Hobert
One Sunday evening at the age of 13, I decided to go to church, something I rarely did. I thought I would take my deck of playing cards (Which I always did whenever I went to church.) and a couple of my buddies would sit with me on the back seat and we would play cards. Then after church was over, we would talk with the girls as most of us boys were now girl crazy.
When I got to church the service was just ready to begin. I slipped in and sat on the back seat. After scanning the church, I realized I was the only kid in the whole building. I was too embarrassed to leave.
About two-thirds of the way through the message (by the way I didn’t remember anything the pastor was saying), I began to feel afraid. All of a sudden or at least it seemed quick, I felt I would die if I left the church without going to the altar. I fought this feeling till the end of the sermon. But this feeling just kept getting stronger. I could hardly breathe. When the pastor gave the invitation I found myself getting up and making my way to the altar. It seemed so strange that I would be doing this. Anyway the pastor knelt down and asked me why I was there. I told him of a few things I had done wrong.
Let me stop for just a minute and give a little background on myself. At the age of 12 and going into the sixth grade, I started running around with different friends. They were not the kind of boys I should have surrounded myself with. I took up the habit of smoking and cursing. One day in the classroom, Mrs. Schockley, our teacher, at her wit’s end said to me and my four buddies, “You boys will be in prison before you graduate.” She was almost a prophetess. As for my four friends they did end up in prison, one for shooting and killing a police officer there in our town.
Anyway, back to my meeting Jesus that Sunday night. After telling the pastor some of the things I could think of that were wrong, he told me to confess them to God and ask for forgiveness. Oh my, how scary – Me pray out loud!
Well, I did it. I can’t remember all I said but l’m sure it came out awkwardly. However, God must have forgiven me because all of a sudden I felt different – like a huge weight had been lifted. lt was so good to feel free from sin and guilt.
God showed mercy to me and the only reason I can think of is because of my grandparents who lived across the road and prayed for me daily. I was so blessed to have grandparents who loved the Lord and lived a Christian life. They had such an influence on me even though I wasn’t aware of it at the time.
However, I must admit shamefully that I again messed up. During my senior year in high school, I would go down to the Pilot Convenient Store and help my dad until he got off work. After graduating I began working for Pilot full time. It wasn’t long until I was offered an Assistant Managers position if I would move to Roanoke to a new store that was being opened. I accepted the position. The Manager of this store was not a Christian. He would buy beer each day after his shift ended. I found myself joining him and soon I was going to bars at night. This went on for six months or so. I found myself not eating properly and drinking which was beginning to take a toll on me.
One weekend I drove home to visit with my parents and I ran into a friend who had graduated with me. He told me he was going to Hiwassee College in Tennessee in about a month and invited me to go with him. That sounded good. I thought that when I graduated from high school I would never want to go back to school. However, these past six months of living the way I had made going back to school sound good. My parents helped me make out the application to Hiwassee and I was accepted.
To shorten this story, one weekend when Ronnie, the friend who had invited me to go to college with him decided that we should go home for the weekend. (l think he was homesick.) A couple of other people from the college rode up with us because they lived in towns nearby. One of these was a girl I had seen on campus. On our trip home that Friday and back on Sunday, her laughter and spirit captivated me. I found out she was in the Life Service Group, a group who had dedicated their life’s work to the Lord. Monday, the next day after getting back to college, Ronnie and I were in our dorm room. I came out with a mouth full of curse words with whatever we were talking about and Ronnie looked at me and said, “Hobert, if we are going to continue to room together you cannot use God’s name in vain.” lt was as if he had taken a 2 x 4 and hit me. My conversion experience came flooding back. With knowing that I wanted to get to know the girl who rode up to Virginia with us and Ronnie telling me that my language was unacceptable, I knew my life had to change.
Hiwassee, being a Methodist College, had church services on Wednesday nights. I went to the altar that night and rededicated my life to the Lord. I have been growing in the Lord ever since.
By the way, that girl, Mary Ann, who rode up to Virginia with us, I married her. After 53 years of marriage, she still has that infectious laugh. Our love for each other and the Lord continues to deepen.