How does life go by so quickly? How do we stop this high speed train and get off? Just seems like yesterday that Jayne and I were married and started our life. We first met in the summer of 1977 while I was in the Air Force stationed at Tinker AFB, OK. We did not have a first date until August 1978, as I thought she was way out of my league. We were married February 3, 1979. That was how many years ago? Man, it only seems like yesterday. Then we had our daughter Heather in October 1980, then our son Bryan in April in 1983. Wasn’t that last week?
The summer of 1966 (I was 10) we were living back in South Fork, as my father was serving in Vietnam. I remember being invited to go with a friend of mine, Paul Webb, to a Wednesday night service at Mt Hope Methodist Church. The only thing I truly remember about that night, besides the fact that Paul was trying to get me to church, were the games we played at the rec center. Come on I was 10! I wanted to go back, albeit just for the game night. But I will never forget the feeling that I got while I was there. I was welcomed by everyone and felt right at home. I have attended that church a few times over the years since then.
Jayne was raised in a Baptist home, went to church almost every Sunday, and had involved parents that were Christians. Jayne and I had many discussions on the differences of how to get to Heaven. I always thought that as long as you did good things and obeyed the 10 Commandments that you would get into heaven. Jayne was always trying to explain how the Baptist believed in getting there. She never pushed her “religion” on me.
Jayne had an uncle that was a Baptist preacher and I remember to this day what he said to me after Jayne and I got married. He said that we need to get into church. At the time, I knew he was right, but didn’t know how much that really meant.
We attended church a few times as newlyweds, but it was not a priority for me. I believe that this was weighing heavily on Jayne. I can remember several times listening to the sermons and I thought the preacher was preaching to me. I was uncomfortable and did not want to go back. Jayne did not push, although we did go on Christmas and Easter. I was 24 years old when we attended an Easter Service at a Baptist Church in Savannah, GA. This was the second Easter that we had been together. I did not feel the pressure that I had in the past, as most Easter sermons are meant to get people coming back.
That Tuesday after church we were visited by some church members and the discussion came around to getting into heaven. Again, I thought just be good and do good things. They explained that all you needed was to believe in Jesus and accept Christ as your savior. Well like I said, I already believed in God so the first part was covered. But to accept Jesus as your Savior was a different story. After some more discussion I was convinced that God was calling for me. We prayed right there and I accepted Christ.
What, that was April 1981. Man, time flies! I wish I could tell you that I got my life right and started attending church regularly, but that did not happen. But I do remember one morning driving to work, I prayed. It felt right and it felt like God was right there in the car with me. I asked Him to watch over my career and my family. Very shortly after that we moved to South Florida and my attitude never changed toward God. But, I do remember that conversation that I had with God and I did know that He would never forsake me. In fact later in that year He helped me make a decision at work that changed my career forever! I did not know it at the time, but looking back I know now.
Still I was not going to church, except for the religious holidays. Lived for 10 years after accepting Christ as my Savior and never decided to live for Christ. Then out of the blue I received a phone call from an old friend that wanted me to come to Lake Charles, LA and work. I accepted. God at work again.
2 Peter 3:9 (NIV) The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
While in Lake Charles we had neighbors that were relentless at asking us to come to church. Not just one family, but several. Again, I was getting that uncomfortable feeling again. But it was easier now to say yes. Long story short I finally was baptized at First Baptist Lake Charles, along with both of my children! After that I realized that I had not been living the right way. You see God kept His part of the bargain when we had that conversation 10 years prior. We only lived in Lake Charles for just over a year then we moved to College Station, TX. God was working on me. He got me out of my Godless lifestyle and was now working on me. In fact this next move was a huge step in my career and I absolutely knew God was behind this.
It was now my time to step up to the plate and serve God. We got to College Station and immediately got into church, although it took a few months of “shopping around” for the right one. That was, 1992! Where is this time going? Jayne and I began teaching children’s Sunday school. Still not fully devoted to God and still thinking more about me than serving Him. But God is patient and He knows what He is doing. We lived there for 2 years and really hated to move, but the job was going away.
Another move for the career, you see these moves kept getting me promoted, so God was still keeping His part of the bargain. I was trying to serve Him, but it was not my top priority. We moved to Amarillo, TX and we got involved in another church, where Jayne and I both began teaching Sunday school to the youth. After a year we felt the need to leave that church and became involved with a new Church startup, Westway Community Church. One of the most exciting times of our lives, although we were beginning to become disillusioned with Amarillo and we all wanted to move.
I accepted a position at FAA HQ in DC and we settled in Stafford County, VA. We visited many churches and found them, well not quite as friendly as we were used to in Texas and Louisiana. But we ended up at Hulls Memorial and quietly attended. God was still keeping His end of our agreement and my career was headed for bigger things. Within a year of us moving to Virginia I had reached a 10 year goal in my career that I had set for myself 5 years before that! God was making things happen.
Then we stopped going to church, because of church. What? Not trying to look for excuses, we stopped going as the kids got out of high school and we were not involved with the youth. We may have been burnt out. But anyway, my career came to a standstill. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I had funny suspicions that God was showing me that I needed to get back to Him.
Again, after several years of not going to church and allowing God to lead me, it took Jayne to get me going back to church. We went to Cornerstone Baptist Church.
One Sunday it dawned on me that there were 5 women for every man sitting in that church. (I know, because I counted.) God spoke to me and said that I needed to step up to the plate and serve Him on a full time basis. I did not get the feeling that I was being called into the ministry, only into service to Him.
It was also around that time that Jayne gave me a copy of The Unusual Suspect, by Stephen Baldwin. If you haven’t read that book, I highly recommend it. What I got from Stephen’s book was to do something for the Lord, just start and try anything; God will fill in the blanks. It was while reading this book that God spoke to me to begin doing something. I began praying for God to show me how to help.
For me it all began substituting for adult Sunday school and we studied Matthew 5:41 - If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. This became a theme when I taught. That was in 2007. A friend of mine, Jim Rivera came to me one day asked me to pray about helping him start a men’s ministry at the church. I immediately said yes. Jim kept telling me to pray about it and I told him that I already had and this was the answer.
I began helping the men by starting a men’s Bible study on Saturday mornings at Hardees. That lasted a little over a year. From that I started an on line ministry in which I would send out a daily devotion, which evolved into a daily scripture with notes for today’s living. I also started a blog site, called Second Mile Ministry. I used to post weekly devotions, but lately it has decreased into a monthly writing and the daily scripture has stopped all together.
Why do I go through my life story to tell you this? Like I said at the top of this God was guiding me and if I would have kept my end of the bargain, how far would I be now? I am not complaining, because I am very blessed. But I do see a direct correlation of when I work for Him; He works even harder for me.
May 2009 I decided to retire from the FAA and my career. I was a little nervous, but I knew that God would be there for me. I was talking to my son-in-law’s father who had retired the year before after 30 years in the Army and he told me of his decision. What I heard was God speaking to me through Don telling me that everything would be okay.
So, now I cannot give up on my part of the bargain that God and I made back in April of 1981! God has given me a new job and has blessed us beyond imagination. You see Jayne and I have 3 grandsons and a granddaughter. Life just keeps getting better.
Don’t let time slip by you without living life for the right reasons. God has so much to give you and all you have to do is ask Him. If you already know Him, then talk to Him and listen to Him, every step of the way. He wants you to do well, just like you want your child to do well.
Romans 12:1-2 The Message (MSG)
Place Your Life Before God
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
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