A Story of Dean's Redemption

When Dean was a child, his parents divorced, which affected him deeply.   Dean grew up in a small town and attended a church with his Mom and sister.  After high school, he went away to a large university where he lost contact with the faith and was influenced by atheists.  As time went on, he read and learned as much as he could about atheism, and he became an outspoken advocate of atheist beliefs.

After college, Dean married his high school sweetheart and moved back to his hometown.  He got a job as a salesman at a new car dealer in a nearby city.  He and his wife had 3 children.  He continued to promote his atheist beliefs.  In his words, he knew all the reasons why belief in a god was unreasonable, and he didn’t hesitate to tell others.

One afternoon, the Gideons were giving New Testaments to children leaving the local elementary school.  When Dean arrived to pick up his children, he was upset about the children receiving the New Testaments.  He stood at a distance from the Gideons and as children walked by him, Dean took the New Testaments from the children and tore them into pieces.  How dare those Christians try to infect innocent children with their misguided beliefs.

Dean was promoted to sales manager at the car dealer.  After a few years of working hard, he was promoted to general manager of the entire dealership.  He earned more money than he’d ever dreamed of, but it came at a cost.  He worked 6 long days every week.  On his only day off, he was usually too tired to play with their children.

When the events of 9-11 happened, Dean was with his coworkers watching TV in the office.  Like many, he was shocked.  He decided that very day, that he was going to make some changes in his life, so that he could spend more time with his family.  Three months later, he resigned his job, to begin studying online at home for a new kind of work that would enable him to spend more time with his family.

A few months later, Dean’s step-father died suddenly.  Because Dean had rearranged his schedule to give him extra time for his family, he was able to spend significant time with his mother in the grieving process and help her move to a home closer to Dean’s family.

One day, Dean’s father called him.  His father had been living in Florida and had been robbed and lost all his savings.  Dean flew to Florida, helped his Dad pack up his stuff and move back to his hometown.  This enabled Dean to spend more time with his father who had some health problems.  As he looked back on things, it seemed like there was a plan to his life, and he had a feeling that a higher power was behind that plan.

That summer, Dean’s children were invited to a Vacation Bible School at a church.   Then his children wanted to attend the Sunday School at the church.  His wife later shared that God had been working in her life, and she’d decided to tell Dean that she was taking their children to church, even if he didn’t like it.  Imagine her shock when Dean suggested to her that they all attend church as a family!

As Dean learned more about the Christian faith, he decided to surrender control of his life to God, the same God that he’d try to persuade countless others to not believe in.  Later, when he and his wife joined the church, he shared his testimony with the congregation.  He began by saying, “Hi.  My name is Dean, and I’m a Christian.”