I have been asked explain why this web site has any connection to Cassie Bernall or to Cassie House... Sometimes in life things happen that irrevocably change us and seemingly unconnected events follow that without explanation are hard to link. This web site, and what has happened in my life, are the result of a tragedy that today many have either forgotten or are too young to remember... And so I will try to explain what oftentimes is hard for even me to understand.
On April 20, 1999, two young men, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado and with merciless inhumanity killed 12 students and one teacher, wounding and crippling many others. Although since then we have witnessed many attempts by other disturbed individuals to mimic the atrocity of that day, the shooting at Columbine High School remains the largest school massacre to date. At that point in time, I was living a most comfortable life in another state with my family when God jarred me in a way that I will never forget. The events were too personal and detailed for a letter such as this, but suffice it to say that God made it very clear to me that from this act of Satanic evil He would bring good. God put in my heart that I was to find the family of one child who was killed and from this child, His child, He would bring good. Through a moving of God in my life that has been for me an unprecedented experience that has marked in my mind and soul the reality of God, I was used to start an orphanage in a third world country in memory of Cassie Bernall, the "Cassie House". This orphanage is today a reality and run by a Christian ministry. After my starting that work, God saw fit to move me into other areas of service and today, I am working with helping in Africa with the needs of orphans and refugees. I continue to be involved in other areas of Christian service both nationally and internationally. So, what does this work in Africa and other places have to do with Cassie? I believe our legacy is not in a building or a particular "project" that the Lord allows us to do for Him. Our legacy is the people that we touch in our lives. Only people and God are eternal. Buildings and projects return to dust. Through the testimony of Cassie Bernall who at the age of 17 was asked in a school library if she believed in God and, answering "Yes," was killed, my life was changed. It was not just that important moment in time but the many ways that God used Cassie’s story, her family, and the miracles He performed since April 20, 1999 that forever changed me. Today, I know without a shadow of a doubt that God exists. Today, I know that I cannot understand all the "why’s" of the countless tragedies throughout the world... my heart cries out with each new life that is wounded or hurt ...but today I know that this life is not just a random roll of the dice. I belong to an eternal, loving God. We that are His children, as Cassie was, are safe in His arms even in death. Also, we who live in our comfortable lives must awaken to the knowledge that our days on Earth are counted and so, we must be busy about our Father's purposes. This work is to reach out in Jesus' love to heal the wounds in this suffering and tragic world. Today, I am alive as never before as a result of this change in my life. This web site mentions a few of the things I am involved in. But even more important than this, I am a changed person. I will never be the same again. I look forward to heaven when I will meet Cassie and let her know, if she doesn't already, that her "Yes" echoed around the world changing many lives... To God be the Glory.
The Cassie House web site is named in honor of a young woman who,
on April 20, 1999 while studying in the library at Columbine High School, was asked if she
believed in God, as a shotgun was held to her head. In answering "Yes" she lost her life.
In her memory Cassie House was created as a structure to provide assistance to abandoned,
orphaned or neglected children, as well as assistance to others.
