Forward one year later. That gap year proved to be pivotal in my life journey. I began studying the Word more often. I started praying more often. I began to truly feel a connection with Jesus Christ. This was a different passion than I had for Him in the past. I began to wonder if my salvation was real from my childhood days at home with the local church. As I began to reflect on these things, I realized that all these years of going to church and being saved were really just years of going to church and thinking I was “saved.” At this point, I had a much greater understanding of what it really meant. My desire to serve Him steadily grew. My relationship went from knowing him to actually knowing him. In 1997 I started working for a local restaurant. I worked as a short order cook and had the opportunity to work with many people who were in a program called CREST. This was a program where people who had committed serious enough drug crimes were released from work to finish out their final months