My stepdad, he would come back drunk, and he would just go on a tirade. If I made a mistake, he would just whip me. At those times, I would just cry to God, "God, why?"
I remember that week when I was born again, looking in the mirror and knowing that that wasn’t me anymore.
[Music]
I was born in Erling's Village, St. Mary’s Parish, in Antigua. Little countryside hamlet—more than a village—very tiny. As a little baby, my mother moved to the Virgin Islands, and I grew up there till I was about three years old, then went back to be raised by my grandmother.
When my grandmother died, the responsibilities of my grandmother were shifted off to one of my aunts. At that time, my mother had my little sister with my stepdad. My mother would send all these things for us so we could have a good life—clothing, food, and all these products—and it was never passed on to us.
So I was literally… my sister and I, these kids in rags, while my cousins had our clothes that my mother sent for us. I was probably about five years old at that time.
Eventually, one of our neighbors wrote a letter to my mother saying how we were being mistreated, and my mother came back to Antigua to get us. I remember seeing my mother, tears coming out of her eyes when she saw us 'cause we were filthy.
We moved to St. Thomas and grew up in a house where my stepdad was really not a very nice man. My mom… very strong, 'cause she had to be. She had an abusive man as her husband.
I remember learning my times tables, and if I made a mistake, he would just whip me. He’d go play cricket, and he'd come back drunk, and he would just go on a tirade. At those times, I would just cry to God, "God, why?"
The abuse had gotten so bad in my house that I moved out and lived with one of my aunts. My senior year, I moved back home, and it was just horrendous. I remember at one point my stepdad went after my mom, and I just stood between them, grabbed him by the shoulders, and I just shook him.
I said, "Don’t touch my mother again." And that was it. I think he knew at that point that it was like—you can’t do that anymore.
Days after high school graduation, I packed my essentials in a gallon trash bag, and I just left. I never looked back.
My first year of high school, I was walking downtown, and these two guys came up to me and said, "I want you to read this," and they opened the Bible to me. Then he asked me, "Do you want to accept Jesus in your heart?"
I held their hands, and I prayed on that sidewalk and accepted Christ in my heart. I'll tell you—for days I felt like I was walking on air. So much of what was in my heart, the burden I carried, just fell.
Lo and behold, there was this big revival in North Texas. Me and a brother from here, Lewis, we went to Texas to this revival thing—not knowing what was ahead but trusting God—'cause I felt, like I still do, there’s a call to ministry on my life. That was the first step—going to whatever that looked like.
Within a short time, I went to the school, and I ended up going to Christ for the Nations for two years. It was such a good time, it really was, 'cause everyone there, we were all focused on Jesus. I was like, "Okay, I’ve got the foundation now." You learn how to study the Word, you learn how to actually preach the Word.
One of the friends I met while I was at Christ for the Nations was Don Scriber. We became really good friends. He graduated a year before I did and moved to California. We stayed in touch.
There’s a brother, Steve Genovisi, and Steve and I proceeded to drive across Texas into California—like straight. So Steve and I get out there, and Don comes over the bridge and takes me back to Long Beach. And that begins my adventure in California.
I got a job with McMillan Publishers. I made great money, but I also lost touch with the church. I was doing all this stuff—drugs, just done, I was getting tired.
Don and I decide we're gonna go to Yosemite just to kind of ease off the city thing. We get up to Yosemite, and there’s a youth revival going on. We’re on the peripheral of this thing, and I'm wearing this white shirt. He said, "You're in the white—come up here."
And he starts to prophesy over me. You know, the Lord just spoke this in my heart— "You're off track. You need to do this, this, this, this..."
And I’m just like, "Thank you, Lord," because You’re still looking out over me. But man, it sends chills down your spine. You’re like, "Okay, God..."
I was in California for just about four and a half years. At that point, it was time for me to move on. I decided to come back to St. Thomas, which is where I felt I needed to be.
I got here, I take the safari bus, and I met the woman who became my wife. I met Huga, who I love so dearly. I was still kind of knowing God but not walking the straight and narrow.
Eight months after we met, we moved in, started our first business that following summer. That was late fall, 'cause I came back in October. By December, we’re up and running our restaurant, and I knew I wanted her to be my wife.
I look back, and I’ve not been perfect. But you know, God has given us perfect grace. We’ve been in the valleys, and we’ve been on the peaks, and in all of it there’s been a consistency of our commitment there—and just the love and grace of God.
As we’ve gotten children, I came back to a real deep faith and understanding with God. We ended up coming to the church that we presently go to through a pastor from this church that would come to our restaurant.
I must say that in my conversion, God became my first Father. Me entering into fatherhood gave me an opportunity to be the father that I didn’t have.
Anything—my kids, if they did sports, I was there. I mean, I’d have a packed restaurant, and I would say, "That’ll be there when I come back. I can clean up that mess."
I thank God, as I look back at my life, that He protected my mind and really guarded my heart. While all of us come into this world and are born in sin, while we were there, God, in His foreknowledge, made a sacrifice for us in His Son, Christ.
I only have one son, and I think how painful it would be for me to lose my son—to give my son away for anything. And for God to do that for everyone, for all the sins of this world, is the ultimate love.
The Lord is good. He’s so good to us. And whomever is listening to this, I just want you to know—if you don’t know that love, it’s free, and it’s available in Christ Jesus.
