Life Above Reproach – Terry Weddle

I was born in 1948 in Santa Ana, California.  My dad was in the Army, so my mom and big sister raised me.  I felt out-of-place, or in the way, at home.  My dad came home from the war and it didn’t get better.  They drank and I would get punched or hit.  So at nine years of age, I started running away from home.  Some beach people took me in.  They would feed me and give me a place to sleep.  They also taught me to surf.  I would also go into unlocked houses in the daytime to eat.  I was young and didn’t think they would mind because they had so much.

As time went on, this evolved into a way of life.  I became a thief, a burglar.  So when drugs became a factor in my life, I knew how to get them, I thought.  I kept getting arrested and sent to prison.  I would get out, do drugs, steal, and go back to prison.  I didn’t care.  This was my destiny, I thought.  Then I murdered a man trying to get away from a burglary.  I was almost killed; the paramedics brought me back to life twice.  This was 28 years ago.

About three years ago, I had had enough.  Hate, riots, wars, and violence had been controlling me.  I hurt a lot of people in my life, but I was always saved.  I wondered why and by whom; and for what purpose?  I wanted to change my life.

The first step I took was to tell some people that I shared a mutual respect with that I was going to change my life.  I was done and I knew there was a better way to live life.  These are hard men that I had known a long time.  I was ready for whatever, but they gave me their blessing and a hug.

The next thing I did was take a self-help program in the mail.  It was a Christian-based program, but I was only taking it for self-help, I thought.  Then, I took another class on violence and how to make better choices.  Life itself was getting easier.  I was doing this on my own, I thought.

My points went down so they transferred me to a Level II.  It was awful dorm living.  People everywhere, attitudes that I didn’t know existed in prison, no privacy, and I flat-out did not like it, I thought.

Then they moved in this little guy beside me that kept talking about God, the Bible, and faith.  We would argue and yell at each other.  I still didn’t get it, but we kept coming back to talk about God.  I slowly became interested in what he had to say.  I started reading the Bible a little each day and after a couple of months, I went to church.  I had a hard time understanding the Pastor or his message, but I went.  I haven’t missed a week of church since.  I now get it.  I was walking alone, I thought, and one day it came to me how the Lord had saved me many times.   He tested me and then, He saved me again.  God had been with me all my life as He is now.  I felt truly blessed and happy.  God is always with me.  So I shared how I felt in prayer with Him.  I pray every day now.

Good things started to happen in my life.  First and foremost, God is in my life.  Then, after 37 years, my sister wrote to me and now, we are closer than ever.  My daughter is slowly letting me back into her life and I have a granddaughter now. I am part of the Apostles Lutheran Ministries and they have helped me to relearn the social skills I lost being hard-headed all those years.  The spiritual side of my life is very important to me.  I feel Him with me now just as He is with you.

Yes, I have made my change in life.  I will always be a work in progress, but that’s okay.  I am enjoying the journey.  I pray that someone reads this and it helps them before they have to take the hard head route that took me so long to get it.  God bless you!!!