(Now a Counselor helping others break-free in Jesus)

 

 

 

      Although Jerry’s Mother was an Aleut, the home he grew up in was dominated by the white culture of his father. He had no appreciation or even much recognition of his native heritage because there was no attention given to it as he was growing up. His mother in large part, intentionally suppressed her native heritage due to some very bad memories from experiences in her childhood.

 

   Jerry’s mother had grown up in abject poverty and was eventually sent away to Nome by her family because they simply could not afford to keep her and feed her. She grew up feeling neglected and lonely and eventually turned to alcohol as a way of numbing her pain. Jerry’s Dad was just focused on being a workaholic and was basically disconnected with the family emotionally. The family had no real structure or bonding and everyone just kind of did their own thing. Jerry’s mother had grown up with some Christian Orthodox influence and later on would take the kids to the occasional church service at a local Baptist church but it was not taken too seriously in the home.

 

   There were not many other people around and the kids were pretty much on their own most of the time. There were no moral or ethical guidelines or parental authority being exercised so the kids just did whatever they wanted and the peer pressure was very strong. It was not uncommon for boys and girls of ages as young as 8 and 9 years old to be going out in the woods to smoke, drink alcohol or even experiment with sexual encounters.

 

   One day Jerry invited a girl out for such an encounter and was turned down only to find out that she had turned him down to go out to the woods with someone else. He said that experience of rejection opened the door for what he calls his rapid ‘De-volution’ and downward spiral into a life of self-destruction. His world was confused and he began trying, as many were in the 1960’s to ‘find himself’.

 

   He recalls hearing a Chinese man on the radio who would speak what he calls, “Deep and Wise sayings”. Listening to the man on the radio caused him to have an interest in wanting to search out things on a more philosophical level. He wanted to experiment and seek out new things. Most of all he wanted to unravel the mystery of his own self-identity. He was white but he was also Aleut. But what was he most? What was he at his core?

 

   His seeking also meant that he was open to experiment with anything and everything. He experimented with drugs. He experimented sexually. He experimented with various lifestyles. He had grown up in a small community so when he got his G.E.D. he decided he would experiment by going to big cities for a while. He tried anything and everything that came along which brought his life ever lower into the bondage of addiction and spiritual darkness.

 

   One day when he was at the lowest point of his life, he was picked up while hitchhiking by a Christian. The guy was not overt in sharing his faith but he knew the guy was clearly different, especially when he heard another guy ripping into him about his faith in Jesus. The guy didn’t react or respond in a way that Jerry had ever witnessed before and it made him ache to have the ‘whatever it was’ that made that guy so full of peace and joy.

 

   Soon after that Jerry decided that he needed God in his life, even though he wasn’t really sure what it meant. He wanted to find whatever that Christian guy had but he wasn’t sure how to make the jump from where he was to where he wanted to get to. He asked God to help him and he from that day on, knew that he had changed direction and his new course was going to be radically different.

 

 At first, he was just out there on his own trying to live a life of connection to God in whatever way seemed right to him at the time. He got a hold of a Bible and began reading it. Some of it just went over his head but he still kept on reading. He had been going along in his walk with God for about six months when he realized that he needed to be in church with other believers. He wasn’t sure which church but he asked God to guide him to the one He wanted him to go to.

 

   He remembers the day very clearly….”It was December 12, my birthday. I was 26 years old that day. It was snowing like crazy and I remember just wondering around not really knowing where I was going or what I was doing. I was just walking along in the snow with my head down and when I looked up, I had nearly run right into a church building. I had asked the Lord to direct me and it appeared to me as though He had led me literally right to the door. I went in and it was not long before I felt right at home there. My faith and understanding became much more focused and solid. I also spent a lot more time getting acquainted with God through the study of His word (The Bible).”

 

   He eventually discovered that mysterious ‘self’ that he had been searching for. He didn’t find it is drugs or alcohol or any of the mystical fads, which were popular in that day. He didn’t find it in his broken marriage and subsequent divorce. He didn’t find it in his White heritage or his Aleut heritage. He found that his identity was not as a half White- half Aleut longhaired dope-smoking hippie. He found his identity as ‘A Child of God’.

 

   The Bible says in John 1:12, “To those who received Jesus, to those who believed on His name, He gave the right to become the Children of God.” Jerry realized that he was a person who had received Jesus and believed His name, which means ‘savior or deliverer’, and in so doing he had been given the privilege to become a child of God. He was no longer searching for an identity. He realized there can be no greater identity than to be called the child of Almighty God- the creator of heaven and earth!

 

   He could explore and appreciate his white heritage and background and also explore and appreciate his Aleut heritage and background. But he was not pinned down or defined by either one. He realized that being of a White or Aleut or any other ethnic background was incomplete if not connected to the identity that unlocks the full potential of all other identity components- namely, connection to the Lord who made us all.

 

   Jerry met his wife Patty at the Carrs grocery store where they both worked. They were both very strong in their faith and commitment to the work of the Gospel and became a real team and a model for Christian couples but also a couple that gives hope and inspiration to not-yet believers that the ‘real thing’ really does exist. Jerry and Patty now are the people like Jerry met years ago while hitchhiking that make people think to themselves, “I wish I had whatever it is that THEY have.”

 

   Several years ago, Jerry was praying and in his prayer time, he saw a clear image in his mind of a martini glass that was turned upside down. He asked the Lord to show him what it meant. He felt like the Lord was instructing him to devote his life to helping others break the bonds of addiction in Alaska. He then entered into training to become a certified counselor with a Christian emphasis and perspective to help people learn to find freedom in Christ and live victoriously through the implementation of the truths and principles of God’s word. Many of the people he works with come through church referrals and others come through court system referrals or word of mouth.

 

   Jerry keeps an old picture on his desk of what he looked like back in his old hippie days just so he never forgets where the Lord has brought him from and how far he has come. He has found his true identity as a Child of the Living God and he has found his calling in helping others do the same.

 

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   If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction or are just simply confused about life and what you are living for, please know that Jesus does not love Jerry more than He loves you. The same thing he has done in His life, He is ready to do in yours. The first step is to call out the Lord and seek His help. The home page of this website has all the information you need to make sure you are saved and right with God. You will also find assistance in finding a good church and through the church you will also be able to find good Christian counselors such as Jerry to assist you wherever you find yourself getting stuck. Who knows, you might even end up chatting with Jerry! But Jerry will be the first one to tell you that it really all starts and ends with our walking closely with Jesus.