Ron Krokey
My name is Ron Krokey. I am originally from Cleveland, Ohio. Go Buckeyes!!!! I grew up as Catholic in a Catholic family at a Catholic school in a Catholic neighborhood. I was a good Catholic boy. I was an alter boy and also attended church every Sunday. My childhood was about as “normal” as could be. I certainly wasn’t perfect but wasn’t a hellion either. I seemed to have a very strong conscience. Doing anything wrong tugged at me from the inside. This didn’t stop me from telling a lie or stealing a candy bar but I sure felt bad afterward. My relationship with God was very basic. I knew who He was. I knew I needed to be good and do good things. I had great reverence for Him and hoped that I was good enough to get to Heaven. There was emptiness in this relationship though. No matter how many good things I did, I would still fall, sin and then feel like a failure. In 1976, my Mom and Dad started attending prayer meetings on Sunday nights. As far as I was concerned I punched the clock filling my “church” quota Sunday morning. With the bribery of ice cream at Malley’s Ice Cream Parlor in Lakewood, Ohio (they have the best tin roof Sundays and corn nuts!), I too attended these meetings. At these meetings, people sang and prayed very differently than at St. Ignatius Church. They really seemed to mean it from their hearts. They sang loud and prayed just as loud. Since I was there, I sang and prayed too. This stirred something in me because I hadn’t memorized these prayers. It wasn’t the Act of Contrition or the Apostles Creed or the Our Father. I was talking to my God. Me?! It didn’t feel right sometimes. I wasn’t worthy to talk directly to Him. I saw that these people had something that I didn’t. Peace, assurance and a relationship. I wanted this too. Then one Sunday I heard a message that I had heard many times before. The message was that if prayed this certain prayer and meant it in my heart I could spend eternity with Jesus. This struck me. I never thought about Heaven as spending eternity with Jesus. I was trying to get to Heaven because it wasn’t Hell. Spending eternity with my God touched my heart. A personal relationship entered the picture and overwhelmed me. I realized what these people had. It wasn’t just that they wanted to pray and sing like they meant it. It was that they were praying and singing to God and meant it. My heart was humbled; I started to cry and prayed that prayer to my Savior. I prayed to accept Jesus as my Lords and Savior understanding that He died on the cross and was raised from the dead. I acknowledged that I was a sinner and need forgiveness and to repent from my sins. That was the first time I remember actually praying to someone that was really listening. I felt different after that. I sang and prayed differently. It meant so much more. I now had a personal relationship with my God.
Even though I had a peace that I never had before, I have not been perfect since then. I have stumbled and fallen hard at times. I’ve also had serious health problems. Twenty years ago I was diagnosed with kidney disease. The doctors didn’t know what caused the disease just that it wasn’t hereditary. They told me that there was a 95% chance that my kidney would fail within two years. I lasted 12! (Man, was I good!) I started doing peritoneal dialysis eight years ago. I have to it five times a day. I still worked through this whole time in very stressful management positions. But I still was making pretty darn good money living in a nice house with a lot of nice things. Although I was getting weaker, I had lifted weights for years and was relatively strong physically. (I was not only good, I was pretty darn awesome if you ask me!!! How many people do you know that could pull this off?) Then the bottom dropped out. Because of my and the owner of my company’s stubbornness, I was laid off. It was at that point that I realized that I was taking credit for all the things that I had accomplished without giving credit to my Savior for giving me the strength to do these things. I needed to retool myself. This was right after 9/11. After looking for a job for months, I couldn’t find one. I looked long and hard for one. Being a dialysis patient permitted me too get on medical disability. Not being able to find a job right away frustrated me. Laziness started to set in. After the encouraging of my wife to do something instead of just sitting around, she suggested that I volunteer at our church, FBCW. I figured there was something important that I could help with. I was a skilled manager. I decided I would do this. After praying about it I decided I would do anything they asked. Really anything. Certainly I would make an impact. I went there and asked what I could do. The woman from the office sent me to Craig Ormsby. He said that Charlie Minnie and his crew might need some help. Now we’re talking. I don’t know who he is but let’s see what he’s got. Charlie was a great guy. He needed some help in the sanctuary. Cleaning the sanctuary. Picking up all the mess that people inconsiderately leave behind for someone else to pick up. What in the world am I doing this for? Certainly I could make more of an impact than this! As I left church that day God stepped in. Like a smack in the face I realized I was doing it again. I was looking at “I” too much. I was humbled at that moment to realize that you need to do what God asks you to do, not what you want to do. Through prayer, those two will become the same. I did volunteered work doing various jobs for two years growing spiritually like I never grew before. Then God blessed me with very good job at company in Lithia Springs. I was going to view things different this time. I had a purpose for being there. I was much weaker physically, but 10 times stronger spiritually. After 3 years on this job, I started to have some problems like not sleeping at night but falling asleep while driving, driving on the wrong side of the road or even off the road. I asked my friends to pray for me. I was slowly killing myself by wearing myself down. At this point, a friend of mine, Alexis Brown was involved with the ALS Ministry. It was a wonderful ministry that we volunteering for by visiting with and making meals for the Hoods and the Hansels. She said that this was where I needed to be. I struggled with this. I needed to provide for my family. I need to make an impact at my job. (Here I go again with the “I’s” again!!!!!) My wife completely supported me quitting my job and joining the ALS Ministry as a Care Leader. After prayed long and hard about this and I believed that this was where God wanted me to be. There was an overwhelming peace about this. Scary yet peaceful. Back when I was laid off, I had wanted to start a ministry for kidney failure patients but never pursued it. I believe that God was using these health obstacles in my life to minister to members of His family that also had health obstacles to deal with. God doesn’t mess up and make mistakes. His plan is perfect. In March, I obediently joined the ALS Ministry as a Care Leader. My life is far from perfect. I am not a perfect husband or father. I still stumble and fall. I know that my Savior is there by my side to dust me off. I am blessed with Grace. My heart is in a different place than it was before. It is in my Savior’s hand now. I am forgiven and I am loved. I will spend eternity with my Savior. God bless you!
Ron Krokey
Spread the Word!
