Sing baby sing! "I love my daddy" "I love my daddy"	Duuuude! My inspiration for a song: "I'm in the water... again!"	Now that's wet! But what a ride! Who wants to ride with me?
No it's not a boogie board, it's a yellow submarine & I just came up for air.
Click photos to enlarge

It has been debated when exactly a person becomes truly saved, after asking Jesus to come into one's heart and then falling away for many years only to come back to Him in full force. I heard the call at the age of thirteen, some say the age of reason, when a child begins to understand that there is a specific reason for the way things work. I didn't really understand that I needed Jesus to take away my sins, I was only a child, how could I have been so vile and wretched when I hadn't really had to make any significant decisions regarding my life to that point. Of course I had been told that because of the sins of Adam and Eve we were all born with sin, but that is a heavy piece of truth that is difficult for a child to grasp. So was I truly saved the moment that I asked my Lord Jesus into my heart? Of course I was. Only looking back now do I know with holy assurance that it was so. I can't help believing that the Holy Spirit was my enlightenment. I knew that things were wrong, not because my parents told me not to, but because inside of me I could feel something pulling at my heart. When all of my friends did what normal adolescent boys do, the only punishment they feared was having their parents find out. If they didn't get caught, obviously it wasn't wrong. But the Holy Spirit didn't stop at me knowing it was wrong, I cannot recall a time when I went against what I knew was right and let my flesh do the walking, that I didn't end up getting caught. So for my most important personal growth years, I knew that if I did wrong, I WOULD get caught. Now I suppose that it is debatable whether or not it was Jesus preparing my heart for service, and attempting to keep the blemishes off of my testimony, but to change my mind about it will be a difficult task. You aren't going to see anything about drug abuse, or alcoholism, nor sexual depravity in this testimony, I was a pretty good person, who hasn't heard that excuse for not needing Jesus to take away their stains, and yet with all the good I thought I was doing, it wasn't enough for life to be peachy. I couldn't pay my bills, I couldn't seem to get the wheels of my life rolling. Keep in mind that after I got saved, I left the church, which closed down sadly, and tried to drive on my own. I went out to the clubs, and bars, but I didn't really enjoy it like all of my friends, I didn't want to see how much alcohol I could get down without throwing it up, it made me uncomfortable to have my life in someone else's hands because I wasn't coherent. I did enjoy karaoke though. Being a true introvert, getting up on stage and singing in front of an entire crowd of people was the one place I felt comfortable being in the spotlight. That is where I met my beautiful wife Courtney. She was one of the few singers there that didn't make me wanna throw things. She sang wonderfully. A true talent for the art. We became friends and soon after, began our courtship. we just clicked, she was everything I was missing; an extrovert to the core she isn't afraid of disturbing the herd. We married on the eighteenth of September 2004, and began a vain attempt at building a life. The money still wasn't coming in like we needed, and turmoil began to seether under the surface of our relationship. But God didn't give up on me. The vows that we took to love one another as one flesh, held strong. Still the hits kept coming. She became pregnant and we didn't know how we would support a child, when we didn't know how to support ourselves. We made a choice to build our family, but unfortunately, 2 months into the pregnancy, we lost the child. A child ,we now realize, God wasn't ready for us to have, we weren't at a place in our lives, in our walk, that we could raise a child God's way. And so it was taken. But people are stubborn, we had made a choice to build our family and nothing was going to stop us, not even God's will! How vain right? So Courtney became pregnant once again, and once again, trouble started. During this time, a friend of Courtney's had invited her to church, a person who I would come to love whole heartedly. April Meadows, a person who she and I had butted heads since the day I began my relationship with Courtney, asked her to go to a church that April had been going to on and off for most of her life. Courtney told me that she needed it, that WE needed it. But I told her I wasn't going to go because I had made it this far without church. It was at that moment that I was given a choice to make. If I let her go without me, I shouldn't expect her to come home afterwards. Well I didn't go, and my heart was broken at the thought that I would lose my wife and my unborn child over a church service. It wasn't worth it to me. And when Courtney came out of the building I was there waiting apologetically. We began going to church whenever the doors were open, but our problems didn't go away. The pregnancy was still in a critical condition, Courtney was put on bed rest the entire nine months and was unable to work, we lost our apartment, one of our vehicles, and we had to move in with my father, who reluctantly allowed us to stay with him. Then like you read in most testimonial stories, the invitation was given and we both fell on our knees at an altar and gave our lives to God, we put the pregnancy in His hands and allowed His will to reign over us. I lost my job only to find a much better one waiting for me, we found a house and the troubles with the pregnancy cleared up, it was like God had finally broken our hearts and gotten us to the place where we needed to be to meet Jesus. He met us there and we began our walk with Him. The two of us are of one mind and one spirit with a heart for ministry and for music, borrowing the name from a song by one of the most influential bands ever to make an impact on my life (Casting Crowns), we formed this ministry Lifesong to spread the gospel of Christ Jesus to the world. Our amazing, beautiful son Parker Mitchell Terral was born without incident in 2006 and he continues to bless us everyday. We were baptized in the church, and College Heights Baptist became our church home. We are part of a growing music ministry within the church, and we are blessed everyday by the people in this church who love us with a love that only Jesus can teach us to have for the children of God in this world. Our pastor who preaches truth has been anointed of God to lead us and has built a firm foundation in us grounded in the truth that Jesus is going to save the world and all we can do is live everyday for Him and to spread His love to the lost and dying souls that need so desperately to hear what an impact He can have on each and every one of His children. So to whoever you are reading this, I pray now, Jesus, my Holy Lord, I humbly thank you for today, and for this person who wanted to know why I am all about you. If he or she doesn't know you I ask that you come into their life and make an impact to change their heart Lord as only you can. May they know in their heart of hearts that I love them as one child of you the most high God, to another. May they be given a peace that they cannot deny has come from you Lord. In your Holy name I pray. Amen.