Jim Mullaney
Personal Testimony
My teenage years were spent in Newark Delaware. I found my escape from my parents drinking at a local roller rink and spent days at a time there. I worked in gas stations from the time I was 14 and became a fairly heavy drinker at that age.
In high school I found an interest in bookkeeping and office-related courses and was hired as a bookkeeper for a small restaurant-hotel chain immediately after graduation in 1965. I received my draft notice in 1966 and joined the Marine Corps for a three-year enlistment that included a tour in Vietnam working in a field office (like Radar on Mash) and Quantico, Virginia.
I found a job with Marriott Corporation in the corporate accounting department immediately after leaving the Marines in 1969. My early months on my own in Virginia were stressful in trying to grasp a new job and feeling extremely lonely.
It was at Marriott that I was introduced to Christ by Gene Griffin, my boss at the time who took me to the basement one day and explained that Jesus is as alive today as He was 2000 years ago and that a relationship with Him is possible and wonderful. Gene then loaned me the book, "God's Smuggler" by Brother Andrew an easy to read entertaining and interesting book. In reading the book I was perplexed about how Brother Andrew had his needs met in dramatic ways through prayer while smuggling Bibles into the Soviet Union. I decided to try this and prayed silently for Jesus to enter my life and to give me a sign that prayer is real. Within minutes of saying that prayer a knock came on my apartment door. I opened the door and here was a deliveryman looking for someone else yet I vaguely recognized him and he vaguely recognized me as well. I invited him in to figure out where it was we had met. As it turned out, he was stationed at Quantico in a different military company and we passed on the street occasionally. As he turned to leave he noticed the book on the arm of the chair and said, "Are you reading this?" I said yes and that it was a fantastic book. He agreed and told me he was attending Washington Bible College. We were both stunned because we realized that God just used us in a miracle. We exchanged phone numbers but never connected again.
During the next several days other dramatic events happened in response to my prayers but I will skip these details. My life truly began at that time. I met my wife Diane shortly after this and we were married in September 1970.
Looking at a time line of highs and lows, from this time forward the line is on a higher plane. My life since has found true meaning and even now in my 60's I am experiencing a peace, comfort and joy that I know would not be possible without this relationship with Jesus. I am blessed with a wife and three wonderful children and (3) grandchildren.
In 1991 I experienced a low and frightening time when I left Marriott after 23 years. I was simply replaced by someone who had more skills in the position I held at that time. Since this occurred in the middle of a transfer we already had a contract on the sale of our house and could not get out of it. Yet throughout that time I knew God was there and He carried me through the difficulty. After a four-year stint as a manager in a staffing company, I started my own company based on a business idea I received while in that former position. That was almost 13 years ago and I feel the new career has just begun. I know it would have been unlikely to experience business success without God in the equation.
Where are you spiritually? Would you like to become a member of God's Kingdom? Ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and do so with a genuine heart, then your life will begin! It does not matter what you have done in the past or where you are now. God will make allowances for that and accept you where you are. That is His promise.
Thank you very much. May the Lord bless you and all those close to you.
Jim Mullaney