It was another great night in the summer of 2006 at a well known Montreal bar when a businessman called Peter leaned over and asked me, as I was ordering my fourth drink, if I thought I was going to heaven when I died. I thought it was a weird question but I liked this guy and I wanted to do business with him so I answered, "Absolutely!"
Much to my surprise he said, "Really? Why do you think that Nick?" I told him that I am a good guy, I work hard and that I am trying to change the world and make it a better place. He said that was nice but that it wasn’t the way to heaven so I asked him what the secret entry code was. Of course, he said it was Jesus and honestly, I was a little freaked out to say the least. To my surprise, the seed was planted and so over the next few months, something inside me wanted to know more and more and more about this Jesus character.
It is over those few months that Peter became my friend. He introduced me to Donald and Lorraine. Donald took over my discipleship and by this time, I had an insatiable thirst for Jesus to the point when one day after a five hour session with Donald, I asked him how much I owed him for the professional services. Of course he laughed and explained that he worked for God and not for money – I was a little confused but I accepted it all. At this time, I was in a relationship of nine years with a beautiful woman and together we had an amazing eight year-old daughter. As far as marriage was concerned, it wasn’t really important to us or certainly not a priority. My partner Mylène was Catholic like me but we never talked about God. My parents were worried that I was in a sect and that at any time, "they" would take all my money and then some, but of course "they" never did. Donald introduced us to an amazing fellowship called River’s Edge Community Church and I fell in love with this community of faith, the Lead Pastor, the vision, the staff and everything it represented.
It was only after nine months of seeking, weekly meetings with Donald, going to church and praying that I finally gave my life to Jesus on February 13, 2007. What followed was an unbelievable series of blessings that forever changed my life.
While the challenges of my business were very real and extremely difficult, all of a sudden I wasn’t alone to face them. In September, 2007 I arranged to be in Israel and Jordan on business and invited Donald and Lorraine to join me. On September 7th, my birthday, I was baptized in the River Jordan by Donald and our dear friend Brother Andrew from the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf, at the exact place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist!
As my life continued to receive these extraordinary blessings, Mylène started to see big changes in my life; I was becoming a better father, a better friend, a better partner. I was becoming a better man! The kind of man she wanted to marry. That’s when she told me that she was prepared to put her money where her mouth is. You see, she had once told me that she loved me so very much and that she would follow me to the ends of earth. It was therefore only natural that she follow me on my spiritual journey. And follow she did! She started her own journey in becoming a follower of Christ.
In 2008 the world financial markets were falling apart. Our company lost 90% of its value in sixty days. The investors and board got really nervous and brought in professional management and we, the founders, were set aside. If it hadn’t been for my growing faith and the incredible support of my brothers and sisters in Jesus, I would have given up. Now as God would have it, the management gave up and resigned within a year and God gave us back our business. We then went on to invent a miracle product and are now back on track to changing the world.
As my faith grew stronger and stronger I began discussing with Mylène about her baptism. Funny thing is that she agreed right away and a few months later, we chose the date of September 11, at 11:11 at the Lake where we have our country house. The week leading up to September 11 was cold and rainy, about 10 °C outside and we were nervous that we had invited 35 people to come on the lake to the sandbar in boats for her baptism. Well wouldn’t you know it that by 6:00am God gave us a glorious morning where the sun was dancing on the lake and by 10:00am it was 27 °C. When we actually got on the boats at 11:00am and started the ceremony at 11:11, EVERYONE, believers and non believers were in awe; awe that our Heavenly Father had stopped the wind, cleared all the clouds and filled her mouth with the most amazing and inspiring testimony that brought us all to tears, all of us, including her father who until a few moments prior had been wondering why she was getting baptized again, 42 years later. Our cottage is an exact replica of an 1875 Catholic Schoolhouse equipped with a school bell but the cross was missing. On that day, a friend of ours climbed to the top and attached the missing cross to mark the occasion. The next day… it was cold and rainy again!
Despite this unbelievable baptism, there was a thought lingering in both our minds – shouldn’t we get married or are we already married in the eyes of God? After all, we had been together for twelve years and we had a ten year-old daughter. We had been engaged for a long time, and loved each other but were waiting to have enough money to have the dream wedding. The problem was that days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. Mylène’s friend Chantal said something that resonated to our very core. She said that if we were getting married for the right reason, which is to honour and please God, we would not wait to have enough money to have a big party. An overwhelming sense of selfishness filled our hearts. After some discussion with Donald and our Pastor, we decided to finally get married in a very small, very intimate family-only celebration in our city home during Thanksgiving weekend. It was beautiful obedience we wished we had done sooner.
We are forever grateful to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for changing ours lives, for giving us strength, for giving us hope and for giving us love. Today, my prayer is that my almost eleven year-old daughter will give her life to Jesus and experience a peace in her life that took her father and mother thirty-eight years to find. I thank Peter, I thank Donald and Lorraine, I thank my wife but above all, I thank Jesus with all my heart, all my mind and of course, all my soul.
Donald reports that Nick’s story is ongoing. Nick and Mylène are now involved in River’s Edge fellowship and are working to lead their daughter to Christ. As husband and wife they are learning to become Godly spouses. Their journey is constant and edifying.
If you are interested in reading more true life stories like this, visit Donald and Lorraine’s web blog. http://heartcryforquebec.wordpress.com. Donald would love to hear any feedback you may have.
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