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"I
want the end to come.” That
was my thought as I lay in a hospital bed, recently
awakened after eight days in a coma. In quick
succession, I had lost it all: my wife…my family…my
job. Now I had nearly lost my life. In light of my
circumstances, the fact that I was still alive
brought little comfort. I wanted the end to come,
hoping it would be soon. As the hours of isolation
passed, I reflected on the choices that led me to
such despair.
Rules with No
Foundation
Like most Ecuadorian kids, I
was raised in a nominally Catholic home. We lived in
Quito, the capital of Ecuador. My parents taught me
good values and principles for life. However, my
family’s Catholic faith was largely cultural and
ceremonial. As a result, the moral lessons I learned
were devoid of any real spiritual foundation.
Despite attending Catholic preparatory school and a
Catholic university, I learned little about God. I
grew up thinking of Him as a total stranger with no
relevance to my life.
When I was fifteen years old,
my parents moved to another city in Ecuador for
business. I went to live with my grandparents. I
chafed at my grandparents’ rules and discipline. I
thought they were too strict and at age seventeen I
decided to move out and live on my own.
As you might expect for
someone so young, I used my newfound freedom to
plunge headlong into a life of parties, alcohol and
excess. It was during these first raucous years that
I fell in love with a girl named Veronica.
We married when we were just
twenty years old, filled with hopes and dreams. We
were young and ready to take on whatever life had in
store. However, we did not realize that our youth,
strength and abilities were not enough to overcome
all of life’s challenges.
Broken Lives,
Broken Home
|
The Herrera Family of
Quito, Ecuador. |
Our marriage did little to
change my lifestyle. Veronica and I lived ignorant
of God and followed wholeheartedly after all that
the world had to offer. Our immaturity and reckless
lifestyle created increasing problems.
At the same time, my career
was starting to take off. I began working as a tour
guide, but quickly rose through the ranks to hold
various administrative positions in the largest
travel agency in the city. The job placed me in an
environment filled with people living as recklessly
as me. Life became an endless parade of parties,
traveling and having fun. I smoked, drank and was
frequently unfaithful to Veronica.
From the outside, I seemed to have it all. I
continued to rise higher within the company and
found myself at the pinnacle of my career. I earned
great money, possessed the material things I always
wanted and my peers respected and appreciated me.
But inside I was empty.
Nothing seemed to fill this
great void. I concluded that it must be due to the
very difficult relationship with my wife and blamed
her from my unhappiness.
Veronica suffered through our
marriage for eight long years. Our fights and
separations multiplied until one day it reached the
end. I left Veronica and our two children with the
intent of ending the marriage. I was convinced that
getting married was the worst decision I ever made.
The Toppling of My
“Gods”
As before, I used my renewed
freedom to dive deeper into my chaotic lifestyle.
My drinking problem worsened.
I drank every day from the moment I woke up until
daybreak of the next day. I pursued affairs with
many women and wasted money in outrageous expenses.
The costs, both financially
and personally mounted. I piled up heavy loads of
debt to credit cards, banks and other lenders. My
alcohol addiction consumed me to the point that I
could not work. It was not long before I was fired.
One night I was in a bar
drinking until the late hours of the night. I
stumbled out to the street in a stupor. Without
warning I was struck by an attacker. I was robbed
and left comatose on the side of the street.
I awoke in the hospital eight days later. My neck
was severely injured and I could not walk. It seemed
that life was over.
My life to that point was
spent worshiping three gods: the god of work, the
god of money and the god of my own ego. In rapid
succession they all fell from my altar. I was
without a job, without money, unable to walk and I
was alone. My so-called friends disappeared and my
family wanted nothing to do with me because I had
abandoned them.
One Last Chance
It was in that moment of
desperation that I received a book entitled “The
Last Chance.” It was the only thing that I was
willing to read, but God used the book to speak to
me and make me realize that He was ready to give me
one more chance to change my life.
The Lord also brought a pastor
from the El Batán Church to visit me and on March 8,
1998, I placed my trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
From that day on my life began
to change. I found a new job and fought hard to
overcome my alcohol addiction. I looked for ways to
pay my debts and renounced my old party friends.
Lastly, I went to Veronica and asked her for
forgiveness.
Through many weeks and months,
the Lord began to restore us. The Lord placed in
Veronica’s heart the ability to forgive me. We
worked hard to restore our home and began attending
church every Sunday. In July 1998, I was baptized in
the Batán Church.
The God Who Heals
Now I have found true freedom
– freedom that comes only from Jesus Christ. No
longer am I enslaved by the chains of sin. I am free
– free from addictions to alcohol, cigarettes and
the unfaithful lifestyle that nearly destroyed my
life.
Shortly after trusting in
Christ, I began to sense God’s call on my life to
enter full-time ministry. I enrolled in seminary to
study theology. Once finished, I went on to obtain a
masters degree in apologetics from Biola University
in California. I served for a short time as the
youth pastor in one of El Batán’s daughter churches
and later became the administrator at El Batán. From
2003-2005, I also served as the Latin American
coordinator for Saddleback Church’s Purpose Driven
Life ministry. Today, I am serving again at El Batán
as an associate pastor.
All these achievements are
small compared to the new life God gave me. Today, I
have a precious family recently completed with the
birth of our daughter Raphaela. Her name comes from
“Jehova-Rapha” which means, “God heals.” She is
living proof of God’s complete healing in our
family.
I am taking advantage of every
second of this “last chance” that God has given me.
It may be the last one, but God has made it the best
one.
EQ Summer 2008
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