ALMIGHTY; FROM WHERE HE SHALL COME TO
JUDGE THE ALIVE AND THE DEAD.

I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE HOLY UNIVERSAL
CHURCH, THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS, THE FORGIVENESS
OF SINS, THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, AND THE LIFE

EVERLASTING.
The following pages are summaries of the main reasons why!

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48