Nick’s Story

This is my brief version of Nick’s story as I know it.  His whole testimony is amazing and he will have to write down some day to share.

 

Nicholas Shane Kesling is my second born son.  He is 23 and is married to his beautiful wife Katie.  They both live in Kodiak Alaska and work for the Kodiak Baptist Mission.  Nick and Katie met while both serving as First Year Missionaries with AIM in South Africa and Swaziland. 

 

Nick, some where between his parents divorcing and high school developed a problem with alcohol.  This problem escalated and Nick found himself arrested and in jail at age 18.  He and a friend had to much to drink and broke into a pentecostal church and took some of their musical instruments.  When the police arrived Nick tried to leave in his truck so they arrested him and charged him with felony breaking and entering and drunk driving.  This was all just two weeks before he was supposed to leave for his freshman year at college.

 

I was to say at the least beside myself.  I had just started going to this christian church and new of a God but was not yet saved.  I was scared to death.  I knew if I allowed him to go off to college with this problem we would loose him.  I also knew that if he was convicted he could spend up to a year in prison.  My saving grace was that I was in my first ever bible study and I turned to my group for prayer and support.  I knew Nick wasn’t a criminal but an alcoholic who needed help!

 

The night before his court appearance the ladies met with me and prayed.  They prayed that the judge would see that it was the alcohol that caused Nick to commit the crime and that he needed help not a conviction.  Nick did not know the Lord at the time but I called him up and told him that we were praying and I didn’t know if he believed in prayer or not but asked him to say the same prayer.

 

We arrived at court the next morning to find out that the attorney hired to represent Nick was a christian.  He looked at us and said, “I was up last night and I felt compelled to pray that the judge will see that Nick has a problem with alcohol and offer him treatment in lieu of conviction.”  Wow I was stunned.  And yes the judge ruled for treatment in lieu of conviction.  He told Nick that he has never done this before but felt like he needed to offer him this chance. 

 

For the first time in my life, God felt close to me.  I was overwhelmed by his provision.  I sat outside that court room that day and repented for wasting the first forty years of my life on selfish pursuits and I vowed to give him the next forty.  I promised Him I would do what ever He asked.

 

I knew Nick needed help!  So I surrendered him to God.  He showed me that he needed more help than the courts would impose.   So I told him he could remain in school and I would pay his tuition if he agreed to my plan.  I told him that I would pick him up ever Friday and take him to Celebrating Recovery at church and then he had to go to church with me on Sunday morning before I would take him back to school.  The first six weeks were hell.  He wouldn’t talk to me and usually made fun of the way christians acted.  We kept at it though I struggled to see any change.

 

Then the following summer I needed to travel back to Jamaica to make arrangements for Shane’ to come to the US on a medical visa.  I needed for him to go.  He commented “I don’t want to go and take care of AIDS infested babies.”  But little did he know what the Lord had planned for him.  I watched this spoiled insecure American brat of privilege go from not wanting to be there to on the third day giving his shoes to a boy that had none.  He couldn’t get enough I stayed a month and he stayed on two more.  He returned on fire and in love with the Lord!

 

Nick asked me when he returned if he could take a year off school and go to Swaziland.  He raised support and headed off to Gainesville, GA for training to be a missionary with AIM.  This picture is the day we saw him off to Africa.  Nick had a fire in his heart to care for the orphans of AIDS.  One of those babies became his sister.  See Tula’s story. 

 

I couldn’t have been more excited for him.  The night before he left I felt it was important for me to share with him my story.  So I wrote him a letter explaining how I was saved outside the court room that day.  It seems God had a plan for both of us through this unfortunate situation.  One of Nick and I favorite verses is, For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future Jeremiah 29:11.

 Swaziland 2007