When I was 39, the President of the United States asked me to serve as his special counsel.

It was one of the most powerful positions in the world. Every day, National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger walked into our briefing sessions with a worried look on this face and said, ‘The decision we are going to make today will change the future course of human history.’

I now realize we never changed anything. We dealt with Congress and newspapers but we didn’t change how people lived. It was in prison, where I served time for my involvement in the Watergate conspiracy that I learned about real power.

Did prison change Charles?  Read the rest of his story.

I always knew I was adopted. My adopted parents were great to me and I never felt the need to find out who my birth parents were.

But this all changed when I got a phone call in winter 2001 from the Children’s Aid Society. The lady on the other line told me she had just gotten off the phone with my birth mother!

“How was she?” I asked.

“She’s very emotional.”

“Good or bad emotional?”

“Good emotional.”

I was told my birth mother lived part of the year in Mexico and part of the year in California. She owned a bus. She must be a hippy! I thought. I also found out she’s married but not to my birth father. Her husband is a retired mechanic. She had two other children in 1959 and 1960, but both these children died within a day. I am her only living offspring.

I told the lady from the Children’s Aid Society I had to think about whether I wanted to respond and start communication with this woman who brought me into this world. She told me to take my time and that if I wanted to proceed, I should fill out a consent form and write a letter telling my mother all about me and my life.

I talked to my good friend John about this.

“Bob, I think that you need to go ahead with this more for her than for you. I really think she needs to know about God. She’s been carrying around a ton of guilt over these last 46 years that only God can take care of and help her with.”
He was right.

So I wrote a four-page letter, telling this woman I didn’t know about my life and who I am. I got consent after a few weeks and found out my mother’s name is Donna.

“If we open this door, Bob, there’s no closing it,” my wife said to me. But she was willing to open it with me if I wanted to. That evening, I e-mailed Donna a picture of my wife, children and me.

From then on, my birth mother and I continued e-mailing. She told me she was in her third year of nursing when I was conceived. Some of her closest friends in her nursing class knew about me at the time. Her sister also knew about me, but it took Donna ten years to tell her sister. Since then, she hasn’t told a single soul.

After all the e-mailing back and forth, we decided to meet.

Donna came to visit my family and me. It was definitely an inexplicable experience, seeing your birth mother after 46 long years. But it was so good. I was so thankful to meet her.

We started to ask her some questions about the past and she started crying.

“Bob, I can’t tell you who your father is. I wasn’t a very good girl in those days and I don’t know which man it was,” she said as she wept.

Later on, when we were sitting in my van, a Christian song, “What Sin?” was playing and I could tell that she was listening to the words very intently.

The song is about a man standing before God. He says to God, “I know you’ll never let me into heaven because of the sin in my life.” And Jesus says, “What sin? I’ve removed it—as far as the east is from the west.”

Donna was weeping through all this.

The next day, we all went to church, Donna and my family.  Donna hadn’t told anyone about her son in 46 years and I was ready to tell a church of 500 people. I got up and announced to the whole congregation that I had met my birth mother. Everyone clapped and cheered after they heard the good news. Donna started to cry.

We asked Donna if she wanted to hear a song. She said yes. Then, out of 150 songs that could have been sung, the singers performed “What Sin?”, the same song Donna heard in the van before.

Christmas of that same year, Donna came to visit again. Gwen, a lady from our church approached her and asked if she wanted to go out for coffee. The two of them went out and had a good conversation.

Donna came back and told me she needed to talk. “Bob, Gwen asked me if I was a Christian. I’ve been to church, but I don’t have the answer to that.”
“Jesus loves you very much,” I told her. “You’ve been carrying around a lot of guilt and shame. His desire is to lift that burden and shame. Jesus died on the cross for you to wash away all of this guilt and shame. Would you like him to take the guilt and shame away?”

“More than anything else.”

“All you need to do is ask him to. Tell him you’re sorry. He died on the cross because he loves you. Admit that you believe this and invite him into your life,” I said to her.

She cried and cried. Then she prayed to Jesus and invited him into her life.

“This is why Jesus is the only way, isn’t he?” she said to me after. It was the most profound statement I’ve heard. “I felt something not only happen in my soul, but in my body,” she continued. “Like a 75-pound weight has been lifted from my body. I felt the shame and guilt go away. ”

Embarrassment. Shame.  Disgust.  These ugly words don’t begin to describe the horror of what it felt like to be beat up as a 14 year old. I can still remember my classmates gathered around cheering for the ones delivering the powerful blows.  As the beatings continued, I looked for a place deep within myself where I could pretend that the beatings weren’t happening to me.  

I didn’t know what I had done to be hated so much. As an adult, I still don’t know.  I didn’t understand why tormenting me was such a fun event for everyone else.  The beating seemed to last forever and finally I was left laying on the ground. Beaten and bruised, I stood up to make my way back to the school building.  I knew this day would forever change my life.  

My peers accomplished something that day.  They stripped me of my self-worth and made me hate myself as much as they hated me.  I believed I deserved it.  I was too scared to tell my family or any of the teachers.  It happened a lot that year.

In the years that followed, I went through a lot of pain because I disliked myself so much. So much hurt could have been avoided if I would have dared speak out.  I was convinced that no one would hear me if I did.  Now, as an adult, I can see that my thinking was wrong.  I did not deserve to beaten-up.  I had done nothing wrong and if I had gone to someone in authority they would have helped me.  I was not as along as I felt.

School beatings have been in the news a lot the past few days.  How can students and adults stand aside and watch as children are tortured?  Why are people cheering and not standing up for what is right? What can we do to stop this abuse?  What if the student was you or someone you loved?

The driest conditions in 200 years combined with strong Santa Ana winds have set California on fire. Satellite images show smoke pouring over the Pacific ocean while back on the ground thousands of firefighters battle five major blazes. Almost a million people have been forced to flee their homes. Residential damage has already topped a billion dollars.

CNN has photos of refugee Californians bunked out at Qualcomm Stadium. It’s a sight that is becoming eerily familiar.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of the word “refugee” I picture a dusty road somewhere in Africa. Darfur comes to mind, or Somalia. But more often in recent years the refugees have been much closer to home. “Refugee Americans” seems like it should be a contradiction in terms. But we saw it in New Orleans two years ago, and now here it is again in California.

For the owners of the 1300 homes destroyed in the fire, it’s time to start again. With no warning, and no do-overs this week will become a dividing point separating life into before the fire and after. I realized as I was looking at these photos that “refugee” is a word I expect to apply to someone else, someone far, far away. But as we’re seeing in these images again today, it only takes a moment for the world to change.

Has there been a dividing point in your life? As you watch what took place in New Orleans and now in California, what are your thoughts?

Photo of Santiago Wildfire courtesy of Kevin Labianco. Used with permission under a Creative Commons 2.0 (Attribution) License.

I totally "lost it".

I could not even think, much less pray. I could not possibly handle this situation on my own. The reality of the actual situation and grief completely overwhelmed me. I could not think about anything. All I could do was to clutch the New Testament I held in my hand. I held on to it for dear life. I was trusting my whole self to the Lord Jesus Christ and to what He said in that Bible I was holding onto. It was like a drowning man clutches a life preserver - that’s how I was holding that Bible.

Suddenly a supernatural peace and strength came over me, like I have never experienced before or since. I was very calm and was able to comfort those around me. I was even able to testify for the Lord to the international reporters who swarmed around and surrounded me.

Later, the Lord led me to write a note of forgiveness to the Muslim pilot who had attacked the ship, and to send him an Arabic Bible. This opened the door for many opportunities to witness for the Lord internationally. Today there are many struggles in my life, and many things over which I agonize in prayer, but I am totally convinced that Romans 8:28 is 100% true, and I meet each struggle still holding on, like I did that day, to the Lord Jesus and God’s Word.

Have you experienced grief or loss that has left you feeling like you’re drowning? I encourage you to share your story here.

Click here for help and support for military families.

My 20-year-old son Alan had different priorities. He tried to tell me what Jesus Christ meant to him, but I was convinced I didn’t need him. I told Alan that I could do everything myself. I was so firm about rejecting the Christian faith that Alan told his pastor, "My dad will never become a Christian!" As a chemical engineer, I had tried to prove or disprove the existence of God as one does chemical reactions in a lab. The tests came up empty, so I ignored God.

Alan later became seriously ill and was admitted to hospital. After his heart stopped beating, I stood outside the emergency room struggling with pain, anguish and helplessness. It was here that I realized I could not do everything myself. There was nothing I could do as my son hovered on the brink of death. I didn’t even know how to pray.

Alan survived the cardiac arrest, but he was in the hospital for a long time suffering from a serious head infection. He told me, "God is in charge. If God’s purpose in my suffering is to bring you to Christ, then everything I’m going through is worth it." I was astonished!

I read Alan’s Bible to him every day at his bedside. For the first time, I began to learn what the Bible was really about. And I began to learn about Jesus. Alan’s strong belief in Jesus, combined with what I read in the Bible, made me realize that Jesus was real. He had to be who he claimed to be. Although I tried to believe that he was nothing more than a great teacher or prophet, this argument didn’t stand up to the test. He claimed to be the true Son of God. I decided that Jesus must have been telling the truth, and I accepted his claims.

A month later, I asked Christ to take charge of my life, to be my Lord and Savior. I knew God wanted me to have a more meaningful life. Alan was thrilled when I told him about my decision! He had prayed for a long time that his father would know eternal life.

Three weeks after my decision, Alan went into a coma. For three days I hardly left his bedside, until finally he slipped away from life on earth to be with his Lord and Savior. I had looked forward to sharing my new Christian life with my son, but I knew that he would now spend eternity in heaven and that I would see him again someday. Though we were grief stricken, God gave my wife and me a peace and hope that surpassed all human understanding.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if anyone is in Christ, he is a "new creation." The old self has gone and the new has come. This certainly was true in my life. God now has first priority, followed by my wife and family, and then my business. My principles for decision-making have also changed completely. I ask God for help in making daily business decisions, and no longer rely solely on my own knowledge. I have found that God’s infinite wisdom is vastly superior to my own. Best of all, there is joy in my life no matter what happens to me. I know that I have eternal life to look forward to.

Take a look at your life. How would you describe it? Contented? Rushed? Exciting? Stressful? Moving forward? Holding back? For many of us it’s all of the above at times.  There are things we dream of doing one day, there are things we wish we could forget. In the Bible, it says that Jesus came to make all things new.  What would your life look like if you could start over with a clean slate?

"I struggle with compulsive overeating. When I’m bored, stressed, depressed, joyful, (or for almost any reason really), I will turn to food as a way to deal with whatever emotion I may be feeling. I subconsciously try to feed my heart with physical food.

I am learning to deal with the inner issues of my heart, to feed it first with truly satisfying soul food. Otherwise, my instinct is to turn to physical food, which doesn’t satisfy and often even makes me feel worse inside. Jesus said, “I am the Bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.” (John 6:35)   I’m learning to digest this truth and let it nourish my life. When I am full of Jesus – his words, his teachings, his truth, his love – my spirit is satisfied and I am less prone to overeat. And I am less prone to try to satisfy my inner heart with other fleeting pursuits like approval of others or success in the eyes of my peers. Jesus’ words are life."

This person found the power to change something that was holding them prisoner. What is it in your life that you feel powerless to overcome on your own?

[See post to watch Flash video]

What legacy do you dream of leaving for your children? Is the life you’re living building that legacy?

I grew up in a good home in Grande Prairie, Alberta, and was raised to be an upright man. But at the age of 16, peer pressure got the best of me. I’m not saying that it’s not my fault, because ultimately I was the one who made my own decisions, but I can say that peer pressure was very real in my life.

I got into drinking and all kinds of drugs and chemicals—you name it, I’ve tried it. I was hooked on alcohol on the first try. I remember I couldn’t wait to go to my cousin’s wedding so I could get hammered. I got into the partying lifestyle and was known as a fun partyer because I didn’t fight or get violent when I was drunk.

I’ve drove home drunk thousands of times and I’m fortunate I didn’t kill anyone or myself. Sometimes I didn’t even remember driving home the next day. The police took me to the drunk tank twice, a holding cell for drunk people. I remember seeing urine and vomit everywhere.

At 22, I moved to Calgary, Alberta, for a career change but continued the same lifestyle. My partying over the weekends started crowding into the rest of my weeks. I would show up for work in really bad shape because I would go out at night with my work clothes on, do some coke and drink some beer at some hotel room, then get up at 10:30 a.m. the next day and leave for work with the same clothes. I was supposed to be up at 8 a.m. but luckily the boss wasn’t there to see me.

One night, after coming home from the bar, I wrapped my car around a lamp post. I saw this as a wake-up call and quit drinking for three months. But after that, I just started drinking all over again and fell into the same vicious cycle of drinking and doing drugs.

A year later, I quit my job in Calgary deciding I could make it big doing other things. Instead, I found myself utterly alone. I tried to end my life but it didn’t work. Where was I supposed to go from here?

For the next year, I tried to drink socially so I could still have fun, but one day I woke up and said to myself, “Oh yea, you had a great time Schenk.” If you have a great time and can’t remember, don’t you think that’s defeating the purpose? That day, I decided to go on one last binge and then quit cold turkey. That afternoon, as my friends and I were finishing up our stash of beers, we got down to our last beers and I told my friends the beer in my hand would be my last. I wasn’t going to drink again. Of course, they didn’t believe me.

I went for a walk by myself and cried out, “What do I do now?!” I was crying out, but not sure who I was crying out to. I was lost. I was addicted to alcohol. Everything my friends and I did involved alcohol and we thought we couldn’t have fun without drinking.

In hopes of overcoming my addiction, I tried the Alcoholics Anonymous thing. I went to meetings and at that time I was 24 while everyone else was in their 50s. People there were drinking urns of coffee and smoking packs of cigarettes to fight their alcohol addictions.

In AA, one of the 12 steps is finding a higher power. This got me thinking about Sunday school and church as a kid and I finally decided to try to the church thing. So I phoned a couple I knew and told them I wanted to check out church again. I went to church and the speaker talked about how getting together with other Christians and studying the Bible are very important. There was an advertisement in the bulletin for Bible study groups, so I thought, sure, why not? and invited myself to Bible study.

At the Bible study, I was a little bit paranoid because I didn’t want any of my friends to see me, Schenk, at a Bible study of all places! I didn’t have a clue what the people at the Bible study were talking about. We were studying Galatians, a book in the Bible, and I kept thinking to myself, what the heck is a Galatian? I waited until everyone left to ask the leader of the Bible study my dumb questions.

I kept going to Bible study and one night the leader, who became my friend, talked to me about the four spiritual laws. God created the world and he created me. I am a sinner—I have lied, cheated, hated… the list goes on. Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose after three days. He offers me a new life, a life of freedom, a new beginning. I do not have to feel guilty for my sins anymore because he paid the price by dying on the cross for me. I prayed to God and told him I believe in Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God and he died for me because he loves me and so that I may live.

For awhile, I had to ask myself if these people were brainwashing me, just to make sure. And I realized they weren’t. I can actually know God is in my life and that I’m going to heaven. God’s not in outer space, he’s in my life. From then on, I started to see changes in my life. Not instant changes, but definitely changes. God works in people’s lives in different ways. For me, he took away my desire for alcohol—something I tried but couldn’t do on my own. He also gave me the desire to tell other people about him and what he has done in my life.

Today I am privileged to have a loving family—a beautiful wife, two sons and a daughter. I work with people in the business community, sharing with them the story of what Jesus has done in my life. I take them to Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Serbia so that they can experience what it’s like to tell people about Jesus. I won’t say that things are always perfect now that I have God in my life, because they’re not—life is never perfect. Sometimes I still struggle with destructive thoughts from the past, but as I’ve come to know Jesus more and more the thoughts come less and less. He gives me strength, hope and power to carry me through each day. Now that I know Jesus, I don’t want anyone else to miss out on him!

Remember how my friend shared the four spiritual laws  with me and I came to understand and accept the gospel? Well, let me share that with you.

1. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
2. Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, we cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for us.
3. Jesus Christ is God’s ONLY provision for man’s sin. He died on the cross for our sins and rose after three days. Through him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life.
4. We must individually RECEIVE Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.

We can find hope in Jesus. I was without hope in my life and God brought me back into a relationship with him, giving me hope. Yes, a higher power is good, but I found any higher power was not enough—it has to be Jesus Christ.