"Your background isn't as important as what you do with your future," says Paul McLaughlin also known as "The Miracle Man." Many people around Portland, Eugene and Springfield, Oregon have seen his street campaign sign encouraging them to "Help Stop Child Abuse." Others have benefited from funds he has raised for child abuse programs and hospitals. Still others, who tell him of abuse they have suffered, may hear words of encouragement based on his own background.

"No matter what happened to you in the past," he says, "however horrible it was, don't blame it on God or other people. HE can help you turn everything around so you can help others who have suffered."

The Miracle Man is living proof. For many years, Paul had no hope for a better future. "I thought I would stay small forever and never grow up, and always live in a world of pain and hate."

He almost lost the chance to grow up. At the age of two, he was admitted to a hospital malnourished, battered, almost dead. He later wished he was dead, but no one heard his silent cries!

He listed the kinds of abuse he and his twin sister endured: "Placed on top of hot stove, forced to eat stool and bars of soap until he vomited, head split open many times with spiked dress shoes or a stick. Beaten without clothes on. The list goes on and on. He was beaten almost every day about 4-6 times per day."

As he walked to church with his parents he was afraid of them. He would look at the people on the street and in church and cry out in his mind, "Look at me, I am being hurt. Help my twin sister. We need help." But no one heard his silent cries. His Older brother and sister were not abused.

In the midst of his terrible childhood, Paul also came to know "this thing called love." When he was baptized (Methodist church in Donora, Pennsylvania) at age of seven or eight, "LOVE ENTERED MY LITTLE BODY AND I KNEW WHAT WAS," he says. "As I was being abused, this love was with me and yet I hated God for giving me this terrible childhood."

Classified as learning disabled, Paul was placed in Special Education courses and finally graduated from high school at age 21. After 2 years in the Army, he began his own campaign against child abuse in 1975 in Tacoma, Washington and Portland, Oregon. He'd talk to kids on the streets, referring them to agencies where they could get help if abused, homeless, or on drugs. He'd visit people in hospitals and clinics.

"It took much courage to start my campaign," he says, "So much fear was inside of me because of the past severe abuse. Some people would laugh, swear or throw things at me."

Since 1975, he has spoken on seven radio talk program, appeared in a TV commercial, ten forums in Washington and Oregon. His story was printed in two magazines; his fund raising projects help the homeless, crippled children, and victims of child abuse. It bothers him, he says, that a few are willing to report child abuse when they see it until it is too late and the children are killed.

Paul became a Christian in 1989 through the ministry of Focus on the Family. "It took over 35 years to become a true believer in Christ," he says. "I had blamed God for my suffering."

He then realized "CHRIST GAVE ME THIS LOVE TO EASE THE BURDEN OF SUFFERING." Christ had taken some of my pain by giving me this love and yet I used to curse God.

Paul admits he's still far from perfect, but knows his faith in Christ brought significant changes in his life. "I went home to see my mother and I forgave her and I gave her a hug."

Paul doesn't understand the "why of suffering," but accepts that God wanted him to live so he could help others. "I wish others could have what I have," he says. "NO PAIN, ONLY THIS THING CALLED LOVE."

He told of a 15-year-old girl he talked to. She also had suffered abuse and tried to kill herself by slashing her wrist with a razor blade. "I changed her life because I said three magic words, 'I love you.' She cried and gave me a hug and told me that no one ever told her that before."