Coming Home Again

I've learned quite a lot in my life especially when I thought I had it all. Yet I was dying inside and needed some answers.

In today's excerpt from my book, Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lessons For Personal Growth, I share how I turned things over to God at a time when I found out I could only take my life so far without Him. It took awhile before I finally "came home."

I’ve already mentioned a little bit about my spiritual journey— especially my re-awakening to things of the spirit when I was well into adulthood. I’ve been impacted by Promise Keepers, by Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Life, by John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart—in other words, by many of the same spiritual influences that have impacted millions of Christians around the world. But none of that would have made a bit of difference to me, if God hadn’t used one woman to bring me back to himself. My story is a great picture of how our relationships shape everything.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me back up—way back. I was born into the Methodist church. In other words, I didn’t really have, or make a choice. I just woke up one day and there I was . . . in church. In fact, I was in church a lot. I attended services on Sunday, of course, but also Saturday and Wednesday evenings. My Dad was the minister of Sunday school and my mom was the head of the ladies auxiliary, so there wasn’t much chance that I would be home on Sunday watching football.

During the summer my church life continued as I got packed off to church camp. Then when I became a teenager I studied a bunch of scripture and, and bingo I was confirmed. At that point, I figured, I was just shy of being canonized. When I graduated high school and left home I had, in my mind, graduated from church as well. I don’t think I set foot inside a house of worship my entire four years at college. It was like that Eagle Scout thing. Get those twenty-three merit badges . . . memorize that Lord’s Prayer . . . done. And so I set out on a path in the sixties of “if it feels good . . . cool.” That’s not to say that I moved into a hedonistic cult. Let’s just say my moral compass was spinning a bit out of control.

I left college as a junior after a “too good to be true” offer in Florida to produce documentaries and anchor the news. The next twelve years were a bit of a blur. Crazy money and six-figure success in 1974 at twenty-one years old. Travel to the most exotic places on earth for CBS News and CBS Sports. A failed marriage. More crazy seven-figure success with Entertainment Tonight. And the most deep, bottomless depression a man could feel. I was surrounded by stuff. And none of it—my fancy car, my house, my job—meant anything at all.

And then in April of 1991, while speaking at an IBM function in Palm Springs, California, I walked into the hotel gym and there she was, sitting right there on the exercise bike, pedaling away. I had seen her on television a million times but never in person. I pretended not to see her and went about my workout. It was  late, and we were the only two people there. I completed my workout (about eight minutes) and headed toward the door when I heard a voice. “John . . . John Tesh?”

“Connie . . . Connie Sellecca? Wow I didn’t see you there.” (Dork Gold Medal for me.)

There's more to this story.  Check it out in my book Intelligence For Your Life which you can purchase at your local bookstore or online at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

Here what one radio listener had to say about Intelligence For Your Life:

"Hi John, I have just finished reading your book "Intelligence For Your Life".   I have read all of four books in my life. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but few books capture my undivided attention. "Intelligence For Your Life" did exactly that.  I particularly like that you connect with your readers through personal testimony.  This reassures me that what you offer is trustworthy. Before I had realized, I had finished reading "Intelligence For Your Life" and wished there were more. I hope there is a Volume Two in the works!"  Marty