On Sunday we were thrilled to celebrate with Jim Lamb, his daughter Kaitlyn and son-in-law Esley as they got baptized!

This was a special day to testify to the powerful ways the Lord has been moving in Jim’s life and throughout his family as well.

I’m thrilled that Jim has shared a detailed account of his journey below—a testimony of the the faithfulness of the Lord is in his life. It’s such a great reminder of how the Lord is at work in and through ordinary people, pursuing us with His love and grace and forgiveness.

I trust Jim and Dawn’s story is an encouragement to you.

With deep thankfulness to our faithful God,

David Anderson
Lead Pastor

---

OUR EARLY YEARS

Dawn and I have been married for 46 years! We met when Dawn was a senior at Arcadia High School and I was a junior at Arroyo High School in El Monte. We worked together at the Arcadia Steak Corral and dated until I left for the US Army after graduation in 1978. I returned home on leave, and we were married in April 1979. I was 18 years old, and Dawn was my elder at 19 years old!

Yes, Dawn is older, but her youthful appearance serves as a testament to how “low maintenance, easy going and carefree” I am in her life and as her loving husband.

We spent our honeymoon driving across the country to Romulus, New York, where I was stationed for three years. We had our first child, Bryan, (now 44) in 1980 at Geneva General Hospital in Geneva, NY. Bryan served for 21 years in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He is now saving souls as the Discipleship Pastor at Mission Bible Church in Costa Mesa! (Don’t let his large, muscle-bound stature intimidate you, I can still take ‘em!)

TRAGEDY STRUCK OUR FAMILY

We were blessed with our 2nd child, Megan Danielle, on January 20th, 1986. Three and half months into her beautiful life, Megan died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) while at the babysitters on May 6th, 1986.

It was the worst day of our lives. It was so surreal … the excruciating pain and heartache that we were feeling was indescribable. It was a feeling of absolute hopelessness and despair while in complete denial of what just happened to us. We were desperately trying to navigate through what was to be our new normal life without Megan and trying to be strong and provide a life for our five-year-old son.

Something inside of me died with Megan that day. I call it my “black heart” because it withered into an emotionless shield, which protected me from further heartache and pain. I remember seeing the world go about its daily routine as if all was normal and it was just another beautiful spring day; all the while we were drowning in our own misery.

We were not involved in a church at the time of Megan’s death, so we didn’t have a Christian community to lean on for support or to help us deal with the indescribable pain and suffering.

Those were very dark and difficult days in our lives. I grieved much differently than Dawn. I was very angry at God for taking our baby girl. And I didn’t want anything to do with Him. I was drowning in my own despair, aimlessly wandering around through my life, completely devoid of any sense of purpose or will to live.

Dawn was completely inconsolable, desperately trying to make sense of this incomprehensible tragedy that happened to us. She was pleading with God for a sign that our little angel was in heaven with Jesus. But that sign never came. She just suffered in her own misery, day after day … her heart was absolutely ripped out of her body and there was nothing I or anyone else could do to comfort her.

We called upon Dawn’s youth pastor, Mike Slater, who had also married us eight years earlier. Pastor Slater was absolutely distraught to learn of Megan’s death. He graciously agreed to preside over Megan’s funeral, which was held in the children’s sanctuary at Rose Hills Mortuary in Industry, CA. That was absolutely gut wrenching for Pastor Slater, for us and for the hundreds of people in attendance to endure. Megan’s tiny pink casket was only about 2 1/2 feet long. Dawn lamented that she wanted to grab Meg’s tiny casket and run away with it.

I CHOSE YOU

Then a miracle happened in my life!

One day out of the blue, I was approached by a coworker; his name was Ward Albin. After offering his heartfelt condolences about Megan’s death, Ward asked me if I believed in Jesus Christ and if I was saved. He then began talking to me about the love of God and His Son, Jesus Christ, who took my sins and the sins of mankind to the cross to provide a pathway to salvation!

Unfortunately, my wounds were still too fresh and my black heart still closed off to God, so I pushed him away—several times actually. Thankfully Ward was a tenacious brother and the word “no” wasn’t in his vocabulary! He kept coming back, time after time, armed with nothing more than his Bible and his love for the Lord! Ward Albin had one goal in mind—to lead me to Christ!

Then one day when all the spiritual stars were aligned, it happened! I had an epiphany! My black heart softened to a spiritual awakening that was taking place, and suddenly my wretched soul was in the glide slope toward salvation!

Ward gave me my first Bible. We would spend our lunch breaks under a shade tree reading it together! Then he invited me to his church one Sunday morning. It was there, in a Baptist church in Sunland, CA, that I came to be saved by the love and grace of God!

I left my job at Lockheed in December of 1987, and with it my discipleship with Ward Albin. This would eventually lead to my backslidden years where I lost my way and fell prey to the world.

POORLY SOWED SEED

I can see now how “flimsy” my faith was back in the early days of my salvation. My Christian seed was so weakly rooted that it couldn’t sustain life without Ward’s continued discipleship.

Don’t get me wrong—I believe with my whole heart that I was saved by the grace of God in the darkest hour of my life, which likely saved my life at the time. But I didn’t take responsibility for the necessary care and feeding of my salvation. I didn’t include my family or find a church together or lead them to Christ. Devoid of these things, my faith withered on the vine.

OUR FAMILY, HOME AND DEAR FRIENDS

Dawn and I eventually had two more children, Lindsay, our SIDS subsequent (now 38) and Kaitlyn (now 30), our “empty nest” baby—LOL!

We bought our house in Covina with my VA benefit in 1984 for $90,000. The interest rate was 13% and our monthly mortgage was $1408.00! We didn’t know how we were going to make that monthly payment!

Our dear friends Bill and Linda Consolo bought their house across the street in 1986. So we’ve been friends and neighbors for about 40 years!

Over those 40 years, the Consolos invited us on numerous occasions to attend various church services and functions at Church of the Open Door. As a family, we attended several COD Sunday services and special events like Trunk or Treat, an Easter egg hunt out on one of the open fields, and the Living Nativity show.

I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK

Most recently, the Consolos invited us to attend the 2024 Living Nativity show and the Christmas service at COD. We attended both, but let me tell you about the Christmas sermon! It was just as beautiful, heartfelt and powerful as the 3-4 others I had seen Anderson perform over the years, but this one ended much differently for me!

As Pastor Anderson began talking about the importance of family during the holidays, he seemed to fixate his gaze upon me. I was sitting six or seven rows back in the middle aisle, so it seemed pretty deliberate. And this continued throughout his sermon! I nervously squirmed around a little, kind of ducking down in my chair and wondering, “Why is he looking at me?”

As I settled back into my chair, Brother Anderson set his sights on me once again and fired off another volley of conviction! He challenged me/us to reach out to someone in our lives that we left behind, or someone that we had wronged or someone who may have wronged us and tell them “Merry Christmas, I love you!” I was absolutely floored by his edict! It left me feeling so CONVICTED! It was like a gut punch! And it stayed with me all week.

I tried to shake it off, but the conviction was too strong. In the spirit of full disclosure, the weight of my conviction was due to the broken relationship I had had with my family over the last two and a half decades! I hadn’t spoken to my family (father, mother, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, grandparents, aunts or uncles) in over 25 years! Consequently, I missed my younger brother’s sudden and tragic death and his funeral and my father’s death and funeral during that time.

How could I possibly reengage with my family at this point, with all of the anger, negative feelings and hardened hearts that developed over the years? That was pretty much the point when I knew that I needed to hear more from that Pastor Anderson dude, who put the “hex” on me to begin with!

So, I anxiously waited for Sunday to come and off we went to COD to get my Pastor Anderson fix! My excitement quickly turned to ire once I realized that he wasn’t preaching that day! I was so disappointed—so disappointed! I think I was actually pouting in the pew, when the “fill-in” pastor—some guy named Underwood—began speaking from the pulpit.

He opened his sermon with, “If you don’t like me, not to worry, your regular pastor will be back next week!” I thought that was kind of witty, so I gave this Underwood guy the courtesy of my attention. It wasn’t until later that I had a “Hello McFly” moment when I realized that this “Underwood guy” was none other than the beloved, former COD pastor for over 20 years! I’m such a knucklehead!

My takeaway/aha moment from Pastor Underwood’s sermon was when he said, “People live on the fumes of sermons.” That quote pierced my black heart, because that was me! I would go to church on Sunday morning and get my weekly dose of spiritual sustenance from the pastor. Then, an hour later, I’d be right back out into the world feeling fed and rejuvenated, living on the fumes of his sermon until next Sunday!

So having received this double-whammy, one from Anderson and now one from Underwood, I was ready to explode with conviction from the Holy Spirit to take action! So I did! I called and/or texted my mom, my brother, my two sisters, my aunt, my cousin, my niece and my nephew!

MY CHRISTMAS TEXT MESSAGE TO MOM

Merry Christmas, Mom. This is not the ghost of Christmas past—it’s your son, Jim. I got your number from Jeannie. I hope you’re not mad at her for that. I just wanted to reach out to you on this Christmas Eve to tell you that I love you and I miss you. I have always loved you, even through all the years that our relationship was broken.

I recently heard about Todd’s tragic death, so I reached out to Jeannie and now I’m reaching out to you. I know you were very close to Todd. So I’m sure his passing has been especially difficult for you. I just wanted to tell you that I’m sincerely sorry for the loss of your grandson, Todd, and for the hole in your heart that his passing has caused.

I don’t know how you feel about me reaching out to you at this time. I’ve just felt an overwhelming conviction to reach out to you and my brother and my sisters on this Christmas Eve. I would love to hear back from you, Mom.

GOD’S GRACE ON OUR FAMILY

Fast forward five months … we hosted a family reunion at our home on Saturday, May 24th! We had about 30 family members, including children! Not a single “regrets” notification did we receive!

This was the first time in over 25 years that the family was all together! This was the first time that cousins met one another! This was the first time in over 25 years that I was able to hug my mom and tell her I love her!

This is absolutely the finger of God casting His grace on our family and working this miracle to fruition!

There were so many years of hardened hearts that needed to be softened, countless misunderstandings that needed to be reconciled and genuine forgiveness by all parties, in order for this to have happened!

I give all the glory and thanks to God and to the Holy Spirit!

WE’RE STILL IN THE 1ST QUARTER!

God is still working in our family!

Toward the end of the reunion day, our youngest daughter was talking to my niece’s husband about his transition from agnostic to Christianity. He was sharing Lee Strobel’s research, which led him (Lee Strobel) to move away from atheism to Christianity. This insight really helped grow our daughter’s spiritual identity! She is now saying “she is ready” to embrace her salvation and start learning and leading a Christian lifestyle!

Since the reunion, my youngest sister Jeannie “Weenie” attended church with us on the Sunday following the reunion. I wanted so badly for her to meet Pastor Anderson, but go figure, it would be just my luck that brother Anderson was duckin’ me again! LOL!

However, all was not lost because Pastor Newkirk was preaching in his stead. My baby sister was so deeply moved by Newkirk’s sermon that she now feels convicted to move back home to us in SoCal! And it’s no coincidence that COD is located in SoCal! I’m just sayin!

Then there’s my son-in-law, who was also so deeply moved and convicted by Newkirk’s sermon, that he told me he’s “ready” to embrace his salvation and lead his family to Christ!

WHERE WE ARE NOW

Dawn and I have completed the COD 101 and 102 classes, become COD members and started discipleship with our dear friends, Bill and Linda Consolo. We have joined the Properties Volunteer Team and Dawn has also volunteered to work in the COD nursery. We have found a HUB group that we love and just recently our daughter and her husband have asked to be discipled in the faith!

We now have a whole tribe of Lambs and Camarillos worshipping God together on Sunday mornings at COD! And with God’s grace, more to come!

And lastly, three of us (myself, daughter Kaitlyn and son-in-law Esley) were baptized on Sunday, September 28! Praise the Lord!

Only the finger of God could be orchestrating all these things. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for all your blessings upon us and our family!