Christian Prayer Room

[tenac]

...i got my first motorcycle when i was 14...that was 1970. That was my first year at SGHS. That was also the year that i started sippin on a little beer and smoking a little weed. That was the first year that i started listening to rock n roll. And probably the first year that i was smoking cigarettes regularly. That was the year that life started to change in so many ways for this simple country boy that had had a regular normal life up to this point in time...living in farm country here in Greene County TN...down at the foot of the mountain in the St. James...Cedar Creek area. And in those first fifteen years...Sunday morning and Sunday night...most Wednesday nights...we were in church. Now dont get me wrong...i didnt jump off the cliff all at once...even in my progressive helter-skelter life thru high school...the craziness came by bits and pieces. Me and my close friends we put money in our pockets in the hay fields and tobacco patches of family and most every farmer around...we worked hard. However...and as i said...we started with the beer and weed...and each year thru high school...got a little more intense with what we were doing. And by my junior year...that senior year...i guess you could say that i majored in drugs and minored in booze..or..vise versa! I had grown my hair long...i dont remember ever taking part in school activities...never going to football..basketball games...my life at that early age was centered around getting high...the "Age of Aquarius". So when graduation came around...the principle came to me one day...in my patched out jeans and psychedelic t-shirt. He put his hand on my shoulder and said...Rickie...you aint a bad kid...you have just lost your way...i really cant graduate you but i really dont want you here again next year. So back in those days...the seniors got out a couple weeks early so he told me. If you will come these last two weeks and sit in the library from start to finish each day and write this book report...i will give you a diploma. So...i was like...right on man...so that is what i did...and of course i was high each and every day but i copied and copied the contents of that book for two weeks...i think its called plagiarism..wink..that must have impressed...not fooled...because as a man of his word...i got my diploma! So whats my point...Here it is 44 years later and i still remember that man with the kind heart and id like to think...him being a preacher also...had at least a little faith that some day the Lord would turn my life around as im thinking he probably also prayed for me. And you know what...i reckon i didnt turn out to bad after all.
Thank you Mr. James Parham!...1930 - 2000.

I Have No Regrets About My Past...My Past Is Who I Am Today...Born Again!
Rick j Sane