My dad, Adan Martinez, is an influential person in Denver, Colorado. He has been a pastor for over 19 years, and was recently named bishop almost a year ago. He is a real estate investor and is always looking for opportunities to grow, whether it is spiritually, mentally, or financially. If you ask him how he has achieved all of this, he would say that it’s all by God’s grace.
It wasn’t so simple to get to where he is now. My dad grew up in a dysfunctional home where domestic violence ruled. My grandfather would beat my grandmother due to alcoholism, ever since my dad could remember. Not only did he witness domestic violence, he also endured sexual abuse at the age of six at the hands of another person. When he was 12, my dad had to drop out of school to start working in order to help support his family. Also, at the age of 14, their entire home was burnt down due to an accident.
“December 25th, 1987. It was a Friday. We had a party at the factory where I worked. I was grabbing beers and cigarettes and I was dancing with my friends. I was already hearing the word of God, but I still wanted to act like if I wasn’t. So then, my boss saw me and called me over. He didn’t speak Spanish and called the secretary over to translate for him. He was American. He told me, ‘you are not like the rest of these young men. I know you are different, and I don’t want you to be like them.’ He was an alcoholic and loved to smoke, so when he said that, it hit me hard. I grabbed my paycheck and left. I was sad because I knew I wasn’t acting right, but when I got outside, I looked up and said, ‘God, you spoke to me through a donkey, like Balaam.’”
On Sunday, the 27th of December of the same year, was the day he got baptized. He told the story like this: “The pastor said, ‘There’s one more.’ I knew it was me, but I was not ready. I can’t be ready. There was a thought in my head that said, ‘There are others who are baptized but are not acting accordingly, you don’t want to be like that.’ Three times someone else went to get baptized each time the pastor kept saying that there was one more. After the fourth person, the pastor said, ‘Adan, where are you?’ as in quoting the Bible. I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, he’s calling me by my name!’ I kept hiding in between the people at church. Another person went up, the fifth person, and the pastor still said there was one more. So then I was like, ‘God, I’m not ready, but if You will be with me all my days, like the Bible says, I will make it. You want me to give You my life for the forgiveness of my sins, then I want You to be with me always. If You keep Your promise, I will make it.’ So I went up to get baptized, and guess what, there wasn’t one more after that.”
God has used my dad in the lives of many people in so many ways. There have been problems and nothing has been easy. If we were to ask him how it is that he has overcome all of those difficult situations that life has thrown at him, he would respond that God has kept his promise and has been with him always.