Hi, I’m Steven.

…and I’m celebrating recovery from pornography addiction and living with Asperger Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Arrested Development Disorder.

There, now that we got that out of the way…

I…

  • was born and raised in Santa Ana, California.

  • was the continuous target of school bullies from second grade through high school (thus the Arrested Development Disorder—I’m a twelve-year-old trapped in the body of a fifty-something).

  • grew up Catholic desiring to become a priest when I grew up, until my family left the Catholic Church in 1985.

  • became a “born-again” Christian at a Billy Graham crusade in July, 1985 (and probably rededicated at nearly every winter and summer church camp after that during my youth).

  • felt a call to ministry while in junior college and serving as a worship musician in the church I became a Christian in, and transferred to Vanguard Unversity of Southern California (then Southern California College) in 1993, and earned a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in religion with emphasis in pastoral ministry in 1996 while serving as a worship musician and team spiritual director at another church.

  • lost my grandfather in 1994, and my mother in 1996, both to cancer.

  • moved out on my own into a 450-square-foot studio apartment in California in 1996.

  • married, almost sight unseen, in 1998 after “dating” and “courting” via AOL Instant Messenger.

  • left everything behind and moved from California to Lakeland, Florida, in 2000.

  • bought our first house in 2002.

  • adopted our only child, a son, from family friends in 2003.

  • got caught with online pornography and started with Celebrate Recovery in 2005. Went on to become a recovery teacher and small-group leader and continue to celebrate my recovery. Was also here where I was diagnosed with mental illness and began therapy.

  • was laid off in 2007.

  • received divorce papers in 2008, moved to Plant City, Florida.

  • filed for bankruptcy in 2009–2010 and was almost homeless twice.

  • married my jr. high crush in the Catholic Church in 2013 after a lengthy canonical annulment and counseling process.

  • moved to Tampa in 2013.

  • very suddenly became a widower in 2016 when the love of my life literally and inexplicably dropped dead in our apartment.

  • evacuated from Hurricane Irma in 2017.

  • moved back to Plant City in 2019 to start over and returned to the Catholic church for a while to regain a sense of spiritual discipline.

  • found a new church home and the chance to pick up where I left off when I moved from California, and moved to Clermont, Florida, in late September 2023.