My father was a farmer and our church was two hours away. Many in the family have said that the founding of this church with a fire and brimstone pastor by a number of ladies, my grandmothers included, was to rein in their wayward husbands riotous living in the roaring 1920’s.
My young memories were of a day of travel, services, lunch with my Aunt, and more travel. Along with learning about Jesus, I was tied to a great many rules forbidding most of the things a young person wanted to do. I was also aware of the many man-made doctrines of the church that the grown-ups had to live by.
My three older brothers and sister removed themselves from the farm and church as they married and started their own families. During high school they were influential to me for the need to obtain a college education to advance from the farm life. My motivation for learning became paramount and my rebellion from the church complete upon university graduation, marriage and becoming an officer in the Navy.
My father was a great and kind man who lived an honorable life being a servant to all. My mother died when I was young and he remarried a wonderful spiritual woman. I later came to admire their perfect union of contentment with a daily bible study and prayer life. My worldly intelligence and stressful success was a contrast to their peace.
Living in the 1960’s, it was easy to fall into the go-go society and new age freedom of self indulgence. Church became a social and activity run institution. My background of rebellion to required works along with a lack of knowledge of living in the spirit kept me aloof of understanding true Christian teaching.
My life of success and self-control was shaken by a divorce and the death of my father. I finally realized humility and a need for something more to a life which had gone beyond my control. I knew that Jesus was there but the previous religious requirements as I remembered kept any deep journey into the church at arms length. I stayed with what I had and pushed my life by my power without any trust in God.
Happiness and contentment seemed to be unattainable and the life I knew unfulfilling. My thoughts returned to what I found with my father in the years prior to his death when I would visit on a regular basis and realize his great wisdom and the path of his life of righteousness. Single and weary I tried hard to achieve all that I had spent many years rebelling against.
God in his infinite wisdom snatched me from my world and brought me to a place with a desire to make changes to my life. I found myself away from the evil and wickedness of the urban environment. More importantly I was found by a wonderful spiritual woman and around the corner from a church with a remnant of true believers and a Pastor that feeds his flock with the true word of God.
The miracle then was my accepting faith and trust in Him to lead me in the correct path. Things happened that I would not dream of happening just a short time before including becoming extremely happily married after a decision of three months, joining the Chapel By The Sea Baptist church with a new full immersion baptism, and becoming a student with a desire to learn the true word of God.
Now years later, I am even hungrier for God’s word, having received Jesus as my personal Savior. Daily, I find more to living in Grace through the Love of God, His church and the believers that have accepted me in their midst. Living in Christ as a new creation has allowed me to remove fear from my life for faith and provided the peace and joy that alluded me for so long.
I know I have much to learn but with a wonderful wife, Pastor and the support of so many, I have found the contentment that I saw in my earthly father that I desired to attain. I pray daily for the knowledge and understanding of His word to provide me the wisdom to live a more righteous life striving to be a good and faithful servant that will allow me to have the inheritance in heaven that I know is waiting for me.