Finding My Real Father: My Journey With God to the Ends of the Earth

Author(s):

This is the riveting and untold story of the son of the mastermind behind the famous Krupp diamond heist. From the banks of the Concho River during the great depression to the planning and heist of the diamond -later known as the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond- the life of the author’s father comes alive. It’s a true-crime story with a twist. The diamond heist plays a big role in shaping Jim’s life. From helping his dad appeal his case before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to his unlikely conversion at a Billy Graham Crusade, this story will hold your interest from beginning to end.

God used his father’s life of crime, abandonment and the emptiness he experienced to bring the author to faith in Jesus Christ. His life without hope, direction or the support of a father was transformed when he attended the Graham crusade and was disciplined during the memorable days of the Jesus People Movement. After years of poor self-esteem and a personal sense of failure, God delivered him and called him into an active role in missions. This saga of discovery during his pioneer days among unreached, indigenous people groups is captivating. He realized that traditional, oral learners who do not read and write need a new approach. The result was an oral Bible focused on biblical storytelling, dialogue, the parables of Jesus, the poetry of the Bible, drama and the local oral arts including scripture adaptations of song and dance. He was the founder of a creative, one of a kind mission organization that inspires and trains hundreds of global ministries in oral communication methods.

In a quote from the author: “As I reflect on my father, the events of his life I am reminded of the verse in Romans 2:15 when the apostle Paul says that God has written His law on our hearts and that our consciences also bear witness. My father was born into an unjust, corrupt world and he wanted justice. He justified stealing the Krupp Diamond because Alfried Krupp obtained it by corrupt and unjust means. My dad could see the injustice, but his means of getting justice were corrupt. He said to me often, ‘stealing from corrupt people wasn’t stealing at all.’ But this was not God’s justice.”

Too many of us doubt that ordinary people can be used by God. We assume that believers with baggage from childhood and young adulthood cannot overcome the past to serve in the Kingdom. Yet in God’s economy and in God’s sense of justice, everyone is valuable. The author was ordinary and untrained but longed to tell God’s love story and to see lives transformed just as in the early days of the Apostles. He wanted to share his loving heavenly father with the world and he creatively shared his faith and inspired a hunger for the Scriptures that have turned the world upside down for Jesus.

While not everyone who reads this story will become missionaries or mission’s leaders, nevertheless, they will be inspired and uplifted by what God can do when we hear and obey His voice. It is the author’s dream that thousands would find their calling in a life of service to the one and only God