I remember when checking into the place where I would be taking my basic training that in addition to a physical, getting shots and new clothes we were all given a Gideon New Testament. It went into the bottom of my barracks bag and stayed there until I ran into some tough times in the service. I would then read the New Testament and look for answers but I rarely found any. If I saw something in the Bible that I thought I must do, I disregarded that altogether.

I got out of the service and went to trade school at Dunwoody Institute to become a heating and cooling designer. After school a plumbing and heating company hired me. My job there was to design heating and cooling systems and then list all of the parts the plumbers needed to buy to make the system work.

I was married now to that girl in the youth group, Eloise, and we had two children, Robin and Mike. I was also an avid hunter and every weekend in the fall my dad, brother and I along with my Uncle Harry would be out after quail, partridge, ducks and pheasants. Uncle Harry was like a second father to my brother and I. His son, our age, had died from a fall off a horse some years before. On our hunting trips he “adopted” my brother or me and we would bunk with him and he would pay for our meals. He was a wonderful man and a strong Christian.

One early fall before hunting season Uncle Harry was riding down the road with his wife and he had a severe stomach ache and had to pull over to the side of the road. The large blood vessel feeding his stomach burst and he died in a few minutes. We were all devastated by his death and I felt like I had lost a friend as well as an uncle. At his funeral I looked down at Harry and knew that he was with Christ and that if I died, I would not be but I would be headed the other way.

I knew I needed Christ, but I was stubborn and would not make that decision. I was miserable and in great fear of death. As I drove my car I would be afraid that I would crash and be killed and go to hell. My wife knew I was going through great stress and she would tune in the Christian radio in our home. I would get mad and turn off the radio but as soon as I got into my car I would tune it in again. I started going to the work night at the Baptist church and there was a septic tank pumper, a bricklayer, a pastor, a bug exterminator, a school principal, a scientist, and a man in a wheel chair. All of them were a silent witness to me.

April 7, 1962, a Saturday morning, my wife and I were lying in bed and she looked over to me and said, “Why don’t you just turn your life over to Christ?” The time was right and I said, “I will.” Eloise led me to Christ that morning and I felt that I was truly born again. You don’t always get those feelings but I surely did. I leaped from bed and rushed to the phone to call people. My Mother was somewhat surprised because she thought I was a Christian. I had many fooled, but not my pastor. When I called him he was overjoyed and rushed right out and bought me a new Bible with a lot of study helps. I found a Christian friend at work and we began to share and study on our lunch hour.

Our home life smoothed out but also became very exciting. I now became the Christian Father that I needed to be. Not that I was perfect, but I was forgiven. I was baptized as a testimony to my faith. This time it was for real.

For a year or so I continued to do my work at the Plumbing and Heating Company but my zeal got me into trouble. When I made a heating/cooling layout plan I would insert a Bible verse in the title line. Some of the salesmen would object to that and so did some of the plumbers. I was forced to stop that practice but I continued to be an excited Christian. I think that first year after my salvation I read through the Bible four or five times. I was voracious when it came to studying the Word.

Right after I came to Christ my pastor put me to work leading the boys club, Christian Service Brigade. I loved that work and was able to influence boys for Christ. My Son, Mike, was in the group so I was also able do the fun Christian activities with him.

I began to feel like God wanted me to serve him full time in the Christian Service Brigade ministry. That is a ministry training men to work with boys, which is like Scouting, but with a total Christian approach. In order to do that I would need to go to a four-year college. In August Eloise had twins, Paul and Peter and in September I started college at Northwestern. I ate up the studies. This was a dramatic difference to my high school days when I hated school.

After I graduated from college I started my ministry with CSB, in New York and New Jersey, and knew I was in the center of God’s will. Eloise felt the same but we went through some tough times as we moved and were living on little income.

I did not accomplish anything for Christ when I was a fake Christian. It took a life changing experience to make the difference. I am so thankful to God, Eloise, and those Christian men of diverse backgrounds, for leading me into a life in Christ.

Some key Bible verses for me and my family are: I Thess. 5:16,17, Lam. 3:22,23, Isa. 40:31, Jn. 3:16,17

Here is a quote that I ran across, “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” Author unknown. Let us ask God to help us take advantage of these opportunities.

When I arrive in Heaven and God asks me. “Why should I let you into my Heaven.” I can say, “because of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus and my giving over my life to Him.”

How about you, will you be in Heaven because of Jesus?