Hello my name is Mike.
I was born in southwest Indiana but I got to Texas just as fast as I could. I came to Texas in 1963 with my parents after spending almost two years in Europe and 9 years in southern Indiana. My father passed away in M.D. Anderson hospital just eight days after President Kennedy was assignated and this has been home ever since. I spent six years (5 years, 11 months, 21 days, and a few odd hours, but who kept track?) in the US Navy during the Viet-Nam war ear from 1970-1976. And in 1989 I took a job back up in Indiana that lasted until 1994 when we returned "home"
The most important decision in my life was to trust Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and I have been a Christian since 1982. I had grown up in the Roman Catholic Church but I had never trusted in Jesus. Neither myself or any other Christian always acts as Jesus would want us to and that old bumper sticker that says "Christians aren't perfect . . . just . . . forgiven" is more true than you can imagine. Regardless of what anyone else tells you Christianity is not a religion but is truely a . . . relationship with Jesus.
My family and I are active at Fairmont Park Church in La Porte, TX where we live. While at Fairmont Park we are "Baptist" in theology in that we follow the "Baptist Faith & Message. We are Christian first and baptist second and do not necessarily consider ourselves "Baptist's" in the classic sense. We are a member of the SBTC. We have two worship services a "Classic" (aka Traditional) service in our chapel followed by bible study for those who do attend bible study on Sundays followed by our "Modern" (aka Contemporary / Seeker Sensitive / Purpose Driven) with a full band. Most of our bible study class's (Sunday School) are done off campus during the week in homes, we call them small groups. One thing I most highly respect about our pastor is that he tells visitors if they are not comfortable with our worship style or organizational structure then please find a fellowship where they can worship and serve.
I am a fan of Contemporary Christian Music and my favorite Christian music radio station is KSBJ, But I mostly enjoy listening to talk radio, and in the Houston area my favorite AM talk station is KSEV AM 700. I enjoy Edd Hendee & Pat Gray (two local hosts), Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Dan Patrick (another local). Not all are carried by KSEV so I have to bounce around a little. One of the great things about talk radio is that you get to hear things that you will not hear from the pulpit and network news casts which helps, me at least, constantly re-evaluate my core convictions and what I believe. Make no doubt about it I am a veteran, a conservative and politicially active. I strongly believe that the gospel demands that we be involved in our politics whether federal, state, county or local levels. I believe in the strong rugged individualism that made this country great and am deeply saddened by the number of people who think they are owed something.
My hobbies include amateur radio, (my call sign is KA5CVH), and orienteering. I am most active on the VHF & UHF bands and also have several scanners as well as ham radios. In addition to monitoring the ham bands I enjoy monitoring the local law enforcement agencies, fire & EMS. I enjoy severe weather spotting with the NWS Skywarn program and an emergency communicator for the Harris County Office of Emergency Management. I am also a member of ARES & RACES which are the two organizations that provide emergency communications to assist public service agencies in the event of a disaster. I am also a CERT member.
My wife Sara and I have two children. Our son Chase, KC5MPK, is 26 and our daugher Erica is 21 (she thinks she's 31 sometimes). Chase is on staff and attending LeTourneau University in Longview, TX. Erica is attending San Jacinto Junior College and works for our fellowship part time. Chase, Erica and I are also orienteers and help teach at Team Texas Orienteering.
I work for Zurich Services Corporation in Risk Engineering. I am a Senior Risk Engineering Representative working as a Boiler & Machinery specialist. Our job is to perform routine loss prevention inspections on boilers, pressure vessels, turbines, generators, and other insured objects. Our responsiblity is to prevent these insured objects from blowing up, breaking down or burning down. Sometimes we do .... sometimes we don't. When we don't and its a big enough occurance you just might see it on the evening news.
Please check out my other links on the homepage for more links and information on faith, politics, radio, pro-sound systems, orienteering and especially the jokes and video pages.
If you are a ham and get in the southeast Houston / Harris county area drop by and say hi. Check out the CLARC repeaters 442.750+ (103.5) / 146.86- (100.0) <they're co-located and linked> first. Sometimes you'll find me on 145.29- (103.5) or even 146.46 simplex.
May God richly bless you as he has me!