After the morning service, I walked next door to the house of my friend. We ate lunch, sang Gospel songs, and had great fellowship. I then went home to my apartment.
After the evening service, I again went home to my apartment, but this time I was awakened in the middle of the night by the wife of someone I looked up to.
I could hear the fear in her voice as she said, "They have taken him away." I soon learned that this Great Man of God was arrested for unspeakable acts against people who I loved.
What had gone wrong? He was the former Pastor at the church where I was now ministering.
That Wednesday I turned in my resignation. My trust was in man. For Pastors that I had looked up to failed. I saw no way I could be a minister. They asked me to stay on for another month, which I did.
After that last Sunday at the church, I drove to the truck stop next door and did something I told myself that I would never do again. I bought some drugs. I then drove to my apartment and attempted to drown out my sorrow.
I had gone through Teen Challenge 3 years earlier. How could I go back to this? Even though this was a one-time drug binge, I knew that I was STILL an addict.
I began smoking and drinking again. Mostly on Sunday instead of going to church.
I didn't know it, but I was trying to run from my calling. I ran for 14 months. I ran until the morning of January 27, 1986.
This was the day before the space shuttle Challenger blew up. There was an ice storm in the Atlanta area. I was determined to go to work.
I thought I had it made. I had a great job as a Senior Draftsman at Duracell battery company making over 4 times the minimum wage, a nice apartment, and a nice sportscar.
All was fine. I was almost at work, waiting for the light to turn green when a car coming through the intersection began to spin on the ice. It hit my passenger side bumper spinning me sideways. Then another car trying to avoid both of us hit my back bumper. This had me facing backward in my lane. A third vehicle was approaching fast and hit me head-on. All while my foot never left my brake pedal.
The impact of the last vehicle was so hard that my left knee hit the fuse box and sent it up through the middle of the dash. My steering wheel snapped off. My seat snapped and sent me flying upside down into the back seat. After the Paramedics got me out with the jaws of life, one of them asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. There wasn't a mark on me! Not knowing that whiplash would kick in I said, "no".
The wrecker gave me a ride home and the first conversation with God that I can remember started.
God: "Are you tired of running son?"
Me: "Yes Sir." (I often call Him Lord, Papa, or Sir)
God: "I have not changed my mind, so you might as well accept what I have called you to do."
Me: "I'm not sure if I know you."
God: "Read what I have spoken to others that I have called. Then you will."
I sat on the floor in front of my couch stunned at what seemed audible, but I wasn't sure if it was.
Then I decided to get up and get something to eat, but I could not get up, whiplash had started to set in. So I rolled to the refrigerator, but I couldn't bump the shelves hard enough to cause anything to fall off.
So I got the idea to call someone, but my phone was on the wall, charging, and I couldn't get it no matter how much I tried. In the process, I knocked my Bible off the table, so I started in Matthew and after finishing the New Testament, I began at the beginning and read through the entire Bible. Before I knew it, the sun was coming up with the next day.
I accepted the calling again, but this time I gave EVERYTHING to the Lord. My life was about to change... but that is for the next blog.
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