Do not read this if it will upset you. I would like to clarify that I was not nor am I now a distinguished alumni. There were also boys who went to the school who tried to make my life as uncomfortable as possible. Congrats guys. Up to the time I was 56 you won.
it took years of my life trying to understand and various prescriptions to deal with the horrors that caused in large part by their inhumanity and degrading treatment.

However, at the ripe old age of 56, I finally realized that the people who were in school who were my heroes were: Mike Beale, Angie Godbold, Deborah Hypes, Sharon Godbold, Melvin Jones, and Adrian Jones. If I missed ya, oh yeah Irma Bunch, Linda Kauss,
I do not know what they do now; however, I am pretty sure they are all successful by societies standards. They are the only distinguished alumni from that era in 1973. Winnie I was the one who messed up the podium. Confession is good for the soul.

The church I went to growing up in thinking back really did not fill my spiritual needs. Been there several times, I believe God left it along time ago. Love the people in that church, and they are good willed, well intentioned, and seemingly searching and one day I hope they are able to find out that whenever a church has a split, it may be because God isn't there. Ok, now for my testimony.

I am not what I should be in Christ. After being provided a book and reading a book by a guy named Andrew Wommack called harnessing your emotions. I finally stopped blaming myself for those things which happened in school and although I have indeed made some strides; my happiness does not come from this world; it comes from a far different place. I was not popular in school, I was a person who went to city school and was raised in the country. I wanted to be totally honest and as a result, I would like to give you who may read these words of wit the testimony to the obstacles I have had to overcome and wish to share my testimony with you. For those of you who do not believe, I will not apologize for the words written here today.

I was raised up in a small country church. At the age of 9, I walked down the aisle to accept Christ as my personal lord and savior. At one time in my life, I ran the gamut of emotions. There was depression, grief, sadness, disgust, fear, anger, love, anticipation, submission, awe, disappointment, remorse, joy, surprise, and trust.
Fortunately, I had a wife who has remarkably tolerated me through all these emotions for many years. I will have to say, she is truly a gift from God. I have three children who at one time in their life accepted Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
I have always known about Jesus being inside of us. The song about letting others see Jesus in you is a great song. I am afraid for most of my life; I never really dwelt on this at all. I always felt that whatever happened was God’s will and nothing would ever change my mind on that and I have also found out on my journey that we will never know all the answers as to why things on this earth are the way they are. However, I do know this. Jesus loves us because the Bible tells me so. .
My trek in the air force was a journey I will never forget. After I got out of the service I was unable to find employment and took a job sweeping floors in a tortilla factory. It was very humbling but God was with me through this. I worked my way up to the role of supervisor and then God had a change of plans after 12 years at the factory, I was told prior to being laid off 2 years in advance and they said I should look at other options. I did.
I obtained my Masters degree in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling The thing that I have found interesting about Wommack is that he asks people prior to believing anything he says to search the scriptures.
It is obvious that there are a lot of different doctrines and theologies out there and that the sad part is, a lot of churches do not let the Bible get in the way of their theology; however, one book written by Wommack called Harnessing your Emotions has really had an affect on me that I want to you to know about.
After reading a book and with a great deal of bible study, I realized that my emotions were controlling me.
I am sure to you that it seems like a very simple thing; this controlling your emotions however, I did not find it that simple. There was a time in my life when I refused to let go of my problems. I wanted to keep them as long as possible. If I was down in the dumps, I was happiest of all.
I will not go on about the impact of this book. However, I was a person who worried all the time and if I had nothing to worry about I would worry about having nothing to worry about. God does not force himself on us. He gives us the choice about what situation we want to be in and allows us the opportunity to fall on our faces. He is there to pick us up when we fall and all we have to do is ask. Sometimes, we don’t even have to ask..
Here is the relevation simply put: although I could quote chapter and verse in the bible, I was unable to get my arms around giving everything you have to God, and that God forgave us for our past, present, and future sins that we would commit when Jesus died on the cross, his blood did that. I realize for most it’s a no brainer, it took me years to figure it out. .
As I recall the story, I am reminded of a person who was convinced that he should oppose the name of Jesus and he was a Pharisee among Pharisees. He was responsible for killing people who believed on the name of Jesus. He was absolutely obsessed with persecuting them that he even went to foreign lands to hunt them down. However on his way to Damascus, Jesus asked him why he was persecuting him.
I was responsible for persecuting Jesus over and over again. The book continued to ask the question of who I was in Christ. I had the knowledge, I could read eloquently out of the bible; however, it took several attempts provided by God, to turn my life around.
There will be people who will think I have lost my mind. However, when I decided to let God have everything I lost nothing and gained everything back and more. When Paul was pleading his case to King Agrippa, he asked Paul, “Do you think in such a short time you can persuade me to become a Christian?” Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”
The transformation inside of me continues to take place. I am really saddened by the number of years I have worried most of my life away; however, praise God for the revelation leading to my transformation. The chains that were not allowing God to control my life are now broken. It has made a definite change in my life and the good news is that once you lay everything at Jesus feet, you don’t have to worry about it anymore.
So, although bullies destroyed the early years, they cannot destroy the late years.

BB