The Bible is a dead letter without the Spirit of God giving you understanding. If you have not been baptized by water and the Spirit, do it ASAP. Trying to intellectualize the Bible gets you nowhere fast. Only by the Holy Spirit and prayer does true understanding and faith come.
Actually, "homeschool_dad" you are very lucky because you are about to enter a whole new world. Don't use your noggin at this point. Just say in prayer that if the Holy Spirit will guide you, you want to give your life to Him. And don't give up...even now He's nudging you along. Be determined and have faith.
He wants your love (and He wants to show you His love for you) but the only way you can give your love to Him is by faith. If you had proof, it wouldn't be love...it would be submission because of His power. He doesn't want submission, he wants your freely given love and affection (adoration).
Imagine you were a young man and fell in love with a beautiful woman. She was so beautiful you knew she could win the heart of any young man but she told you she loved you and that you could trust her to be true to that love. Now, imagine she went away for a while. What would strengthen your love for her and hers for you. Trusting her to be true (trusting in love)...or having proof by hiring a private investigator. Anyway, however clumsily put, you see my point.
Love is trusting without proof and that is what God wants. He wants you to love Him and that can only be done with trust (which is of course faith).
Best of luck and God bless you in this wonderful journey.
Oh, and by the way. You can trust Him.
I was baptized at birth. This is a small part of my search though... and I think one of the problems with Protestantism. Yes, I understand that grace is a free gift and there certainly isn't anything that we can do to earn it. But it's been my experience that many Protestants take that as an excuse to be lazy about their faith. "Jesus did all of the work, so I don't have to do anything".
In a conversation with my sister-in-law, she said that it sounded like I was trying to find a way to earn my way into Heaven. I know that no one can do that. What I *am* looking for though, is the best way to honor my God and my Creator.