The Lord has blessed our church family in bringing The Ratelle  family back to  us after a decade long departure.

Wes & Julie, Joshua, age 13, Luke, age 8 ½, and Kaylee, age 5, believe the Lord has moved them back to our area and they are so thankful to be safe in the center of His will. Wes grew up in San Diego, an only child until his mother remarried and gave him a step-sister and a step-brother from another marriage. At the time she remarried, Wes’s mother became a Christian and thus was instrumental in allowing Wes to be exposed to the gospel at age 11 at an Easter Break Christian camp. Up until that point, Wes had been in church maybe a half dozen times and was never exposed to the gospel in a clear way.

Julie was born at Goleta Valley Hospital and grew  up in Santa Barbara. Julie was born into a family preceded by

countless generations of Christians on her mom’s side and  was exposed to the  gospel consistently throughout

childhood. She received the gift of salvation on the day that  her wonderful godly  grandma, who made everything

in life about God, died in 1982. Julie was 13 and making dinner for her dad when she asked how she could know whether or not she would get to see her beloved grandma again. Her dad answered with an explanation of eternal life and led Julie through the sinner’s prayer. Julie still has the bible with the note on it marking the moment of her salvation.

Julie turned away from God as a young woman and moved to Bakersfield with a boyfriend who attempted to make Julie do drugs. She developed hepatitis and was quite ill when a nice stranger named Paul offered to bring her back to Santa Barbara.

Despite the fact that she was a Christian and that her mom had been praying the entire time she was gone, it wasn’t until Wes pointed out that it was God who brought Julie back to Santa Barbara that she realized she had always been safe in His hands, never outside of His lovingkindness towards her. Julie’s life was on track again when she met Wes at a singles’ Bible study at Trinity Baptist in Santa Barbara, and they were married 14 years ago.

Wes had just finished his day teaching history at Santa Barbara High School in November 1996 when he was filling the tank at the gas station. He started talking to a man who was filling up his old station wagon and thought the guy was so nice that he would try out his church. That moment began his friendship with the man, Blain Gibbs, and the Ratelle family’s part in the Community Church family. Julie loves the warmth of the people at Community Church and remembers the first friendly face she met belonged to Mary Jones who she remembers as so nice and welcoming. The Ratelles were a vital part of the fellowship here when they moved to Santa Barbara in August of 1998.

Wes is now teaching in his fourth year at Dos Pueblos High School and the Lord is teaching him and Julie that this world is very, very temporary and as long as He gives us shelter and food, there isn’t much else to worry about. What some would see as bad luck, the Ratelles see as the hand of God moving again in their lives, for their good. They lost the home they had worked so hard for when they cashed out the equity, bought a second home in Bakersfield, and invested the rest of the money with a corrupt property manager who soon lost it all. They had planned these investments to supplement his teacher’s income and, as Wes says, the decisions were sound, but God had another plan which the Ratelle’s believe was at least partly to bring them back to Buellton. The Ratelles are strengthened and encouraged by Habakkuk 3:17:

"Though the grape wither on the vine, though the barns be empty of

grain, though the stalls be empty of cattle,
I will trust in the Lord forever."

*Interview by Anjie Park