One of Jesus' best loved parables tells of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). He abandoned life with his father for something he thought was better. After a life of riotous living away from home, he landed in a pig sty, came to his senses, and was received into his father's forgiving arms. My life has been a modern version of that son who was lost and found.

Lost

I grew up in the home of devout parents, who were members of a WELS congregation. I attended Lutheran elementary school for eight years and spent one year in a WELS high school away from home. Away from parental care, I began to indulge in underage drinking and smoking.

After one year, I was dismissed from the school. I spent the next three years at several public high schools. Though I attended church every Sunday and sang in the church choir, my personal life went further astray. I kept on drinking and smoking and began to experiment with drugs. In the process I sought the company of indulgent women. All this while I gave an impression of being a Christian. I always managed to stay out of trouble, but my life was not Christian.

After high school I lasted one year in college and two years in a marriage. I made a comfortable living as a contractor by winning bids on storm damaged houses and hiring migrants for the labor. In short order, I supplemented my income by becoming involved in drugs—trafficking and selling pot for cash. Meanwhile, I had stopped my church attendance and choir membership and indulged myself as a high roller in all the attractions of the world.

I tired of using and trafficking drugs. So I moved on to gambling and became addicted. With $5,000 to $10,000 in my pocket, I visited casinos and race tracks from New Jersey to Nevada and California and, most of the time, managed to lose it all.

Then I found a way to feed my addiction. My income grew through work that I did on homes that had been heavily damaged from natural disasters. As my contracted income enlarged, my pursuit of worldly pleasures kept pace. But soon my gambling losses became insurmountable. So I began to rob customers. I failed to make good on the contracts and used the down payments to cover gambling debts. But the debts quickly outran the stolen income. In short order, I was the target of the law and the courts.