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When I speak to young Christian adults, whether they are in the workplace or in college, a message that I hope encourages them concerns God's willingness to guide their lives if that is their desire. I use His involvement in my own life throughout my 78 years as an example. The following is an abridged version of God’s gracious guidance, much of it well before I came to know Him personally.

I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and baptized Thomas Aloysius McMahon in the Roman Catholic Church. In my early grade-school years, my family moved to Apple Creek, Ohio, where my dad was a psychiatrist at the state mental health facility. Our home was on the 2,000-acre grounds of the institution. That aspect of my background came to light during the times when Dave Hunt and I were both speakers at conferences. Dave enjoyed mentioning to the audience that “Tom grew up in an insane asylum, so you really need to be Bereans in checking out what he says.” They thought he was joking until I admitted that he was correct on both accounts. My psychiatrist father was a director of a large mental institution and our family lived on the grounds.

My education was mostly under Catholic instruction, including elementary school, military school, and high school, as well as a brief time in a Catholic fraternity. I enjoyed my Catholic upbringing and looked upon many of the nuns and priests in my life as extended family members. Those fond memories remain.