4.1 Salvation Experience
I can remember being as high as a kite & drunk while hanging out the window of a friends Trans-am going 120 mph down an unpaved section of Interstate 459 in Hoover, Al. I will never forget blatantly singing at the top of my lungs: I’m on the highway to hell & hells bells. Not long after that I ran into a red haired Baptist youth pastor at a Hardies restaurant where I am So high that I can barely even function. I see the guy out of the corner of my eye & realize that he is coming straight towards me. All of a sudden this guy says: I have never done this before, but God told me to come & tell you that he loves you. Man! You talking about flipping somebody out. That totally fried me. For the next 6 months no matter how fast I ran or how hard I partied, I ended up thinking about God. All of my friends were weirding out about it & I am really starting to struggle with the whole God thing.
Right before my senior year of High School I was working at the Golf Course at Oak Mountain State park & was riding on a Golf Cart about to cross a bridge when I had one of the scariest things that you could possibly ever imagine happen. As I crossed the little bridge everything that I would call normal ceased. Instantly, as if someone were pulling on my ankles I began to leave my body & started going down, down, down. I heard people below me screaming in terror & then saw the silhouette of Hell. This experience lasted for 4 or 5 seconds & then as suddenly as it began whatever or whoever had a hold of me, let me go. The only reaction I had time to make was to suck in all the air around me for what seemed like an eternity. What I experienced was absolute sheer terror. The moment I reached the other side of this bridge I heard an audible voice speak to me. It said: About the next step you take… you’re on you’re own! I had never experienced anything like this before & for two solid weeks I didn’t even thinking about getting into trouble. I was the quietest, best kid you have ever seen. During those two weeks I continuously & constantly heard these words spoken to me: I have loved you…with an everlasting love… with an everlasting love… I have loved you. Then I would hear it again: I have loved you…with an everlasting love…with an everlasting love I… have loved you. During a thunderstorm at 08:00 at night on the end of the golf course driving range at Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, Al. I told God.. If you love me that much…I’ll go anywhere… I’ll do anything. Just make my life work! I felt a joy come over me that I will never forget & I ran from one end of that driving range to the other screaming & hollering at the top of my lungs… Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus & I am not going to hell!
I have gone through many trials since that day but feel very privileged & honored to have met the God of the universe & to have him continually whisper in my ear… I have loved you… with an everlasting love… with an everlasting love… I have loved you…
