Family Background & Early years
Hello, my name is Horst Adler. My
Latvian mother and German father were married in Riga,
Latvia during the middle 1920s. Toward the end of WWII,
they journeyed westward towards Germany, and “little
Horst” was born during this journey in Posen, Poland
(Germany under Hitler) in 1941. The journey was finally
completed just before the end of the war, and the Adler
family settled in a little village, Dabendorf, just south
of Berlin, Germany.
Immigration to the USA
After my father passed away in 1955,
my mother, my sister and I (just thirteen years old,)
“continued” the westward journey all the way across the
ocean and ended up in another little village,
Applebachsville, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania – USA.
Applebachsville was really a
“relocated village” from Latvia. 85% of the population
were Latvian born people, who had, at various times,
escaped the threat of war and foreign occupation and
sought peaceful refuge in various geographies in the
United States of America. Latvian communities had sprung
up in many places such as Chicago, Boston, Cleveland,
Philadelphia, New York, as well as Applebachsville, PA.
High School – College – Navy –
Computer Industry
Having graduated from Quakertown
Community High School in 1959, I attended college for two
years, and then joined the US Navy (submarine service),
where I spent the next eight years of my life.
After I left the Service, I joined
the ever growing computer field, and remained actively
employed in the information technology industry for the
next 26 years. In 2001, I decided the leave these
endeavors and I became an “active retiree.”
Marriage & Family
In the meantime, I married Jeanette
Glass (from Charlottesville, VA) in January, 1966 in
Newport News, Virginia. Christopher Lee was born 18 months
later and Tracy Ray came “on board” (my Navy heritage is
revealing itself in my expressions) in October, 1969.
Professional Requirements -
Travel
Due to the requirements in the
computer field, my family and I relocated often all across
the US. We lived in many divers places such as Virginia,
Maryland, Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, as
well as Connecticut.
Personal Testimony
While Jeanette & I were married in a
Baptist Church in Charlottesville, VA, I had no personal
interest or convictions in regards to anything spiritual.
We chose a Baptist church as a convenient place for our
wedding because both our parents had had a Baptist
heritage.
In 1982 a number of events occurred
in my life that caused me to wonder about God and my
relationship to Him. Since my mother had been a believing
and faithful Christian, I had been exposed to some
teaching of the Christian faith. However, even though I
had an intellectual knowledge about God, I had no idea
what it meant to have a personal relationship with God
through His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. During the time
in Colorado, my wife and I began to harbor a growing
concern about our two sons. We discussed the need to have
them involved in a church for exposure to a more
beneficial value system than the one they were exposed to
daily in their school and among their friends. We started
attending a church in the neighborhood, only to sense a
higher level of resistance to our parental leadership and
authority.
My wife worked in a flower shop in
the Denver area. There she met a lady, who had two sons
the same age as ours. After a short time, our two families
developed a friendship and on one weekend our two boys
were invited to spend the weekend at their home. Since
they were Christians, they took our boys to their church
on Sunday. After Chris, and Tracy came home that Sunday
afternoon, they were full of excitement about that church
and the pastor they had just met. They told us that we
MUST come to that church and hear this preacher.
Obviously, we were delighted with our sons’ enthusiasm
about this church, and all of us visited this church the
following week. While we initially began the church search
process in order to find a place for the boys, I Had no
idea that God had meant this divine appointment not only
for Chris and Tracy, but also for my wife and for me.
After just a few Sundays under this
pastor’s preaching, I came under strong conviction that I
was a sinner, and that I am held accountable for all my
transgressions against God’s holy laws. Therefore, I
learned that the price for my sins had to be paid and I
was hopelessly under God’s condemnation bound for a
Christ-less eternity in a place the Bible calls hell.
But, I learned from the Bible, God’s
Holy Word, that God loves us so much that His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins,
was buried, and that He arose from the dead to prove that
He was God’s son and that God the Father has fully
accepted His substitutionary death on the cross on our
behalf.
Then, I learned that by placing
simple faith in Him as my Savior and Lord, and by
repenting of my sins and trusting Him, and Him alone, I
could receive the free gift of eternal life that Christ
has now offered to all that call on His name.
On December 12, 1982 at about 11:45
AM, at Cherry Creek Baptist Church in Englewood Colorado,
I asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive all my sins, past
– present – and future, come into my life and save me
(rescue me) from that awful place called hell. I know that
He answered that prayer, took residence in my heart and
made me a new creature. Just like the Bible says, - I was
born again from above. Something that I could not have
accomplished by myself, but that which only God the Holy
Spirit could work in my life. I now am absolutely certain
that I am a child of God, that He is my Father and that I
have a close relationship with Him, through His Son the
Lord Jesus Christ.
A New Creation in Christ
Since that very date, 12/12/1982, my
life has completely changed. The Lord has given me power
to live a changed life. I have a different outlook on
life, a different value system, different likes and
dislikes. I have different habits, different friends and
do different things. I am now a citizen of a different
Kingdom and march to a different drummer, One who is not
of this world, but One who is above and beyond this world.
By the way, my sons Chris and Tracy,
as well as my wife, Jeanette also received Jesus Christ as
their personal Savior within a very short period of time.
Little did I know that only a few months ago, when my wife
and I started searching for a church for our two sons,
that we would find a Savior. One who is the head of the
church, and one who can save even the most vilest of
sinners.
A New Life in Christ
I know that Jesus had saved me,
because I began to exhibit an immediate thirst for the
things of God. After I was baptized, I got immediately
involved in my local church, went to Sunday School,
started to witness of my newly found faith in Jesus
Christ, and started praying and reading the Bible daily.
Many years later, I enrolled in formal biblical training
and obtained a BS in Church Ministries and a MA in
Biblical Studies.
I have a burden for souls and hope
and pray that the Lord will use this web site to draw
others to Himself.
My life's verse has
been Ezra 7:10
"For Ezra has prepared his heart
to seek the law of the Lord,
and to do it, and to teach in Israel Statues and
Judgments."
Amen & Amen |
