It is NOT boring but satan's messengers and fellow deceivers paint it
that way. Getting off course is an easy thing to do because the traffic
seems to flow in that direction. No, there's no exit marked "Exit 666
Astray." One wanders into it. I did a the age of eleven.
Having
heard a guest speaker at our tinny little church begin each meeting with
HIS idea of humor, I compared what came out of his mouth with what I
had read in God's Word, the Bible. It didn't match up. No, the man never
used the dreaded "N" word, but he made condescending remarks about my
friends of color.
Marsha was a member of the Daughters of the
Confederacy. She never approved of my Mom, so in time, I didn't approve
of HER. YOu couldn't go barefoot at Marsha's house for the sand spurs
there.Marsha would say, "Son, there's no such thing as a Yankee...it's a
DAMN Yankee!" Mom nor dad, nor anyone else in my family used language
like that. Marsha had slapped my face when I fidgeted as a toddler. I
didn't remember it, but Mom told me about it. See, Marsha was my Dad's
mom, and I've never called her my Grandmother.
I already was
called a "nigger lover" my many, but it didn't bother me, because when
someone would call me that, I would say, "I love EVERYBODY. Isn't that
what you're supposed to do?"
So by age eleven, when I could make
some choices, I skipped those every two week trips to North Carolina,
even though I would miss seeing Granny Godley, my sister's Grandmother I
also stopped going to the little church but I didn't stop worshipping
my Lord. I just did it a new way, by reading my Bible on Sunday mornings
and listening to Elvis' Gospel music. God met with me and we truly hung
out. I was clinging to a little experience I had at about age six when
my Uncle Aaron came and preached a revival. I went forward. In my young
mind, if I went forward, invited Jesus in my heart and asked Him to
forgive me of my sins, I had become a Christian. I must have been a
little devil, because one of the reasons I did this was a dream I had
where satan had me in his hand and was physically carrying me to this
huge furnace and I was screaming for help, then I woke up.
This
new way of doing things was good, at first. I was a pretty innocent kid.
I recall once being made fun of when on the the "mean" kids was
shooting off firecrackers and I asked, "aren't they illegal?" They
roared with laughter. What a dork, they thought I was.
After a
while, my little meetings with Jesus came fewer and less often. Then as I
began to be concerned with how "cool" I was, little by little I would
do things that were supposed to send me "straight to Hell." I was
surprised when no lightning bolt came and knocked me dead. I messed with
cigarettes although I never found any worth in them. They made my
fingers and breath stink and some people had brown teeth because of
them. But God was merciful to me and when I'd get diarrhea when I'd
smoke the first one, I figured I didn't need the foul things so, I
really quit before I got started, but still, no bolt of lightning.
Mom
and dad were on one of their twice monthly trips to North Carolina,
which had become even less fun. My cousin Herb had married and I seldom
got to see him. My best friend suggested I try "getting drunk." We went
to A&P and got a "colored man" to buy us a couple of bottles of
wine. I didn't know what was going to happen to me, so the experiment
took place in my parent's driveway. Drinking was fun. I enjoyed the
"buzz."
I kept trying all these new things to become a "man of the
world" and to experience things I didn't wish to miss out on. My
INTENTION was to be a virgin when I married. My first girlfriend was not
until I had graduated high school. She was virtuous...one more reason
why I adored her so, but she broke up with me. The message I took from
that was that she wanted us to have sex. So, I then set out to lose this
anchor I was carrying around. See, because I sang in a rock and roll
band, most people thought I took advantage of the fringe benefits. But
my inner circle of friends teased me and called me "The Big V" because I
was a virgin. Well, SIr...when I willingly gave THAT up, the Enemy of
my soul came and said, "I've GOT you, now!" I felt he did. I thought I
had gone beyond God's merciful reach. I felt trapped. I WAS evil. I
LOVED doing this latest wrong thing. I was hooked. It was good. It was
wrong. Most people disagreed, but it was WRONG.
No, there was no
exit sign that said, "Astray, Exit 666." But I stumbled onto it as we
ALL have at one time or another. Maybe sometime, I'll share how I got
"back on track." Hey, not that I don't run in the ditch every now and
again. I haven't had a boring moment since getting on course. I'll say
that.
In 8th
grade, there was a new band, Ye Bay Rums. I got to know and clown
around with George Cotner, who played keyboard but never got to meet the
band's singer/guitarist Dave Yarnell. I AM putting his picture in the
Amazing People photo album that shows him then, somewhat later and with
his band Captain Dave & the Neptunes.
