I walked into church with blue jeans….
I walked into the church with blue jeans, a flannelshirt, long hair, a bad attitude, a pack of Marlboros and the idea ofgetting a Budweiser right after the service…then the Lord got aholdof my heart.
My name is Scott Wilson and this is my story.
I was raised in a religious home. Not a Christian home,but a religious home nevertheless. I was always required to go tochurch. I had a grandfather who was a preacher in a BrethrenChurch who had a born again testimony (Note: “born again” is abiblical term referring to the act of inviting the Lord into yourheart, asking Him to forgive your sins and to begin your life anew asa Christian. Hence, born again) I heard the gospel of JesusChrist for the first time at seven years of age when I had anopportunity to attend a Monday night service every other week called”Kiddies Treat”. It was held at the home of Mrs. Gertrude Frey. Herwhole family was involved in an outreach program for the kids in theneighborhood.
I left that program when I was nine years old. Even though she andmy grandfather were good friends, I didn’t see her again for nearlythree decades. But, you’ll hear more about her later.
When I was 11 my folks went through a divorce and I becamea latchkey child. I didn’t have any rules or regulations, orrestrictions on my life. I started working almost full time when Iwas fifteen for some of the luxuries of life and to help my mom putfood on the table. I didn’t see much of my father because I was angryat him for what he had done to our family.
At 17, I packed up and left for the Air Force. I had already spenta night in jail for drinking, and I was involved in a of lot thingsthat pulled me down as a teenager. Things like rotten music, alcohol,fighting. I went into the Air Force so I wouldn’t have to go toschool any more and I could get away from all the rules andregulations being put on me at home that I found restrictive. So Ibecame a ward of Uncle Sam, who taught me how to drink and fightand cuss even more. I spent three years in Germany, I married agirl there and brought her back to the U.S. Our daughter, Tanja, wasborn after we returned from Germany That marriage didn’t last long,though, because my life was under the power of alcohol.
I stayed single for five years and married again. Well, thatmarriage didn’t last too long either, for the same reasons that thefirst one failed. By this time I had another daughter, Kristen, withmy second wife. Despite all the vows I had made to myself about neverputting my kids through the heartache of a broken home that I hadexperienced, here I was with two kids and two broken homes.
By this time I was about 36 years old . About four years earliermy brother Bill had been saved. (Note:”Saved” is a biblicalterm referring to the forgiveness of sins by God and the rescue of aperson from the power and penalty of that sin. This is God’srequirement for everlasting life and being saved is another way ofsaying a person has been born again). I hadn’t seen Bill forabout five years. I hadn’t seen my dad much to speak of for probably16 years. There was just a wide gulf between us. Anyway, when Billwas saved and became a Christian he started to send me literature,hoping to draw me to the Lord.
I took them, and laughed at them, because I just figured he’dgotten religion. I had no idea what it all meant. I had pretty muchgiven up trying to figure life out and I was just cruising along onautopilot in the rut I had made for myself.
One night in 1983, there was a knock on the door and it was mybrother, who had made a special trip to invite me to go to the LehighValley Baptist Church that night. I argued with him about why peoplenever go to church on Friday night. Since I didn’t have any friendsand it was so nice to see my brother, I told him if he’d just stoptalking about it I’d go to church with him and his wife. Although Ididn’t know it at the time, his wife got on the phone and had aprayer chain going that turned into about 400 people praying for mysalvation.
Well, I walked into church with blue jeans, a flannel shirt,long hair, a bad attitude, a pack of Marlboros and the idea ofgetting a Budweiser right after the service…Then the Lord got holdof my heart.
The message that night was preached by Gary Gilmore, a visitingevangelist. He was preaching about the importance of being born againas shown in the New Testament, in the book of John, chapter three. Atfirst I had no idea what he was talking about, but I listened and itseemed the whole message was directed at me alone. I came to therealization that if I didn’t do something that night to get rightwith God I would probably spend my eternity in hell because of mysinful nature.
The preacher asked everyone to bow their heads and close theireyes. He then invited those who wanted to know Christ personally tocome forward. My brother cheated and opened his eyes to look at me.He saw I was having a lot of trouble. I was weeping and fidgeting andhe leaned over and simply said to me, “What will you do with JesusChrist?” I turned to him and told him that if I could get down tothe front of the aisle, after the mess I had made of my life, I thinkI could really get some answers from God that could help me. Well, Idid get to the front of the church and one of the men took me into aside room and shared several passages of scripture with me. Ibowed my head and asked Jesus Christ to come into my life, to save mylost and dying soul. And He did. That was March 18, 1983, on aFriday night. I knew that night what it meant to be born into thefamily of God.
God began to work in my life. I went to see my dad to share withhim what had happened to me, and I asked him if he was saved. He saidyes and gave me a convincing testimony of his salvation. He also toldme he knew he had made many mistakes along the way and asked me toforgive him for his sinfulness. Through that, the Lord restored theyears that we had been apart. He died a few months later.
I also went to see Gertrude Frey, my old Monday night Bible classteacher, to tell her of my salvation. She wasn’t surprised though.She told me she had been praying for my salvation for the last 29years. She never lost faith that one day the Lord would claim me asHis own.
Twelve years have passed and while God has given me a lot ofchallenges, He has also given me the strength to meet them. I’ve beenfortunate to be able to serve for many years at the Allentown RescueMission, bringing the word of God, and my personal testimony, to manymen who have traveled the path I was on for so many years. The Lordalso brought me a wonderful Christian wife and a family to share mynew life with.
I’d like to leave you with one final thought. As a young manstarting out, I thought that I could pretty much do whatever I wantedto do and get away with it. But God has a way of gettingto you…because He loves you. He sent his Son to die onthe cross for my sins, and your sins, and for the sins of the wholeworld. My advice to anyone is to get into the Word of God and judgeourself by the standards in God’s Word….so that we won’t be foundlacking when we face God in eternity.
Scott Wilson lives in Boyertown, Pa. and he’d be happy to sharemore about the Savior that changed his life. Write him at the addressbelow. You are also welcome to attend services at the
Lehigh Valley Baptist Church4702 Colebrook Avenue
Emmaus, PA 18049
Or call us at (610) 965 4700 or 1-800-893-9586.