Transformed Lives

Somewhere around 1950 a church in Alabama decided to hold what they called a “tent revival.” So they rented a vacant lot downtown Anniston, Alabama, put up a tent, and planned a series of “revival” services.
Across town there was a couple who’d had a rough go of it—J. D. and Maude. It was the second marriage for them both. On a survey Maude would have checked “Christian,” but she hadn’t darkened the door of a church in many years. She loved J.D. but found it hard to live with him. He had a good heart but rough language, crude manners, and an affinity for alcohol. He’d left school after the 6th grade, was 18 when the Great Depression hit in 1929, and had hoboed, partied, and fought his way across the south. J. D. had a gold tooth near the front which took the place of a tooth knocked out during a fight.
Then, somebody in that church that had decided to have a tent revival invited J. D. to church. Since his friend invited him, and since going to a tent wasn’t exactly like going to a church, J. D. considered it. When he mentioned it to his wife she thought it couldn’t hurt. So they went. And something happened. That fire-breathing, pulpit-pounding, Bible-waving preacher spoke of sin and salvation in language that a man with a sixth grade education could understand.
J. D. and Maude kept going back and then after the service one night J. D. couldn’t sleep. In the middle of the night he called his brother-in-law who was a pastor and that pastor with big hands, broad shoulders and a tender heart drove over to his house and they talked about what it means to be saved, to be changed, to become a follower of Jesus. They knelt in the living room of 200 East 30th Street, Anniston, Alabama, and J. D. threw himself on the mercy of God. He prayed through his tears for God to forgive him and change his life. God answered his simple prayer and J. D. became a moral, ethical, loving, devoted follower of Jesus. He was radically changed.
This “transformed lives” thing is personal for me. The pastor with the big hands, broad shoulders and warm heart who drove over in the middle of the night and prayed with J. D. was Barto Mason, my uncle. J. D., the man with the rough history whose life was transformed, was my father. Maude was my mom. That was a decade before I was born. It frightens me to think of who, what, and where I’d be had my father not had a life-transforming experience of Jesus.

This is from Travis Collins, pastor of Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond VA and author of Directionally Challenged and Tough Calls.