After our marriage, Jeanie and I moved to Oklahoma City where Jeanie found a job as a secretary and I continued going to college. One night, two months after our marriage (March 23, 1970), Jeanie shared with me her testimony. She shared how, in Vacation Bible School when she was a little girl, she had invited Jesus Christ into her heart and life. After sharing her testimony, Jeanie then asked me to share with her my testimony. I didn't know about this Jesus stuff, but I was a member of a church, and I had been sprinkled with water; didn't that make me a Christian?

By morning, reality was sitting in, and I believed there was a God; I believed that Jesus was the Son of God, and I also believed that there was a place called Heaven, and a place called Hell. After what Jeanie had shared with me, I had some serious doubts about my eternal destination. I was confused and concerned enough to call a church nearby, and schedule an appointment with their pastor at 10:00 a.m.

After arriving at the church, I shared with the pastor, Finley Tinnin, that I wasn't sure if I was a Christian or not. He began by describing how Jesus had suffered and died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day. He asked me if I believed that was true, and I said that I did. He then shared with me what Jesus says in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Dr. Tinnin then asked if I would like to invite Jesus into my heart, and I said that I did. I bowed my head and prayed silently asking Jesus to come into my heart and life. I don't know if I said the right words or not, but I'm thankful that God not only reads lips, but He also reads hearts. I made my decision public at the Baptist Temple in Oklahoma City, on Sunday evening March 29, and was baptized Sunday evening at the end of the service on April 5, 1970.

Now whenever I'm in a preaching service and the preacher is preaching about salvation, or I'm reading my Bible and I'm thinking about salvation; the moment the Holy Spirit brings me back to, is that moment in Dr. Tinnin's study. I'm not worried about my eternal destination anymore, I know where I am headed. When I think of death, it's not all black out there like it once was at that church camp when I was fourteen years old. As I think about death, now I know that it is only the point of departure for eternity with my Lord and my Savior. You can know that you have eternal life. The Bible says in 1 John 5:13, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

If you're not sure of your eternal destination, why not settle the matter now? Invite Jesus Christ into your heart and life. If you are willing to turn from your sins (repent), not that you can clean up your life yourself, but that you want Jesus to help you; then pray, and invite Him into your heart and life. You can pray something like this:

Dear Lord Jesus, please forgive me for the sins that I've committed, the bad things that I have done. Please come into my heart and life, save me, and help me to live my life in the way that will be pleasing to You, be my Lord and my Master. Thank you for saving me. Amen.

Remember, it is not so much the words you say, but whether or not you meant it in your heart. God not only reads lips, but He also reads hearts.

It may be that you are a new Christian, or that you have been a Christian for many years; but you're not really, really sure about your salvation. If you were to die tonight, would you go to Heaven or Hell? If you don't have an answer, why not settle it now? You can never, and will never, become fruitful if you have doubts about your salvation. Before you can move forward in this journey to fruitfulness, you have to know that you know that you know; that you have been saved, and your eternal destination is Heaven.

Here is what I would propose if you are not sure about your salvation. Set aside a few hours when you can be alone with God and resolve that you will not leave until you know whether you are saved or not. Take your Bible, turn to 1 John and prayerfully, carefully read, and reread the book until God speaks and you know where you stand with Him. God wants you to know whether you are His child or not. He has plans for you, and those plans cannot be fulfilled as long as you are lost or doubting your salvation. Allow God the opportunity to settle this matter for you.

For several days after praying to receive Jesus as my Savior I experienced a peace which I have not experienced before or since. I wish that I could say that I lived a perfect life after being born again, but I have not. Within a few weeks of being saved, we had moved to the other side of Oklahoma City, and used this as an excuse for not attending church. We did attend church a few times at a small church close to us, but that was all.

Within a year things were beginning to fall apart in my life. Usually things do fall apart without God, especially for the child of God. God will correct and chastise His children, and allow them to experience the hurts and pains that occur when they stray away from Him. In Hebrews 12:3-11 the Bible tells us:

"For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then are ye illegitimate, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."

About a year after I was saved, things were definitely going downhill spiritually. I was working two part time jobs and going to school full-time. Jeanie was still working as a secretary. Within the space of a year and a half I had had three car accidents, and my insurance costs were spiraling higher and higher. We still were not attending church, I wasn't praying, and I wasn't reading the Bible. Instead, I was becoming, you could say; more and more tempted by the things of this world.

What happened next, is for the most part predictable for those who leave God out of their lives. Our marriage, and everything else began to fall apart. I quit one part-time job and I dropped a class. I dropped a couple of more classes, and quit my other part-time job. Before I knew it I had dropped all of my classes, and wasn't working either. I was just going to get on with life, start a career. There was a problem though with the plan, I couldn't find a job. It wasn't that I wasn't looking, I was, but nothing was happening. After about seven weeks of this, I hadn't even had a job interview. After seven weeks of this, and all of the weeks before, Jeanie had had enough.

While we were visiting Jeanie's parents one weekend, when it was time to leave to go home, Jeanie told me that she was not going and that she was leaving me. It was a long drive home. The first thing I did when I got home, was to get down on my knees and pray. It was the first time I had prayed in about a year and a half. I asked God to forgive me, to bring Jeanie back and to help me to find a job. Then, I went bed, and went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to the telephone ringing. The call was about a job interview in downtown Oklahoma City with the Kerr McGee Corporation. I went to see about that job and then came back home. As I was walking in the door, the telephone was ringing again, it was about another job interview. I went to the interview, and I was working at 12:30 p.m. that day. Eventually, because that job was full-time but had flexible hours, I was able to return to college and complete my degree.

I wrote Jeanie a long letter apologizing for any and everything I had ever done, and sent her flowers every day. At the end of the week, Jeanie came back home, and we have been together ever since. I knew that God had answered my prayer. God had become very, very real, and I made a commitment that I was going to pray every day. I've kept that commitment. Sometimes the prayers have been short, and sometimes they have been long, but I have been praying every day since then.

It was a start, and prayer began to move me closer to God. But we still were not attending church, and I still wasn't reading God's Word. Here's how God attempted to obtain my attention. The day had started normally enough. After dropping Jeanie off at work in Oklahoma City (We were now living in Yukon, a suburb of Oklahoma City.), I was on my way to class at Edmond (Another suburb.). On the way, I had the closest thing I have ever had to a vision. You could call it a daydream, a daydream of a little country church out to the west of Edmond, and of car trouble. In the dream, I could see the church, and somehow knew that I could get help at the little church. Why, I didn't know, as I had never been inside the church; and had only driven by a few times. As I drove into the college parking area, I was finally able to focus my thoughts on the classes ahead.

My classes were over, and I was ready to head home. "Should I go on the interstate, or cut through the country?" I suddenly remembered my earlier thoughts about car trouble, and decided to take the Edmond Road. As I drove west out of Edmond, I began to think I was becoming paranoid. The car was doing great, no sign of any problem, where had those thoughts about car trouble come from?

The car was still running fine when the engine began to make a noise. Ahead about a mile I could see the little country church (Hopewell Baptist Church aka the Teepee Church at 178th and MacArthur). I thought to myself, "If it doesn't get any worse, I'll try to make it there, I can find help there." The car did make it to the church, but it died right in front of the church, and wouldn't start. I used the phone in the parsonage, and soon a wrecker came to tow my car away. Later, I found out the bolts holding the fan belt pulleys on had broken. Thirty-six dollars and a few days later, the car was good as new, but I would never forget the experience.

Has God ever given you a hint that you ought to be in church and making time in your life for Him? I have no doubt that He gave me one! At the time, I was too far away from God to realize what had happened. I can see clearly now that God was just trying to get my attention. It took several years and a few more hints, but finally He did have my attention. The regret that I have is that I didn't immediately start attending that little country church on Edmond Road. Life would have been so much better if I had made time for God during those early years of marriage. Fruitfulness for God would have come much sooner.