RButler

Robert was born in the small southern town of West Plains Missouri. Being raised in the Ozarks, he was fortunate enough to experience a simpler kind of life which was rooted in family and friendship. From birth, Robert was diagnosed with a condition called Optic Nerve Hypoplasia and has spent his entire life legally blind. Because of the support and encouragement from his family though, he never has seen himself as disabled and growing up he never afforded himself the tools of the blind if he could avoid it. This made Robert very strong minded and ultimately very independent but sometimes, even to this day it can make him a very stubborn person.

It is said that people who are born with physical conditions that limit one or more of their senses tend to develop very keenly in those senses that remain. Robert is no different in this regard and while he is not completely blind, his other perceptions do pick up a great deal of slack from the lack of good vision. Often what he sees from day to day would be like trying to distinguish fine details from a wallet sized photo of a person from across a room. Most of the general details are there but specifics such as eye color, hair color, etc are weak. This can make physically reading and interacting with people difficult which is why Robert believes that one of his coping mechanisms has been the ability to intuitively read people.

He doesn't describe this ability as psychic but rather just a strong sense of a person, not unlike the way animals can sense a person's intention and pick up on their personality. Sometimes, this can have affects that do seem psychic but it's a word Robert tries very hard to stay away from. He cannot see the future and he cannot tell you where your lost car keys are but he may be able to pick up on specific things about your personality. In ministry this is called discernment.

In November of 1999, after a challenging experience as a very young adult, Robert felt compelled and called into the Christian ministry. This began a spiritual journey that has continued to this day and while his beliefs have grown and changed since those early days of exploration, he still latches on to the teachings of Christ as a spiritual center. The one thing he does not do, is reject the validity of other religions in the world. He believes that the true message of Christ has been distorted into nothing more than a means to control people and that at their roots every major belief system in the world today teaches the exact same message.