By Roger Bentley
It was 1974 in a small West Texas town that my dad was baptized. I was only four at the time but remember that night vividly. It was the turning point in my family’s life. No more beer at family gatherings, Sunday and Wednesday were now “church days” and growing up would be according the “Good Book”. From then on my parents made every effort to provide us with biblical answers for life’s questions.
Upon graduation from high school, I attended Lubbock Christian University and majored in Youth Ministry. After two semesters of failing grades and falling deeper into debt I dropped out of college. The United States Army was my next move and possibly one of my worst decisions.
I arrived at Ft. Stewart, GA on October 30, 1990 with the fear/excitement of going to Dessert Storm. My unit was the only one from Ft. Stewart that would never see the Middle East. With everybody gone to war, the small military town seemed empty except for the night life. The few friends that I made in my new home invited me to join them at the dance club. Not wanting to spend another night alone in the barracks I quickly got ready to go out.
The pulsing music, smell of perfume mixed with cigarette smoke and the dark atmosphere appealed to me. I can’t explain what the draw was but I was hooked like a bass on a treble. I would spend the next three years drinking and partying myself right out of the military. I found that this lifestyle also came with “one night stands”. I was truly falling deeper into the world with each passing day.
I tried a few times here and there to go to church but found myself sitting alone on the back pew only to run out before anyone could speak to me. I truly believe it was because I wanted to do right but did not want to give up my fun lifestyle.
As time progressed I became more reckless and these decisions began to catch up with me. I made it through my first DUI rather easily and then the second came shortly after that with some jail time. I was now driving on a suspended license and no insurance without a care, or so it seemed. I wrecked my second car in a two year time frame. This time the wreck involved another motorist. I would visit the inside of a jail cell yet again.
As I’m traveling up and down the eastern seaboard as a construction electrician I am constantly looking over my shoulder as I am now a fugitive from the law. A warrant for my arrest has been issued due to my failure to pay restitution and my negligence of the rules concerning my probation. A whirlwind tour that started in Savannah, GA through the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Alabama and finally ending in Valdosta, GA. I was at rock bottom here. Drugs, alcohol and fornication had made a weary man of me. I was twenty when this decline started and I am now twenty eight.
During this time my parents are equally weary. Long nights of prayers and tears on behalf of their wayward son were met with continued sorrow. There would be months of no contact and they would try different avenues to reach me, to find out if I’m still alive. They contact friends and ex-girlfriends and try mapping a trail of where I am and where I’m going. They try calling hospitals and jails to see if I am a resident of either one.
I finally make my call and inform my parents, “I’m tired, I want to come home.” Without hesitation my dad tells me I have a place, I’ve always had a place. I pack everything I own into a small car and make the trek from Georgia to Oklahoma. Once I’m there, I begin to attend worship services with my family. I slowly feel my life beginning to take order again.
After being home for about a year and working hard to rebuild relationships with my family and my God I start looking toward a career in the ministry. After researching several schools of preaching, I settle on the Brown Trail School of Preaching. This is by no means the end of my story but a good place for some reflection.
I made it through those years of turmoil by the prayers offered up by my family and friends who knew I was lost. I kept going back to what I knew to be right and safe. I say this to make the point; biblical teaching will stay in the mind and heart. When it is taught with love and understanding and received with willful intent it will become the guiding light in a dark world. As a lighthouse brings ships in safely through treacherous shores, the Word of God will guide us safely through tumultuous times. The light may grow dim over time when one is not walking in the light but that dim flicker maybe all that is needed to bring one back to the fold.
