Wellington Joe:  

I have had a truly blessed life. I lettered in tennis my senior year of high school. It was my first athletic endeavor. Academics had always been the priority. While I attended regular school during the day, I also attended Chinese school 5 days a week after regular school from grades 3-10, and they gave homework as well! So athletics were a whole new frontier using both mind and body. During that time, my friend and tennis partner, Jimmy Chin, convinced me that Jesus was the Way. So I went to Chinese Bible Church with him for a few years. I graduated with honors at entrance to UC Berkeley. My Bachelors degree was in Zoology, and I graduated with honors in 1972. Around that time, I turned my back on God. Huge mistake. I was accepted to USC dental school as well as about 6 other schools which I had to turn down, since USC was my first choice. I graduated 20th in my class of 120 and finished with honors in 1976. I also won the advanced division tennis tournament one year. I lived in Hollywood for a few years with my brother. I became a runner at the beginning of the running craze and the Pritikin nutrition era. I ran about 15 10k races, 2 half marathons, and 1 marathon. But life was so very empty, pointless. I had no direction or sense of purpose. I moved to a condo in Redondo Beach in the South Bay in 1980. I ran for a couple of years there, but the dampness of the beach caused me to catch frequent colds, so I stopped. I became friends with someone in the area, and we started going to church together at Hope Chapel in 1981. Pastor Ralph Moore changed my whole life. His easy way of preaching was so soothing. It was as if he was talking only to me. I rededicated my life to God by getting baptized on June 13, 1982, and have not looked back. My friend and I used to play tennis and have dinner together probably 4-5 nights a week. It was fun, but again, I felt I needed more. When I was 35, I prayed with him, praying for wives for us. I told God that if I was not married by the time I was 40, I would stop looking for a wife. I met Susie when I was a Bible study leader in !988, and we dated a year before I asked her to marry me. She wanted to get married in about 6 months, but I wanted a longer engagement. Well, she won out. We got married on May 12, 1990. I was 39 years and 11 months old that day. I did not realize until many months later that God had heard my prayer and answered it!!!! Originally, I did not want children. I thought of them as too much work, the world was too dangerous a place, they were expensive to raise, .... a million reasons. After 3 glorious years, I told Susie that while taking these wonderful vacations was great, but now it felt very empty. How many more beaches do we need to see? At that point, we decided to take the step to have children. God answered our prayer again, and we were almost immediately pregnant. We prayed for a girl. Instead, Sebastian came on May 5, 1994.He was a great baby, easiest baby ever. When it was time for #2, again we got pregnant immediately. Our boy had been so easy that we prayed for another boy. Well, Lillie was born January 12, 1996. God has a sense of humor!!! As easy as Sebastian had been, that was how difficult a baby Lillie was. She was crying much of the time for the first 18 months. Her entire temperament totally changed when she learned to walk. She became a happy baby. We decided to homeschool ...Expand for more