by Baynard L. Fox

In 1964 my mother married a man that lived in Florida. After we lived there a short time my older sister got involved with Faith Baptist Church in our new town and was saved. Being, I almost always did as my sister said, I stated going with her to church and professed Jesus as my Savior. However there was no change in my life.

As I said, I did as my sister said and was not truly saved at this time but continued to go to church and learn more about God and Christ. This went on for a few years and I found myself hanging around some of the older teens at church. Being at that time in my life I needed to think others liked me for who I was, I would do and go with them any place they would take me. This led me to the pool hall on the other side of the street from the church. Playing pool was fun and we played often and got good at it. My mother did not know where I was because she thought the boy I was with would take good care of me. One Friday the 13th there was a revival at church, but I was playing pool and did not want to quit. So I got to church late, after the singing was almost finished and sat on the left side of the church.

The preacher was speaking from Revelation about going to hell and how it would be down there with the heat and worms and all the smells. The closer we came to the end of the service the hotter I got there was big drops of perspiration falling from my chin and I could not stand it when the invitation came I was ready and went up to get saved. The preacher thought I was already saved and drilled me to be sure I understood what I was doing. He finally led me down the Romans road of salvation.

That was the last time I went in that pool hall and that is when I stopped hanging around that teen all the time. I was blessed to learn that I did not need to live a certain way to make friends. And if I did that, those friends would not be around long. I saw this man a few years back and found out that he had left the church and was not living for God. I am glad I chose to follow God and not that man and the way he was leading me.

One of my earliest memories of church was my family visiting one when I was 7. It was my brother’s and my birthdays and we had to go up front and put pennies in a bank for each year of our age. When I was 9, Mom started making sure we went to Sunday School. She told us Bible stories and one of our favorite things to do was to look at the photos in the family Bible and read the stories.

When I was 10, George B. Eager, from the Mailbox Club, came to our public school, presented a Bible story, then left us with brochures about his club. I enrolled in the Bible lessons, and finished them to get a certificate.

We then moved to Florida where I started going to church with a friend at the age of 12. All of us kids walked there, then both parents got saved. I went to camp, taught in Sunday School, etc.

I made a couple professions, but kept doubting whether I was saved. I would get scared and talk to people, but being I was such a ‘good church member’ everyone assured me I must be saved. I’d be ok for a while, and then I’d get scared again.

Steve went overseas with the military, and I moved back to our hometown. One night I asked the preacher if I could talk to him. We met in his office after church. His family was leaving for vacation and waiting for him, so when he told me I should pray again and use that date as the time I got saved, I did. But I knew I was just doing it so he could go home.

Though I was in my hometown, I had no close friends. I felt alone with no one to talk to. There was no one to reassure me. It was me and God. I was to teach a Sunday School lesson for someone on vacation the next Sunday. I didn’t want to study for it. I didn’t want anything to do with the Bible or God. Then on Friday, August 8, 1975, I thought I needed to get the lesson ready. The story was where Jacob was all alone … just him and God. I realized I was not saved and asked God to save me. When I finished praying, I was at peace for the first time in a long time.