Ray Lopez

I was born in Brooklyn in 1959, the second of four children from the marriage of a first generation Cuban mother and Mexican/Spanish father. I was raised in Long Island, or Strong Island, or Wrong Island, depending on one's perspective. I grew up in a predominantly white community and was confronted with racism during my developmental years. I was a child alcoholic and addicted to methamphetamine by the time I was in my late teens. I was involved in gang activity and landed in a psychiatric hospital and jail. I've been an avid reader and writer since my early childhood. I loved ghost stories and poetry. I found Christ while locked up at the age of 19. I was called to be an evangelist the moment I was saved. I was spared any felony convictions but was on probation before God released me to move to California with my future wife, Paula. I wrote and published a lot of poetry in the '80s. I earned my masters degree in English at UC Berkeley in 1987. I started working as a juvenile probation officer when I was 21. After a 35 year career in probation, the last 26 as a federal probation officer, I retired in 2016 and began working as a mitigation specialist in federal death penalty cases. I also returned to creative writing. I have been married to the professor for 39 years and we have two amazing adult children. I am grateful to my publisher, Wipf and Stock, for accepting the three memoirs God has given me describing his mercy, grace and power in my life from birth until the young age of 60. I hope you read them and feel God's unconditional love, the power of redemption and the power of His Holy Word. I am very excited about the publication of my first work of fiction, The Painter A Novella Based on True Stories, also published by Wipf and Stock.