Caked in human flesh and blood, Petty Officer Mike Taylor crawled through the U.S.S. Iowa's destroyed turret.

Several hours earlier, one of the battleship's 16-inch cannons had misfired, exploding the turret and the magazine where armaments were stored, killing 47 sailors.

The sailors' remains soaked Mike's clothing, their bone shards jabbed his skin as he crawled through the buckled steel. In the glowing red magazine, Mike's duty was to ensure the leaking fuel, fragments and fumes didn't set off secondary explosions.

"I sat behind a 2,700-pound-high explosive shell contemplating life and death," Mike said. "If that had exploded, I would have been blown into pieces. Would they have anything to send home to my mother? Where would I go? How would I get right with God? I could feel the human flesh on my body. I felt it on my hands. This was a person just like me, and this could happen to me."

Growing up, Mike had never heard the gospel. He thought religion was only rigorous works. In boot camp, a devout Christian had shared with Mike the concept of salvation, but he never explained to Mike how to be saved.

As Mike wrestled with grief and nightmares, he turned to another Christian, Petty Officer Jim Fowler. "Brother Jim" had a peace in the middle of the horrific aftermath. He talked with Mike about God's protection and prayed for him.

"I started going to church with him," Mike said. "I wanted to find out about this Jesus he was talking about."

The other Christian sailors angered Mike. They cornered people with their "Four Spiritual Laws," but their works didn't back their words.

Jim, however, accepted people for who they were. Mike saw Jim do all his duties as an engine mechanic without complaining. In the engine room's 135-degree heat, Mike saw Jim sing to God, arms outstretched.

Once in Gaeta, Italy, Jim went with Mike to his favorite restaurant. By evening's end, Mike was roaring drunk. Three times Jim quietly suggested they head back to the ship. "I was a class A disgusting drunk," Mike said. On their way back, Mike realized he was acting unbecomingly and apologized to Jim.

"Mike, you don't need to apologize to me," Jim said. "You've done nothing to embarrass me."

"Jim, you really care about me?"

"Yes, I have a love for you, Mike."

"You love me more than my dad does," Mike said. "Why haven't you judged me?"

"I can't wait for you to the know the Lord," Jim said. "Jesus walked with people that were drunk. It's Christ in my heart that's spending time with you tonight."

"That meant so much to me," Mike said. "He spent a whole night with a disgusting drunk and put me in bed to make sure I was safe."

When Mike got orders for Bremerton, Wash., he spent his last night with Brother Jim and his family.

His wife took Mike to the airport.

While stationed in Bremerton, Mike's ship, the U.S.S. Camden, was deployed to the Persian Gulf War.

By now Mike claimed he was a Christian, but his life said otherwise.

During the war, God spoke to Mike. "The Lord said, 'You don't have the works to back up your words and because of this I am going to kill you one of three ways: knife, gun or AIDS,'" Mike said.

If God's voice had been any clearer, Mike said, it would have been audible.

As soon as Mike got back to Brem-erton, he went to church religiously. Within weeks he became a regular attender at Silverdale Baptist Church.

Mike said he chose that church because a peace settled over him as he drove by it, and he rememberred Jim had taken him to a Baptist church.

One day, Mike asked Pastor DeGraaff if there was anything wrong with wearing a charm beside his cross.

The pastor challenged Mike that a deeper issue was at stake. Using the Bible, Pastor DeGraaff slowly explained the Gospel to Mike. He then asked Mike three times if he wanted to pray to receive Jesus.

Mike said no the first two times. On the third offer, Mike said he felt God was giving him one last chance.

Fearfully, Mike said yes, asked God to forgive his rebellious life and asked Jesus to be his Lord.

Nine years later, Mike is in his fourth year of the pastoral ministries major at Multnomah Bible College. After graduation, he and his wife, Elaine, plan to intern with Pastor DeGraaff.