Point Man of Enid Oklahoma

POINT MAN INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES
OKLAHOMA STATE COORDINATOR

John Daily's Personal Testimony

Emmanuel has meant a lot to me because I was a man so full of hate and grief that I was miserable. I couldn't talk about things. At night sleep came to me three to four hours at a time then back to the routine.

I served my country for twenty years in the Army and the first two years I went to Viet Nam at Uncle Sam's expense. I served with the 101st Airborne Division but was attached to Special Forces Group. At the age of 19 and 120 pounds I got the job as a Tunnel Rat. I'm the one Wade talked about in his class on "What Happiness Is." I was doing the crawling into the tunnels not knowing what I might find. I did this for two years and then I was replaced by a dog. I did another 18 years and 22 days more and then retired. I came home feeling out of sorts. Depression, lack of sleep, drinking, and the stuff that makes you forget the past and kills the pain so you don't have to relive the war over again. They told me I had Post Traumatic Syndrome but I never admitted to it. Nightmares, the dreams and the waking up in my own cold sweat labeled me.

Here it is 1998 and working as a mechanic on military jets, I felt pretty good that I had made four jumps upward in the aircraft world to be a mechanic. About seven to eight months ago I started feeling down and out, depressed and would go off on such little things that I felt were not right. Months go by and I'm not getting over this.

One day, about eight weeks ago, I went to work and had to talk to somebody about this but I didn't know who without being told I was nuts. What I did was wrote a note that said I'm tired of living like this. I need help and I don't want the pills to sleep because I took them before. Help me. I gave this note to Mike, unsigned and told him to read it later. About three to four hours later, he came back and pointed to me and then the note and I acknowledged him silently. Mike invited me to have breakfast with him later in the week and he said, "I'd like to bring a friend along, if you don't mind." He did and it was Wade. He asked me about the POW-MIA bracelet and what I did in Viet-Nam. I told him what I was feeling like and about my past, and he asked me, "what would you be if they took your stripes, your uniform and even your job as a Tunnel Rat? NOTHING!" He talked to me for a while and I started thinking.

I went to church and listened. Then the next five Sundays I want and sat through three sermons and the evening sermon was "What Happiness Is", and he told everybody listening that by the end of the three classes you will know who you are. I know who I am now. I AM THE LOVE OF CHRIST. I am also a member of the church. I thank God, Wade, and Mike for finding me, for now I am found, thanks to Emmanuel.

I TRUST JESUS CHRIST ALONE FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF MY SINS.