Many of the people there, including myself, were expecting Darryl to talk about his years of playing baseball with the New York Mets and the New York Yankees. Darryl made it clear that he wasn’t there to talk about baseball. He was there to talk about the Living God and what He had done for him. He explained that he didn’t care about baseball anymore, that that part of him was dead. He did indicate that many of the people that he played with were still talking about the “glory days”, discussing the scores of the playoff games, because that was all that they had to cling to. Darryl shared that he had become very famous and also very wealthy during his years of playing baseball, but that the entire time that he was enjoying his fame and fortune that his mother was praying for him. “She didn’t care about my success. She cared about my salvation.” He said that his mother continued to pray for him throughout his baseball career until she died at the age of 53 from breast cancer and never got to see the answer to her prayers.

After his career with baseball Darryl turned to drugs and eventually became a cocaine addict and ended up living in a crack house. He ultimately ended up being arrested and served time in prison. His wife, who was also previously an addict, became sober and discovered the life-changing power of Jesus. Darryl said that “It was the prayers of my mother and the prayers of my God- fearing wife that eventually resulted in me becoming free of my addiction.” When Darryl was released from prison God spoke to him and told him that He wanted him to become an evangelist. Darryl asked God, “You want ME to become an evangelist? But I haven’t even finished school! What do I know about evangelism?” He said that God directed him to watch Billy Graham videos on YouTube and that He would guide him. Darryl then asked God, “Why can’t I be like my wife and have a ministry like she has?” God answered him by saying, “Because you haven’t spent time with Me like she has.” So in obedience, Darryl heeded the call that God had for his life.

Darryl shared many many powerful things during his 1 1⁄2 hour talk. Everyone in the audience sat spellbound as they listened to him describe the transformation that God had made in his life. Darryl explained that he once had been rich and famous, but that all of that meant nothing. As King Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes, chasing after wealth is nothing but vanity (Ecclesiastes chapter 1).

Darryl shared too much for me to type here, but three things that he said stand out for me. The first thing that I would like to share is a statement that he made that I wrote in the notes on my phone; “God can use you right where you are.” That was powerful for me. Indeed I knew this to be true as I recalled an event in my life that took place in 2006.

In 2005 I was at a worship conference at the Saddleback Church in California where Rick Warren is the pastor. Rick Warren wrote the national best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life”. I was attending the conference with my wife, Debbie, but was having a difficult time enjoying it because I was in the early years of building my business and my phone was continuously ringing. I couldn’t afford the luxury of shutting the phone off because we desperately needed the incoming work. It seemed that every time I would start to get into the program that the phone would ring and I would have to step outside to take the call. For this reason we were seated in the back so that I could step outside without causing a disturbance. On the morning of the second day of the conference I told my wife in our hotel room how frustrated I was that I wasn’t able to enjoy the conference because of the stress that my phone was causing me. So she offered a prayer for me in the hotel room. This is what she prayed.

“God, You know how much stress Chris is under right now at this conference. Please help him. Put a song in his heart to bring him peace. Amen.”

After offering her prayer we left the hotel and drove to the church for the conference. I had been sitting for a bit and, sure enough, the phone rang. Feeling extremely irritated and frustrated, I went outside to once again take the call. When the call was finished I was preparing to go back inside and join my wife when I heard a voice say, “Sit down”. I turned to see who had said it, but there was no one there. But I knew that I had heard a voice, so I sat down at a table that in the courtyard. I then heard the voice again as it said, “Take out a pen and paper.” By now I was freaking out because I still didn’t know where the voice was coming from. But I [obediently] took out a pen and looked around for some paper. The only paper that I had was our hotel room receipt in my pocket, so I took it out and placed it on the table. As I held the pen in my hand all of a sudden words were being given to me, and I was furiously writing them out as fast as they were being inspired. As I was writing, a tune also came into my head that went along with the words and I immediately realized that I was writing a song. I had never written a song in my life before, but as I was writing, the words kept being given to me along with a tune. I didn’t know much about music and certainly had no idea how to do musical notation…especially on the back of a hotel room receipt! So I used a series of dashes and lines to indicate when the notes in the song would go up or down. Silly at best, but it made sense to me. As I was writing I finished the first verse and then immediately went on to write the second verse and then the chorus. Next I wrote the bridge of the song. I didn’t even know what a bridge was, but here I was writing it! After the bridge I noted a key-change with my series of dashes and lines. The entire “ordeal” lasted 10 minutes. When I was finished I put the pen down and I was literally shaking as I realized what had just happened. God had spoken to me and had given me a song! The first line of the song is: “There’s a song in my heart, an expression of my faith, that comes from the joy of the Lord”. There’s a song in my heart…the very prayer that my wife had prayed over me in our hotel room.

A few months later, back at home, I learned that the Saddleback Church was having a song-writing contest and that they were accepting song submissions to be considered for an album (CD) that they would be producing. I made a crude recording of the song and brought it to my church and had my praise team attempt to sing it. It was rudimentary at best, but at least I had a recording that I could submit. I burned the recording onto a CD and submitted it to the Saddleback Church for consideration.

Several months later on a dark lonely night I received a phone call from the Saddleback Church, telling me that my song, “You, Lord”, had been selected as one of the winners of their song- submission contest and would be produced and recorded and would be included on their CD. I was stunned! At the time that I received the phone call I was alone in my basement, drunk. GOD USED ME RIGHT WHERE I WAS. The next summer Debbie and I flew out to California where the Saddleback Church presented me with an award for “You, Lord” in front of 3,000 people. After receiving the award, someone got up on the stage and announced that there was an extra special event that was taking place that day. He announced that Worship Leader Magazine (the largest publication in the worship music industry) had reviewed over 10,000 songs and had chosen one to be included on a CD that they were producing. They then announced my name and said that “You, Lord” had been the song that they had selected, and then asked me to once again come up on stage to receive yet another award. “You, Lord” went on to be released on one more album produced by the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists and has been played on radio and in churches around the world. I’ve had many people call me and exclaim, “Hey! Your song is on the radio right now!” So indeed, just as Darryl Strawberry said, “God can use you RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE.”

Here are the lyrics of the song “You, Lord” and the YouTube link where you can listen to it:

YOU, LORD

There’s a song in my heart
An expression of my faith
That comes from the joy of the Lord!

It’s the longing for your face,
And acceptance of your grace,
And I’m living in the joy of the Lord!

Spirit, Father, Three in One The Living Son of God
The Risen Holy One!

The defender of the weak and the keeper of the strong Almighty restorer of my soul

He’s my counselor and friend the beginning and the end And I’m living in the joy of the Lord

You, Lord, I put my trust in You
The author of my faith, streams of living Joy

Spirit, Father, Three in One, The living Son of God, the Risen Holy One!

So come before Him, adore Him, O come Emmanuel!
And together, forever we will dwell in the house of the Lord!

So come before Him, adore Him, O come Emmanuel!
And together, forever we will dwell in the house of the Lord!

You, Lord, I put my trust in You
The author of my faith, Streams of living Joy!

Spirit, Father, Three in One, the living Son of God, The Risen Holy One!

You, Lord, I put my trust in You
The author of my faith, streams of living Joy!

Spirit, Father, Three in One, living Son of God, the Risen Holy One!

Darryl continued in his presentation saying, “You know, Jesus was a “bad dude!” He cited the example of the woman in the Bible who was caught in adultery and was brought before the people and the Pharisees were preparing to stone her for the sin that she was caught in the act of doing. When she was brought before Jesus, He called out each of the accusers and exposed their sins before them and said, “He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone!”. One by one each of her accusers backed away in shame and left. (John 8:7)

Darryl continued. “Jesus was a “bad dude!” He shared the story of the Samaritan woman that Jesus met at the well. The woman had come to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Go and bring your husband.” The woman replied that she did not have a husband. Jesus said, “What you have said is true. You have had 5 husbands, and the man that you’re living with now is not your husband.” Jesus then asked her for a drink and then said to her, “If you drink the water that I have for you, you will never thirst again. It will become a spring of [living] water welling up to eternal life.” (John chapter 4)

Darryl then said something that hit me like a ton of bricks. He said, “We (each one of us) have been drinking the wrong water! We chase after things like sex, alcohol, drugs, wealth, etc. because we’re thirsty. But it’s the wrong “water” which leaves us thirsting for more. If we drink the Living Water we will be satisfied and will never thirst again!”

Wow! I felt like a ton of bricks had just been dumped on my head.

I was raised in a Christian home. In fact, I’m a third generation Christian. I attended Christian kindergarten, Christian elementary school, Christian high school, and had graduated from a Christian college with a degree in religion. I had heard it all before (or so I thought). For years and years I’ve felt that I wish that I could hear the Word for the first time. I’ve shared with my wife many times over the years that I wish that I could hear the good news of salvation for the first time, because anytime I hear somebody start to share something from the Bible that I could finish the sentence for them. I’ve heard it hundreds if not thousands of times before. When I was in high school I had to memorize the entire book of Ephesians and at one time could recite the entire book from memory. I can’t do it anymore, but to this day anytime I hear something from the book of Ephesians I immediately recognize the source.

But there was SOMETHING about the way that Darryl said it. “We have been drinking the wrong water.” It made perfect sense to me, as if I was hearing it for the very first time!

I left the meeting to drive home. On my way home I had a God encounter. God spoke to me as I was driving home in the dark. He reached me where I was. I was on the road to Damascus that runs between the towns of Damascus and Ijamsville, Maryland. The Apostle Paul also had his God encounter on the Road to Damascus. This is where He met God and his life was changed forever (Acts chapter 9).

When I arrived home I prayed that God would reveal to me the reason that He had allowed me to hear all of this. I realized that just one week earlier that He had used Gin to “clear my mind”, to become sober so that I would be able to fully absorb all that He wanted me to hear. I thanked God for His deliverance from the demon of alcohol.

That night God answered a prayer that I had been praying for many many years. For years I had asked God to show me His purpose, to show me the plan that He has for me. I know that God has given me some talents. I can write lyrics and music (I’ve written over 20 songs since “You, Lord” was written back in 2005). I also know that I have a talent in business. I’ve never had a business class in my life, yet God has blessed me with a keen business mind and I operate a very successful business of my own. But I’ve always known that God has a bigger plan and a bigger purpose for my life, but I’ve never known what it was. Once again, I had prayed for years that God would reveal the plan and purpose that He has for my life. That night, sitting alone in my kitchen, God opened the scroll of my life that was written before I was conceived in my mother’s womb and showed me the plan and the purpose that He has for me.

That night as I sat alone in front of a warm fire in my family room, God revealed Himself to me and showed me His purpose for my life. God clearly spoke to me and said, “I have a ministry for you where you are going to use the talents that I’ve given you. I want you to use your business skills that I have given you to start a bottled water business. You are to name it ‘Living Water’. I want you to share the story about how you learned that you’ve been drinking the wrong water in your life, but that the water that I give you will satisfy you and you will never thirst again. I want you to include the promise that I gave you in my Word in John 4:13-14 where it says, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”

“Say what?!” God, what do I know about the bottled water business? Are You sure about this?

Indeed I knew nothing about how to start a bottled water business, so I went on Google and did a search for “how to start a bottled water business”. I found a website that had a lot of information about the steps that one needs to take to start such a business. The steps were listed in this order:

1. Locate a source for water. Consider purchasing some land that has water rights
   
   
2. Purchase water bottling equipment
   
   
3. Decide on a customer base
   
   
4. Create a brand image
   
   
5. Create a business plan
   
   
6. Build your management team
   
   
7. Obtain an FDA (Food and Drug Administration) license
   
   
8. Obtain a state license in the state where you will bottle the
   water
   
   
9. Market your products
   
   

Ok. So I at least had some information that would be a starting point. The first thing I did was to research real estate that had water rights. It wasn’t hard to find properties. I found hundreds of properties listed for sale that had water rights. I searched for land in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maine, New Hampshire, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Florida, Oklahoma, New Zealand, Iceland, and Costa Rica. I found plenty of properties that were available for sale, but the selling prices ranged from $430,000.00 all the way up to $9,500,000.00 I certainly didn’t have a budget for this at this time, but I thought to myself, “Hey, if this is God’s plan for me then He will provide the funding”.

Next I researched the cost of water bottling equipment (I would also need warehouse space for the installation of the equipment and storage for the bottled water). Water bottling equipment can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars as I soon discovered in my research. I know from my previous business experience that it’s never a good idea to buy cheap low-quality equipment, nor is it good to start too small as one could easily soon outgrow a small setup, making it necessary to invest in larger equipment to handle increased volume and production. This equipment was also something that I didn’t have the budget for, but once again I figured that if it’s God’s will that I start this business that He will provide.

God had revealed to me that my customer data base (target market) would be Christian churches, groups, and conferences all over the country. In 2021 there are an estimated 380,000 Christian churches and an estimated 205,000,000 Christians in the United States. I realized that the target market is enormous.

I needed a brand image. God immediately inspired me that in the product name on the bottle (Living Water) that the “W’ would be represented by a dove (symbolizing the Holy Spirit) and the “T” would be represented by a cross bearing a heart (symbolizing the Love of God in sending His one and only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins).

I immediately began writing out a business plan for Living Water; something that I have had extensive experience doing as I constructed a business plan for my carpet dyeing business before even opening the doors of the company. Part of the business plan was to have a website for promoting the product, providing product information, and for online sales/ordering. So I needed an internet domain name. I used to buy and sell internet domain names (virtual real estate) as a hobby, so this is also something that I have extensive experience with. I first checked to see if
LivingWater .com, .net, or .org was available. Not surprisingly, all of these were taken. I next checked to see if MyLivingWater.com was available, but this too was taken. I decided that I could work on choosing a domain name at some future point and moved on to the next phase; establishing a management team.

Management team? Well, God, it’s You and me. After all, this was YOUR idea. I figured that God will provide additional people as the need become apparent.

Obtain an FDA license and state license. Show stopper! As I researched the process for obtaining these necessary licenses it soon became apparent that this would be a very long, expensive, and arduous process. It would involve extensive testing over an extended period of time for water that I didn’t even have a source for yet. But I felt something inside of me, as if it was from God, saying, “Don’t worry about all of this. This is My idea and My business. I will provide.”

I knew that I really didn’t need to focus on marketing just yet because I still didn’t have a product to sell. I didn’t even have a source for the water. So I inquired of God to reveal just exactly how He planned to make all of this happen. God immediately reminded me of something that I had seen on the internet about 10 years ago. I had read that there was a place close to where I live that had naturally-occurring spring water from an underground aquifer, and that the water was so pure that one of the largest supermarket chains in Maryland had decided to test the market for bottling and selling it. So I did a Google search and managed to find the website once again. I re-read the article with intense interest and discovered that it was about a place called Brick House Farms in Ellicott City, Maryland (just 3 miles from my house). I then checked to see if they had a website but couldn’t find one. I continued scouring the internet, trying to find out some additional information about Brick House Farms. I eventually found an obscure website that contained a link for a Facebook page that they supposedly had. I clicked on the link and was delighted to discover that they had an active Facebook page that contained their address, phone number, and email address! I began reading through their Facebook page to read more about the water that they had. I learned that they are still operational and are actively bottling 100% naturally-occurring alkaline spring water from their private aquifer. I studied their page to glean as much information as I could, reading each and every detail. I read that the water is of such good quality that it was rated the best spring water in the country and actually won the International Water Tasting Competition in Chicago. I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as a water tasting competition! Down toward the bottom of the page in an old post I read that they offer private labeling. Did I read that correctly?!? I immediately sent them a private message through their Facebook page, not really expecting to get a reply (it was around 11:00 PM Saturday night). I asked them if it would be possible for me to come by the next day (Sunday) to take a look at their operations. I was surprised to receive a reply about 30 second after I submitted it. They indicated that they are not open on Sundays, but that I could stop by on Monday at 9:00 AM. Shortly after sending that message they responded again telling me that Mondays are pretty busy days for them and asked if I could come on Tuesday instead. I replied that I would be there first thing Tuesday morning.

Wow! What an answer to prayer! God had directed me to a source for Living Water! Now that I had a source for the water I went back to work on finding a suitable domain name for creating a website. God inspired me to check if LivingWatermd.com was available (md representing Maryland). It was available so I immediately registered it. Our official website is www.livingwatermd.com I like it because “md” also has connotations for “medical doctor” which coincides with the health benefits of drinking water.

I decided to ride my motorcycle over to Brick House Farms the next day. It was Sunday so I knew that they were closed, but I wanted to see where they were located and especially wanted to see this place that God had chosen as the source for Living Water. When I arrived at the location I parked my motorcycle by the brick pillars that marked the entrance to the property. Each pillar had the sculpture of an eagle on it. I sensed that there was some significance in this, but didn’t quite know what it was. I stood there for about 20 minutes just gazing down the drive that led up to the farm. I sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit there. I knew that this was an anointed place that God has selected for His business.

Stephen asked me if I would be interested in going a meeting that night at “Crossroads” which is a Christian recovery center where people receive treatments for addictions. They have a Bible study group that meets every Monday night. I immediately agreed to go with Stephen to the meeting. I was hungering and thirsting for change. Desperate for relief.

The Monday night meeting meeting was fantastic. There were about 15 people present, all of whom were hungering for the same spiritual nourishment that I was craving for. The meeting was led out by Bill Mayer whom I had met a couple of years earlier at a marriage group that I had formed at my church. Bill had attended a meeting along with his wife that was held in Gin & Stephen’s home. I could clearly sense that Bill had a connection with God Almighty. It shone in his talk and delivery. He was on fire! I wanted what he had. I immediately connected with Bill and asked Stephen for Bill’s contact information. The next morning I texted Bill, asking him to give me a call. He called me later that afternoon and we spoke for about 20 minutes. I told him how I connected with him and felt that it was a “God send” that I had been reintroduced to him. He told me that he has a youth ministry where he works with young people, many of whom are troubled. He continued by telling me that he has an online chat group that he uses to stay connected with the young people. He explained that it was an app called “Marco Polo” where members can post videos and

interact with each other and asked me if I would like to join. I immediately agreed and set up the app on my phone. The group started out with just the two of us but soon grew as we each added more members who were also hungry for spiritual feeding.

A few weeks earlier Stephen had texted me a flyer about an event that would be taking place at Crossroads where Darryl Strawberry, former baseball player for the New York Mets and the New York Yankees, would be the featured speaker. I happened to mention it to my mother and my brother and my brother (a longtime baseball fan) who told me that Darryl had had a life- changing experience after hitting rock bottom following his baseball career and was now traveling around the country as an evangelist. My brother and my mother were getting ready to go on a trip to Florida for a week-long vacation and prodded me to join them.

They felt that I really needed a “getaway” as they know that I’m under a lot of stress with running my business (www.colorfulcarpets.com) and from dealing with a tremendous amount of grief and loneliness over the past 2 years. I explained to them that it simply wasn’t a good time for me to go as I had a lot of work responsibilities. They continued to put pressure on me, but I adamantly told them that it simply wasn’t a good time for me to get away. Little did I know why God was keeping me home.

On October 23, 2021 Stephen and I attended the event featuring Darry Strawberry. I arrived before Stephen and met up with Bill before the meeting began and spent some time chit-chatting. When Stephen arrived we went in under the tent to escape the rain that had started to fall. The meeting started with a praise team sharing a few Christian songs. Then a few of the graduates who had completed their stay at the Crossroads rehabilitation program got up and shared their powerful testimonies about how God had delivered them from the grip of the addictions that they had been dealing with for so many years. During the time that the graduates were speaking God placed a beautiful rainbow in the sky to signify His love for me and His promise that He was about to fulfill. After that Darryl Strawberry was introduced and got up to speak.