Passion of the Christ, Left Behind, Chronicles of Narnia, Secondhand Lions, Escape from Hell, almost any Christian Movie, especially if it is from Christiano Films. I love watching DVDs of the illustrated bible books, like Acts and John. I could watch them over and over again.

Christian and Gospel music. I loved listening to Spirit (music videos) but Sky Angel doesn't offer them anymore except through KTV and I haven't figured out when they are airing, I also love listening to the Worship channel. I enjoy listening to classical and soft/soothing music.

I like to read, going for walks-especially in the mall, garden, home decorating, spending time with friends and family, and playing games like cards, scrabble, boggle, suduko, and having an analytical mind I like a good puzzle. I like to crotchet, cook nice meals, and bake yummy stuff. Things I like doing but haven't done in a long time are horseback riding, fishing, bowling, spending time on the waterfront listening to the water.

The Bible-right now I am reading the NKJV. I'm not reading too much more because I don't have the energy, but have enjoyed the Left Behind series, including the original, childrens, and the political and military spinoffs alot. I do have the Narnia books, but want to read them in the order CS Lewis wrote them, not in the chronological order that is being published right now and the series I have received. I have been enjoying Christian audio books, such as those written by

Anyway it’s pretty funny to be surrounded by the Navy, when I get seasick so badly. That being said, I am pretty conservative, which makes me perfect as an Evangelical, Pentecostal, Born-again Christian (Assembly of God) and Republican.

The odds for me to become a born-again Christian were against me. My parents being mad at God for the way they were raised, so they decided to go in the opposite direction and try to raise their two children with morals without God. I would say that my saving graces were my paternal grandparents. I loved visiting with them on the farm up in Washington State. My grandmother had an immense impact on my search for truth and God. She was also a Pentecostal, Born-Again Christian (Assembly of God), I just wish she were her so I could share it with her. I would have to say that the two major incidents that seemed to really stay with me most of my life was first that my grandparents’ deep love of God and faith in Him and that His word (the Bible) were total Truth. They admittedly didn’t know all of the answers, but trusted Him in all things and tried to encourage me to do the same. The second thing that impacted me was my grandmother’s gift of speaking in tongues. Whenever I told anyone about it, they would just say that she was faking it or that if she were really speaking in tongues that someone had to be there to interpret. But they never knew her and I did, and I would say that she didn’t fake much and with this not at all.

(Remembering that He is Jewish)
Accepting Jesus (Yeshua) as my personal Savior was a life-changing experience. I was driving down the road when I cried out to him. What I experienced at the time was like having scales or contact lenses fall from my eyes. I was in wonder and amazement at how the world looked and felt. I immediately saw things in a different way, as if I had been blind. Colors seemed brighter and everything appeared clearer. I noticed things I never noticed before. It was also as if my ears were unplugged. It seemed to me that I now heard a voice calling me all my life, but never heard it until that moment. Also I clearly heard a voice, whether it was out loud or just in my head, tell me to go teach (I am now a Sunday School teacher-learning just as much as I teach). The thing is, is that it was so amazing that I wanted everyone to experience what I had experienced. I have now come to realize that everyone’s experience with accepting Jesus as their own Savior, is as different as each person is in the world. We each will have our own personal relationship with Him that is truly unique and individual, just as we all have our own individual gifts and jobs set aside for each one of us who hear His call. I found that I no longer found quite the enjoyment in things I had previously loved - somehow they seemed unimportant or abrasive. Another gift that He gave me was a hunger to be with others who believed and to listen to anyone who wanted to talk about Him. It changed me so much that my family immediately recognized a change in me and most of them rejected the change and me. I was now labeled a religious nut and became a stranger to them. But I thank Him most for giving me the ability to read the bible with hunger and understanding. This being said, I had tried most of my life to read the bible, but with little success. Whenever I tried to read it before this, it was as if I were trying to decipher a foreign language without any lessons or translations for that language.
One of my prayers to understand was to know that my grandmother was not a fake. One of the first things God showed me was in 1 Corinthians 14:1-5. “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.” Since this time I have heard even Pastors state that there is no such thing as tongues, because as set out in the book of Acts, it must be a language that is understood by others. But God has shown me in 1 Corinthians, that someone can speak in tongues and not be understood because “he does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him, however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” God had clarified to me the truth about speaking in tongues, and though I do not do so myself, I can stand by those that do and know that they are speaking to God and unless there is interpretation, I and others may never understand what is being spoken.
Also in Matthew 14:21-25 I can attest to myself. “In the law it is written: ‘With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,’ says the Lord. Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for the unbelievers but for those who believe. Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that your are out of your mind? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.” I would say that my grandmother’s ability to speak in tongues convicted me a long time ago to believe in God, but I had a long and painful journey to that path.
I’m sorry to say that it took me almost 42 years before finding, understanding, and accepting the Truth, which I could not have done without God’s intervention. I looked at other ‘religions,’ but never did find what I was looking for to fill that empty place within my soul. I looked at Buddhism, my maternal grandparents being Buddhist, but even though I found peace in the temples, I also found that it seemed empty as well.
I guess I looked at some form of Hinduism/New Age stuff having been born in the 1960’s when all of this was being introduced into the United States, all that crystal stuff, reincarnation, tarot cards, horoscopes, spirit guides and whatever other things that seemed to seep into all of that, but never found anything substantial that really made any sense, it just made me have more questions. I grew up in the age of the Ouiga boards and even played with it until some very strange things happened that scared me to my roots. I haven’t been near one for about 32 years because of the freakiness of playing with the spirit world. Besides, I couldn’t buy into the New Age teaching that everyone and everything was God.
I even looked into the Wicca-having been raised with “Bewitched” and found a lot to be scared of, because what I found was that it was the direct opposite, trying to mirror Christ, only to lead away from Him, using what he taught, only in an opposite way. This one scared me the most, because I actually felt evil within it.
I looked at evolution/humanism, but couldn’t make any sense of it either. Now realizing that there was nothing to support it and all it ever did was make me question even more. I found that their attempt was to remove God totally, but to replace Him with science. I guess it was my analytical search to continue to question and search.
As my Pastor has said, “I have not ever regretted one moment spent serving, knowing, or loving God, but I do regret every moment spent away from Him” and I would add that I regret all those long lonely, empty years, filled with disillusionment and distortion without Him. I have heard people say that believing in God and/or Jesus is a crutch, but I have found that if that is true, They are a crutch that are strong enough to hold me up in any circumstance. Especially since the world seems to be more and more hostile to anyone who believes in Jesus. Persecution can be in the home, neighborhood, or half-way around the world. It can be as simple as denial of what I believe in to as horrific as what is acknowledged to have happened during the age of (humanism) & Hitler and continues in many communistic countries around the world. I have heard grass-root Christians compared to the Taliban, but I ask, when was the last time there were reports of Christians beheading someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus, or riots caused because someone made fun of or blasphemed Jesus or the bible? This is just another example of the covering of disillusionment that covers the world that I once lived in. Find evil and the world wants to lay it at the feet of Jesus. This is not, nor will it be the first nor last time this was attempted. The first time someone attempted to accuse Jesus of evil was to his face when he delivered a person of demonic possession found in Matthew 12: 22-30.
But most recently, the world and people who surround me have validated what Jesus testified regarding the world’s attitude toward Him. The first is found in Matthew10:21-22. “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.
The second is found in Matthew 24: 9-10. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.”
In all of history, there have not been as many martyred in the name of Christ as have happened in the last 100 years. But we see in the news media and entertainment media just how much Christ is hated and rejected. All signs and symbols that even refer to him is on a list to be obliterated. Those who stand up and say they stand with Jesus are rejected. I have family members and co-workers who blatantly state that they reject Jesus or want to blow Him off by compartmentalizing Him from the rest of the world. If you want to be in politics, you cannot admit to believing in Him. Statements you make are only accepted if you make them separate from your beliefs and if they go against what you believe. Schools are afraid to allow Christians any say in education, but allow all other religions to have a say and interest in what is taught.
I see that what was promised is coming to pass, and though it should scare me, it also excites me in know that Jesus and God didn’t lie, but told us the truth. The truth that anyone can accept, but few will.

I love Jesus Christ. And I love listening to others ernestly talk about Jesus and His word. I love to stop and smell the flowers and I like to grow them myself and offer them to others. I have two kids and three dogs. I like to design, garden, cook, watch some tv and some movies, generally very family friendly. I like to hang out with my kids, dogs, and friends. I love to make people smile. And I think that the best gift someone can ever give me is something from their heart, something they have created, whether it is a picture, poem, story, or whatever it is they are good at or want to try. I think it is important to me that when getting a gift, that it is something that means more than that someone has pulled out a credit card or wallet to purchase the gift and that it is a part of who they are and who they think I am. To me, it means that I am a part of their life and they are a part of mine. Some of my most treasured gifts are those that were created by my loved ones. These items will always decorate whatever home I have, over and above anything else and if I have nothing else in my home I would want these gifts and pictures of those I love.

I hate confrontation, but it doesn't mean I can't or won't stand up for what I believe is true, right, or for the underdog, those who can't stick up for themselves. Disrespect, selfishness, shallowness, and phoniness. And I really, really hate what is happening in the world, especially the explicit hate directed at Christians and Jews in this country, but also those of faith being martyred in other countries. But I realize that this will only get worse the closer we get to Jesus coming back.