My version of what Tim Whipple said in front of us all the other day is this: I only have one story, it just depends which part you want to hear. I would like to share part of it with you, and I’ll try my very best to use the short version, which I’m not very good at.

I was brought up in a southern Baptist home from birth, and also as an Air Force brat. I was born on “The Yellow Brick Road”. You guessed it, Kansas. So that already throws a wrinkle in it. I grew up learning bible verses and going to Summer Bible School. Because of being an AF brat we weren’t always able to go to church together, as it sometimes affords a challenging lifestyle, so I would a lot of the time be finding my own way down to the church. And we moved a lot. We were in Springfield, Illinois staying with my grandparents on Moms’ side while Dad was in England looking for housing for us. I was attending a local Methodist church and the Sunday school teacher would even come by the house and give me bible study. Mom says my salvation is as a result of this lady’s faithfulness. I don’t remember exactly knowing up to this time that I needed to make a personal decision. I was around 9 or 10 and the year was say 1957/1958. Grandma & Grandpa sometimes liked to go and eat at the Salvation Army on Wednesday evenings, so one Sunday, Mom,Grandma and I attended Sunday morning service. That morning I heard the message, don’t delay, this may be your last chance to make the decision to spent eternity with Jesus. It was loud and clear, and I was terrified because I had to cross in front of Mom and Grandma to get to the isle, but I made it. It felt like walking to the Kings throne with everyone standing for you.

Fast forward a few years in the throws of life, good bad and ugly. I was fresh out of my own tour of duty in the Air Force and living in Hickory,NC. I was 25 and going through that stressfull thing “finding your manhood”. To top that off I was working at Shuford Mills Tape Plant, so the chemicals in that place were doing surgery on my brain. To say the least I was very fragile emotionally. Many nights I was able to get only a couple of hours of sleep while iI buried my face in my bible just to maintain sanity. That’s where I received my first really great foundational bible knowledge. Its taken all this to reach the punch line here. I prayed and told the Lord I had no idea where I was headed, good or bad, “but please don’t ever let go of me”. I’m still here and He has Never let me down. Amen and amen.
Thank you for your patience in hanging out with me to the end of this part of the story. God Bless.

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