The photo is of my wife Audrey and me in July of 2023. Both of us are in our 80s and have been married for 57 years. We’ve raised our five children in Carroll County Maryland, living in the same home for 36 of those 57 years.

My life has been marked by that stability which from my observations is not as common in our younger generation. As I indicated in my book profile I am not a scholar. I am an average man who has had a varied career from Electrical Engineering, to business owner, to an ordained Lutheran pastor.

In my youth I was into photography, model airplanes, and amateur radio. I was raised in a Christian home. Both of my parents were active in church and Sunday School. All of this was not that uncommon for an American boy raised in the 1940s and 1950s. This was the ground out of which my faith in Christ grew, not just to go along with my parents but to truly become a rich and important center of my life.

I took part in youth activities in our Lutheran congregation on the western edge of Baltimore City. We would have an annual Youth Sunday where three from the youth group would prepare one third of the Sunday’s sermon. I’ve had a fairly strong voice and once or twice shared in the youth sermon. As sometimes happens following such times one or two of the elderly congregants would complement me with the comment, “Oh, you ought to be a preacher.”  For whatever reason my response at those times was, “If I’m to be a preacher the Lord will change my direction, but until then I’m going to be an Electrical Engineer.”  It would take another 11 years, a BSEE degree, and four years in the industry before our Lord’s direction became clearly visible.

I relate this only to emphasize the reality of the loving hand of our Lord seeking to mold us into useful vessels for His service. I’m not unique. I’m nothing special by worldly standards. I’m just a C student who has learned to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and yield to His Hand of Grace – albeit at times poorly and with resistance. Yet I am able to look back over my 80 plus years and identify time after time where our Lord has intervened in our lives for good. He has given us meaning and purpose, and the best life of joy and love.

This is the love and guidance He has for each one of us. All of my teaching, preaching, and writing has been seeking to assure all who are willing to listen that our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is a real eternal being who has created us; who has spoken to us through His Holy Scriptures; who loves each of us to such a depth that He redeemed us at the greatest personal cost to Himself even in the midst of our sinfulness; and has shown us the way to a valuable and meaningful life now and for eternity.

My desire is to help you understand the reality of a relationship with Jesus Christ, and how that relationship impacts every part of life. It is important to see the bigger picture of life from God’s perspective. That is, understanding the purpose for which He created mankind; why He desires to dwell among us; why He came among us Himself in Jesus Christ; why we need Christ’s atoning sacrifice; and what it means that He has overcome the power of sin, death and the devil by His glorious resurrection from the dead. We live Not For This Life Only, but for a life in eternal fellowship with our Creator. That is why this site is called Life Has Meaning. It is true for daily life and for eternity.

I, by no means, have all the answers to the complexity of human life, and this broken world in which we live. But Holy Scripture does give us  clear insights into God’s truth. The author of this site stands on the veracity of the Bible as the inspired, revealed, and inerrant  Word of God.  Clearly there is much we all have to yet learn.  Looking into both the Old and New Testaments of God’s Word is the place to begin.

I am open to any question, comments, and corrections you might care to offer.  We are on the greatest journey possible – life in the love of our Gracious God and Saviour. May God’s grace and love guide and be with you each day.
I.F.S.