Robert John - The Catwalk To Christ: A Story of Gods Radical Love and Grace

Copyright March 2012, The Catwalk to Christ By Robert John Grasseschi

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Photography for front and back cover by Glynis Selina Arban

Styling by Lexy She

Front and back cover design by Robert and Faytene Grasseschi

Published by XP Publishing

A department of XP Ministries

P.O. Box 1017 Maricopa, Arizona 85139

www.XPpublishing.com

ISBN: 9781483518435

Acknowledgements

Thank you, Father, for my greatest gift, my wife. Faytene, you are an AMAZING treasure.

Thank you, Mom. There are not enough words to express my gratitude for your sacrifices for me. You have been my rock for my entire life.

Thank you to all of my family for always being there, especially to my godmother, Marie Brown.

Thank you, Dad, for giving me my boldness. Thank you, Coach. You loved me with no conditions. I miss you both and think of you often.

A special thank you to Ron and Patricia King and the XP Ministries community. Your love and support has changed my life.

Thank you, TheCRY Hollywood and TheCRY Toronto leadership teams. You are all the true definition of servant leadership.

Thank you to everyone at Actors, Models and Talent for Christ. You are all amazing lights to the entertainment industry.

Thank you to Faytene, Larry Whitten, Carol Martinez, Mom, Justin and Danielle Goll, and XP Publishing for helping me to write, print, and publish this book. I could not have done it without you.

Thank you to the Charis Bible School online (charisbiblecollege.org). Your Spirit-led teaching is transforming me.

Thank you to Jay and Charity Randolph of Favor Communications International, Inc., my hometown, and all my friends for supporting and praying for me.

I am also deeply sorry for all the people whom I have hurt from my past. If you are one of them reading this book, I ask for your forgiveness.

Preface

I had fled to Hong Kong to escape from my pain and grief. This was the place where I had been celebrated and where I had found my greatest success as a model, but now the city held no joy for me. My career had taken me all over the world. I had partied with celebrities and had tasted fame and fortune. But wherever I went, death seemed to follow me. Vivid and traumatic memories of an automobile accident replayed over and over in my head. I had unintentionally hit and killed a pedestrian. Even though it was not my fault, I was haunted by a deep sense of shame and guilt.

I sat in my hotel room that night with my head in my hands. Suddenly I was startled by a knock at the door. Little did I know that God had sent a messenger.

ONE

Floorboards
to Backboards

In the beginning ...
it was the pure faith of a child.

L ong before I ever stepped on the catwalk, there was a deep void in my heart, a void that yearned to be filled with the love of a father. My mother was everything a mother should be and much more. My mom and dad divorced when I was two years old, and by the time I was a teen my relationship with my father was very distant and limited. But my story doesn't start there. Let me begin a little earlier.

MY FIRST MIRACLE

My eyes gazed at the lifeless body of my beloved rabbit, Hoppy. In alarm, I grasped for a solution I knew there had to be something we could do. Even though I was only six years old, I had an understanding of faith in my heart. Suddenly, it dawned on me my godmother had to pray for him! She was deeply involved in the Renewal of the 1970s and believed in healing through the laying on of hands. My heart was telling me that she was Hoppy's only hope.

My mother called my godmother who immediately rose to the occasion, just like I knew she would. My godmother's response was to pack up her two sons and drive to our house. Once they arrived, we raced to Hoppy's pen, stood around his lifeless body, laid hands on him, and prayed for healing.

When we finished, my godmother boldly said, Hoppy, in the name of Jesus, get UP! Hoppy got up and started jumping around his pen. We danced and shouted with elation! My heart was full of joy as I gazed in gleeful victory at my beloved pet. He was alive, jumping, and full of vigor at the name of Jesus. Moments ago, Hoppy had been a lifeless body, and now he was back in full force! It was a miracle before my eyes, and I knew it. If ever I had known that God was real and had the power to raise a lifeless body from the dead, it was then. Moreover, not only was God real and His power tangible but He was good, too!

Not only was God real
He was good, too!

I wish I could say that I held on to this child-like faith. Unfortunately, the winds of life came crashing in on my world in the years ahead. The little boy who was once full of expectation soon became a young man full of insecurity and longing for the love of a father.

FATHER WOUNDS

Like I said, my mother is an amazing woman who, as a single parent in a fast-paced world, gave me every ounce of love she could; she made every conceivable effort to be both mother and father to me. She worked full-time as a grade school teacher, made our house a home, sacrificed time and time again for my well-being, was a loving mother, and tried with all her might to fulfill the role of father.

Despite her heroic efforts, I desperately longed for love from my father. The void left a gaping hole in my heart and followed me like a shadow everywhere I went.

In many ways my father was a good man. He was focused, great with people, excellent in his trade as a plumber, and known around the town as a fun guy to be around. For whatever reason, these qualities did not translate into an ability to be a faithful husband to my mom or a father to me, and it hurt.

In reflection, I can see that he, too, was wounded by his relationship with his own father. My grandfather was a noble man with a deep sense of duty to his country. Because of this, as a young husband and father, he left his family to serve in World War II. My grandfather's decision to serve in the US army, instead of staying with his family, deeply impacted my dad in his infancy. No matter how noble the cause of their separation, my father did not understand, and he felt abandoned in his childhood.