Why I came back -
Mike Eichhorn's journey away from the church and back home again
By Nancy Schertzing

I grew up Catholic and went through all the sacraments. I had a strong foundation in my faith, but in high school I left the church for a while. I spent my early 20s living selfishly as I built my career in television advertising by day and partied freely at night.

When I was 26, my mother suffered a brain stem stroke, which left her completely paralyzed. She was dependent on a tracheotomy and feeding tube at age 45. I remember thinking, “This is my mother! Why is this happening to me, God?”

I listened to the Bible on tape as I drove the 50 miles every morning and night between my work and Mom’s hospital. One day I just realized there was no answer.

“This has nothing to do with you,” I told myself. “Stop being so selfish.”

It became clear this was about something more than I could understand, and that God didn’t necessarily want me to understand it. My job was to get through this with God’s strength.

After six months of 24-hour attention and coaching from my father, sister and me, my mother was breathing and eating on her own. She went home shortly after, and my father became her full-time caregiver.

In the midst of Mom’s recovery, I had a chance to reevaluate the life I had been living, and I knew it needed to change. I especially regretted the way I had treated some of the women I had known.

So I prayed, “God, if you send me a woman to love, I promise I’ll take care of her.”