Put up photo of my mom and Elizabeth Taylor, movie poster and our family photo

Which one of these women became a super famous movie actress and starred in the movie Cleopatra in 1963?

It's Elizabeth Taylor, one of the most famous movie actresses of my parents' generation.  She is standing here next to my mom, 14 years old, during the filming of her first big movie called "National Velvet' about a famous race horse.

Elizabeth Taylor went on to make a lot of movies and a lot of money and married 8 times, including twice to Richard Burton. Has anyone heard of Elizabeth Taylor?  She was present at my mom's bridal shower and my father and Elizabeth hid in the closet for a surprise "This

is your life" shower.

So what is me, a 69 year old woman about to turn 70 doing in a high school chemistry room with you all at lunchtime anyway?

I want you to know I've come full circle!  Over 56 years ago I sat at black counter tops in my high school chemistry room just like this at Soquel High School, near the beaches of Santa Cruz.  There were about 1,000 students then and now so there were a lot more students.

In my freshman year of high school, my two best friends sat in the library with me and told me about how they came to know Jesus.  At first I would argue with them and tell them we just evolved, which was what I had been taught at home and the school system.

My dad was a college professor and neither of my parents had any desire to know God in their lives.  But my friends gave me a tract to read(jshow tract) which was my first exposure to the gospel, or good news of Jesus Christ.  You see, until then, I really didn't know anything about

what Jesus did on the Cross for us. (Eph. 2:8,9) I took that home and read it, and for the first time I understood that I needed to repent of my sin, and believe that Jesus Christ died for sinners, and that I could receive the gift of eternal life if I trusted Christ for my salvation and not

anything that I could do. I remember thinking that I would be a fool if I rejected this free but costly gift and continued to believe the lie of evolution.  Here was the answer to my search for the meaning to life, that is to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

  So there in my own room, I prayed and asked God to take over my life and be my Lord and Savior.  The year was Sept., 1969, the same year we put astronauts on the moon.

The next step was that my friends gave me my first Bible, and I started reading the New Testament every night.  My parents were not happy that I had become a Christian and I hardly ever went to church because there was no one to take me, except for a few times when I 

got a ride.  So this is where my chemistry teacher comes in!  At lunch he would open his room to anyone who wanted to study the Bible with him, so there I was as much as possible. That was my fellowship during my high school years, and I am truly

grateful for that man who opened his doors, much like Mr. Nelson is doing for you all.  He even baptized a few of us students at his church one day after school.

I knew that  I needed to follow and obey Jesus with or without support from my parents so that's what I did. I read the Bible on my own and with other Christians at school, and I've never stopped reading it 56 years later.

Psalm 119:34 says, "Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart.  Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found."

So, I want to encourage you to read and study the Bible for yourself and you will be wiser than many adults are! Do start with the New Testament please.

 I went on to college where my friend went and quickly got involved with a Christian group there called The Navigators.  There I was discipled by other women and I also met my husband Richard there who was a fairly new Christian but growing like a weed.

In my sophomore year we were engaged unofficially and married at the end of my junior year. We were married in Santa Cruz, CA in 1976, so that's almost 49 years ago.  In the end, I think I have had a happier life being married to the same man, my best friend who I met i

college, than Elizabeth Taylor was with her 7 different husbands and all her fame and fortune. Elizabeth Taylor lived 20 years beyond my mother, and died at age 79.  Why did my mother live 20 years less than Elizabeth?  Because my mom contracted esophageal cancer 

and they removed her voice box.  She lived one year beyond the operation and then the cancer returned.  My father abandoned her and went up in the mountains on the Pacific Crest Trail with horses and my mom chose to end her life in August of 1989.  It was the hardest 

trial I've had to live through and the people left behind, like me, are forever scarred.  Don't ever give up on hope, as hard as it gets.

 If you are a follower of Jesus, you should only marry another follower of Jesus and someone who is your best friend, or you will have a lifetime of problems and regrets.

In conclusion, I was searching for meaning to life and I wanted to know what happens to us after we die.

I found both answers in surrendering my life to Jesus Christ and asking Him to be the Lord of my life.

Mark 10:45 says,  "For even the son of man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many." 

Live for Jesus and you will find meaning and fulfillment in your life!!!

Do you have ANY QUESTIONS?

Thank you!!