My hometown of Rogersville, Tennessee was a classic example of a “buckle of the Bible belt” community with churches on practically every corner. The bells at First Baptist would chime at the top and bottom of each hour. Old time preachers played a key role in shaping the local culture over the years. It was here that I came of age and through a number of twists and turns came to encounter Jesus.
My dad, who passed away when I was very young, was a member of the local Presbyterian Church but was not a regular attender. My mom considered herself a non-denominational Christian. She was active in a couple of different churches and taught Sunday school at one time. So while expressions of faith at home were informal, God was still drawing me even back then.
My grandparents lived in a nearby rural area called Beach Creek. Every Sunday my mom would take me to Sunday school at a church just down the road from them and then we would go to their house for lunch. There was a lady in the church named Mrs Dykes who ran a small grocery store in the area. Sometimes I would get out of my seat, crawl under the pews and tug on Mrs Dykes’ coat and she would give me a piece of chewing gum. Another church we attended in my childhood had a choir made up of women who sang very loudly and very off key! Once during one of their performances I leaned over to Mom and whispered “I wish she’d shut up!” While I’m sure Mom was a little embarrassed she didn’t necessarily disagree!
The aforementioned Presbyterian church offered a children’s program consisting of nursery school for 4 year olds and kindergarten for 5 year olds. I went there for both years. It was also here that I met my lifelong friend Scott. In between learning colors, shapes and the ABCs we sang “Jesus Loves Me” and gave thanks over our daily snack of Ritz crackers and apple juice. And yes, simple seeds of faith continued to take root.
Being a church, there were strict rules against bringing toy guns or knives to school. Fair enough, but we still found ways to improvise. We would take the large wooden blocks in the playroom and use them as makeshift machine guns while we reenacted scenes from the TV show Get Smart! Of course, when we inevitably got caught, we would be put in time out, i.e. the “thinking chair.”
Both my father and grandfather died in 1971 and my grandmother came to live with us. Later we moved to the country into the house where my grandparents had shared. There was an elderly couple, Mr and Mrs Kurlewich,, who would occasionally come to our school and teach us Bible lessons using flannel graphs. I was awarded a paperback copy of the Gospel of John for memorizing John 3:16.
These are just a few of my earliest formative experiences, yet there was never a time when God was not a presence in my life. Even as a young child, I would pray. Sometimes it was just “Now I lay me down to sleep…” but God still heard the cry of my heart. Reflecting on it now I see how He answered my prayers, as Ephesians 3:20 puts it, in ways far beyond anything I could ask or think. You can see my testimony in this video:
The Bible says that it was all something God had ordained from the foundation of the world (Romans 8:28-30, Ephesians 1:4-5, etc). While I may not understand how all of it fits together, there is nothing more comforting than knowing that God knew me even before I knew Him. My life has been His grace from the beginning and it will take me through until the end.
Keep It Real,
James
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