Years ago I had no real direction in life. I did have various goals I wanted to obtain in my life, but I was pretty depressed. There was no real meaning to my life, and I had an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. I didn't want to die, but if I did, I didn't care. I felt really empty, despite having a pretty impressive "resume."

I had previously trained for two Olympic Games, done fitness modeling and acting in Hollywood, earned my Bachelor of Science degree, received black belts in three different martial arts, been running three businesses, and traveled to sixteen different nations. It seemed I should have been happy, but I was not. I was running in circles. I could not answer the life's most important question, "Why am I here?"

The answer to this question began to manifest on an ordinary night when a very unordinary occurrence happened. This occurrence has since changed everything in my life. While I slept, I had two thirty-second dreams in the same night. In my first dream, I saw myself walk into a large room that seemed to have no end. Inside the room, there appeared to be millions of flaming candles spread on the floor. I saw myself walk over towards a wall, and pick up a basket. I placed the basket over one of the candles. I then went and got another basket, and placed it over another candle. I continued doing this over and over until I saw a man to my right. The man was dressed in a white, glistening robe, and I instantly knew it was Jesus.

I asked Jesus, “What am I doing? Why am I extinguishing all of these candles?”

Jesus said to me, “These candles represent the gifts and potential I have placed in your life. What you are doing in your dream, is what you are doing in your life. You are quenching the light that I have placed before you.”

The Lord then quickened my mind to recall Matthew 5:14-16. In this section of scripture Jesus said:

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

In my second dream, I saw myself digging a huge pit. As I continued to dig, the hole grew deeper and wider. After a while, I stopped digging. I then saw myself reach to the ground next to the hole and grab a handful of coins. I then began to throw the coins into the pit. I continued to do this over and over. Jesus then appeared in the scene.

I asked the Lord again, “What am I doing? Why am I burying all these coins?”

Jesus replied, “What you are doing is burying your talents. I have given you so much, and you are not doing anything with what I have given you.”

The Lord then quickened my mind to recall the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:24-28. In this parable Jesus said:

24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents."

I knew what the Lord was insinuating. I was wasting my life following my own passions and desires. I was wasting the gifts and calling the Lord had placed before me. I was snuffing out my own destiny, and burying the potential the Lord had given me.

I woke up from those two dreams totally undone. I felt a knot in my throat, and my heart had sank. What could I say to my Maker? There was nothing I could do to justify my life’s actions. I felt exposed and naked before the Lord. He knew everything, and there was no getting around it. All I could do was repent, and say how sorry I was.

From this encounter, God had begun to completely transform my life. The Lord revealed to my wife, Dawn and I that we would be traveling around the United States. Our purpose was to go to the streets and into the marketplaces and find God’s lost and wayward treasures, while releasing the kingdom of heaven. We have found hundreds of desperate people from drug addicts, to prostitutes, to gang members whom we have helped transform their lives.

Not only do we find God’s treasures on the streets, we also help activate members of the body of Christ into their own God-given destinies. We have trained up, activated, and mentored numerous people for street and marketplace evangelism.

I am a person who likes a lot of activity. I like almost anything with action, mystery, or adventure. Of course I enjoy bike riding, scuba diving, backpacking, surfing, sports, and traveling, but I mostly enjoy ministering to other people. As I have mentioned, I am in full-time ministry and a frontline missionary. My wife and I have spent hours and hours on the streets praying for broken and desperate people. There is nothing more exciting to see what God is going to do in another person's life.

To give you a very quick taste of this excitement, let me share a true story with you from one of our experiences as a missionary. When my wife, Dawn and I were in route to Las Vegas from Oregon, we decided to stop in Reno, Nevada. Neither Dawn nor I had ever been to Reno. Therefore, we thought it would be a fun place to “warm-up” at before evangelizing in Las Vegas.

We found our way to the Reno “Strip.” We began walking around the area prayer marching, and looking for God’s treasures. After a while, we found ourselves walking behind a group of five punk-rockers. They were probably in their twenties. There were four guys and a girl. They looked hard-core. They had long, spiked Mohawk hair, tattoos, chains, and piercings. Despite their punk-rock look, we knew there was something special about this group though. We could tell they have a high calling on their lives. I got a specific word of knowledge from the Lord for the girl. The Lord had revealed to me she had a lot of hip pain.

I boldly walked up to them and got their attention, “Excuse me, Miss, do you have pain in your hip?”

“Maybe,” she replied, “Why do you ask?”

“I was wondering if I could command healing in your hip.” Often times if a person has hip pain, their hips are out of alignment, resulting in one leg being shorter than the other.

I then turned to the four guys and asked, “Do you guys want to see a miracle?” They all thought I was totally out of my mind. They thought I was making some sort of move to try and steal their wallets. They threatened to beat me up, pointing out the odds of four guys verses one, if I tried to steal anything from them. I tried to assure them I didn’t care about their money, and asked again, “Do you want to see a miracle?”

Then the girl said, “I would not even be giving you the time of day if my hip didn’t hurt all the time.”

I asked her, “Do you want to be healed of this?”

“Sure,” she replied.

“Can we check your leg length to see if your legs are even?”

I got her to sit down on the ground, and to sit straight with her back against the wall.

Then the guys starting saying, “Ya, I want to see a miracle happen. What are you going to do though, try and convert us to some religion?”

I reassured them I wouldn’t try to convert them to some “religion.” If anything, I wanted to introduce them to their own personal relationship with the heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Christianity is far from a religion, it all centers on a relationship with God.

One of the guys then pulled out a small video camera and started recording. We checked the girl’s leg length, and sure enough her left leg was a half-inch shorter. I got all of them to confirm that it was indeed shorter. It was pretty obvious to see, and they all agreed her leg was shorter. I told them all that I was not going to pull on her leg or manipulate her body in anyway.

With the camera running, I commanded her hip to loosen, the pain to go, and her body to come into alignment in the name of Jesus. Sure enough, it did. It freaked them all out. Even the girl admitted she felt her leg loosen and pull, when I spoke the words, even though I didn’t even pull on her. All of us witnessed that her legs went from being a half-inch off, to being totally aligned.

Dawn and I then told them how much Jesus loves them. They shook our hands vehemently, and were filled with awe and amazement. They then gave me one of their business cards. It turned out they are a punk rock band from Philadelphia currently on a US music tour.

It doesn’t matter what a person has or hasn’t done, or where they are spiritually. God wants to encounter everybody with His great love. Dawn and I were so honored to be used by God to love on these very special people, who have a high calling and strong destiny over their lives. The reality is though, their true destinies can only be fulfilled through their relationship with the Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

This is one story of hundreds that we have. It is impossible to have these types of experiences and say, "That was boring." In fact, I have written an entire book containing many of our stories. The book is entitled, Go: Testimonies from the Frontlines. To me, there is nothing more exhilarating than seeing someone's life be transformed.

I have been very blessed not to suffer with "writer's block." If I can set the time aside, I can write an entire book in a week. Granted, I work at least twelve hours a day on it each day. Perhaps my writing process is different from other people, but the process I undergo seems to work for me. Let me explain my process, and perhaps it will be a help to you.

1). Before I start writing a book, I need to let the desire to write it become unbearable. There is a lot of work, effort, and commitment in writing, publishing, and marketing a new book. Therefore, when I begin to feel the desire to write a new book birthing, I rest on the idea for several days, weeks, or even months. I begin to formulate the thoughts of the book in my mind, before I really start writing. I believe most of the main ideas of the book are already written inside my head before I even turn on the computer. Once I feel the urge to "push the book out," it is usually a very painless and fast process. I don't like to force something into existence when it is not mature enough. The desire to write the book must be unbearable.

2). In order to "birth a book," I need to receive the revelations to write, or discover the story to tell. Since I am both a fiction and non-fiction writer, the process sometimes varies. However, this is the process I use daily, which has resulted in the books I have written. My books are predominately religious themed.

a). I read a chapter in the Bible. I read progressively through the Bible daily chapter by chapter.

b). After I read the chapter, I either lay down on my bed, or sit in a quiet room where I won't be distracted. I focus and meditate on a particular verse that "jumped off the page" at me. For example, when I read Matthew chapter 13, verse 11 was really highlighted to me. In this verse Jesus said, "Because it has been given to you [Jesus' disciples] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given." Since I am one of Jesus' disciples, I apply this scripture to my own life. I begin to ask Jesus personally what mysteries of the kingdom of heaven He wants to reveal to me. I then listen to what He begins to speak in my thoughts and mind. I listen to the still, small voice of the Lord. Sometimes the Lord will even show me pictures in my mind. The Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit then give me revelation, direction, and motivation to act on what was revealed to me.

3). Once the Lord births the desire for me to write the book, I open a blank document and start writing what has been imparted into me.

When you read about some of the most influential people in history, many of them had major setbacks they had to overcome. Take Helen Keller for example. Helen was a prolific American author, political activist, traveler, and lecturer. She was also born deaf and blind. Helen had great obstacles to overcome, but she found a way.

My setbacks are not nearly as extreme as hers, but I did have some. During my university career, in which I received my Bachelor of Science in Human Physiology, I had two different professors actually make me cry. Both incidences revolved around my ability to write. Both of them critiqued, ridiculed, and belittled me so much until I actually began to weep like a baby in front of them. That was pretty embarrassing. This made me not want to write again because I began to believe the lies those professors spoke regarding my writing ability.

Another setback I had to overcome was the rejection of writing. Many authors know the difficulty in getting a publishing contract and/or literary agent. I have received hundreds, maybe thousands of rejection letters from publishing companies and literary agents. I want to encourage you to keep moving forward.

My parents, Clint and Faye Pietsch are still married after nearly fifty years. I am a result of their marriage along with my five brothers and no sisters. I am the fourth child. My brothers are named in this order: Todd, Scott, Joel, Seth, and Timothy. My oldest brother Todd has invented a fishing lure in which he has caught two officially registered world record fish. My brother Scott was a professional snowboarder and was sponsored by a German snowboard company. Joel sat down at the piano and began to instantly play the theme song to, The Return of the Jedi without ever having a lesson. Seth was drafted to the New York Mets in 2003. My youngest brother Timothy graduated from Airborne school in the US Army.

Todd, Scott, Joel, and I were all born in Southern California, whereas Seth and Timothy are Oregon natives. When I was five years old, my parents moved to Oregon where I grew up. Oregon is a lot more slow paced than California, but it certainly lacks the big city flare. It is a wonderful treat for me when my entire family is able to reunite from across the United States.