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 this little bridge everything that I would call normal ceased! With no control over the situation whatsoever, someone grabbed me by my ankle & pulled me out of my body. In an instant, I found myself going down, down, down until I could hear people below me screaming in terror. Right after hearing their screams I saw the silhouettes of flames bouncing off of walls. As soon as I saw this I realized that this was Hell & the hand let go of me! This experience lasted for less than 10 seconds but I have never forgotten any part of the experience. As I returned to my body I realized that the only reaction my body had time to make during this experience was to suck in all the air around me for what had 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 17 yr old 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! At that moment 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 in my life 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…
