The eighth child in a family of ten, David Hodges was always considered a "go-getter". He never took "no" for an answer and always had a desire to learn more and more. David was born in Lexington, Mississippi and grew up on a sprawling 42-acre farm. He was always fascinated with baking and spent hours in the kitchen watching his mother bake. One day when David was ten years old, as he sat in the kitchen watching his mother kneading dough, a love came over him to bake, and that is when he knew that he, too, would one day grow up to be a baker. At the age of fifteen, David began to dream of going around the world working as a baker and his dream was to do it on the waters. As he pursued his dream, even through High School and on to Atterbury Job Corps Center in Edinburg, Indiana; David enrolled in a Baker's Class and graduated with a diploma in baking. The vision from so long ago had now sprouted wings, and David was off and running in pursuit of his dream. From Atterbury, he went on to Chicago and worked for Ward Bakery for three months. Form there David and his brother left Chicago and headed cross-county in a 1967 Nova and ended up in Los Angeles. There he enrolled in Central Adult School and took a course in Cake Decorating, graduating in the top half of his class. Still hungering and thirsting for more knowledge, David enrolled in a baking and cooking course at the Clarified Job Corps Center in Oregon, Utah and walked right into his destiny. One of David's teachers asked if any of the students wanted to go into the Merchants Marines. The job entailed traveling around the world working on cruise ships. Of courses David jumped at the chance and was soon off to the "high seas." He worked on a variety of cruise ships as a cook and baker for a number of years. After David's parents separated, he had a breakdown and resigned from the Merchants Marines. He went home and searched for answers to life's great questions while going through treatment for Schizophrenia and depression. David accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart on May 5, 1980. The pastor's message that day was on Jesus as our eternal life line. This led David to the MasterLife books because he wanted to know who is a disciple and how to become one. After much study, David was moved to share his life story so that others would be brought to the Word of God and saved by Jesus' grace and mercy.