My Name is Eric H. Bowen

And that is my real name. I decided back in the days of CompuServe and VICmodems that I would not conceal my identity on line, and save for a small handful of sites which have a requirement in their Terms of Service that you not use your true identity, I have not. I understand that there are very real risks to this decision; I accept the risks. God has protected me well; if I tried to tell you just how well, you would not believe me.

I have been a Christian and a member of conservative (mostly Southern) Baptist Churches since the day after my seventh birthday. There were a couple of years when I got into New Age ideas (hey, I was nine!), but I experienced firsthand the fact that if you truly are a child of God he may let you wander down the garden path for a short time but he will always reach out to call you back.

While I do consider myself a fundamentalist (and most others who have interacted with me would not dispute), I am not a "politically correct" one. During our church Bible Study evening a few weeks ago, I found myself telling my pastor, "Sir, I respectfully disagree." And while I believe that every word of Scripture is exactly what God intended to say at the time that he gave it...I believe that there are some instances in which he would like to ask for a "do-over." (That can of worms gets really deep really quick; give me some time to become more familiar with this board.)

Anyhow, that's some of the basic essentials. There are other essentials related to my choice, thirty-four years ago, to eschew "dating" and pray that God would bring the right helpmate to me in the right way at the right time. I'm still a virgin (Steve Carrell, you're a piker!)...but I've met some people who help me to believe that God is not ignoring me and that my prayer will indeed be answered in his timing. Again, if I gave you the details you wouldn't believe me...but do believe that I do believe it.

If you have questions about the picture in my signature...that's the USS Missouri (BB-63) firing a broadside. I served aboard her for three years in the 1980s; for our Persian Gulf deployment in 1987 I was the designated Southern Baptist lay reader and helped host worship services underway. I didn't do the preaching, though...we had a tag team of two black Baptist pastors and they really did rightly divide the word of God. I still feel privileged to have been on the support team, however.

All the best----Eric.