Clint Auman

I was born in a small Pennsylvania coal mining town We lived there until i was eight years old and moved to Cleveland, Ohio.

I went to Cleveland schools until the age of 17 and I quit and joined the U.S. Navy. I was in that service for eighteen months and got myself into a lot of trouble from the direct use of alcohol. I was discharged from the Navy in October 1964. The short time I was in I was privileged to be involved in the President Kennedy rites after he was assassinated. I was on the Capitol steps when they brought his body to the Rotunda and the next day we marched in the funeral procession as a member of the Ceremonial Guard.

Anyway after I was discharged I met a lady and we got married and had a daughter as a result of that marriage which only lasted four and a half years. In the interim my alcohol abuse continued and I met a second wife. I worked at a General Motors automobile plant. I drank until 1986 and it finally caught up with me and I had to go into treatment.

I stayed sober for 14 years and in the interim my daughter who was a teenager at that time shuffled back and forth between me and my ex-wife. My second wife and I were never able to have any children together and we were married for 29 years until she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

I was devastated and gave up my A.A. program and was angry with God and started drinking again and drank until she died and continued afterward.

My spirituality at that time was non-existent. I lived day to day not even allowing myself to grieve but killing my heartache and pain with alcohol. This went on for months and I met a lady on-line that had lost her husband and she lived in Columbus. We started dating and fell in love and we got married.

A lot of the time we were dating she thought I was sober but I was discreetly hiding from her the fact that I was actively drinking. In 1989 my daughter who at the time was 19 years old had two children and moved to Florida and we had an argument and didn't talk for 12 years. After I met my present wife Judy my daughter and I were reunited through a family member. After twelve years of resentments and the death of my late wife it was a godsend along with Judy.

They say when God closes a door he opens a window and that certainly happened to me. God puts people in your path for a reason known to him.

I have always believed in God and I have been through a lot of different denominations looking for the right church instead of looking for my God. Even at the age of 19 I repented and was baptized in the river in the middle of December so I sincerely believe now that the seed was planted. Now years later I found myself again looking for churches and again God bopped me on the head and a couple moved in across the street in January of this year. He introduced himself as the Senior Pastor of the church.

Coincidence I think not !

We started going to Connection Church at the end of January 2007 and we feel very comfortable and welcome. God is working in my life when I cannot. I have become somewhat active and feel good about it. Judy and I have some stresses in out life but I feel that going to Connection Church and re-establishing my connection again with Jesus Christ has had some effect on me.

Don't get me wrong I have my faults still, but realizing what they are and trying to work on them with the help of prayer and my God I hope to become a better person through His eyes.

God loves you no matter what faults you have the key is you need to love him back and give him all the glory.

Your Brother in Christ, Clinton Auman