*Skip Hopson

My story of salvation is a long one but it seemed to happen so fast.  It was complicated and yet was simple.  I had made some “not so smart decisions” that had put me in a place in my life where I was downright unhappy.  Miserable is a better word to define my life situation.  Then one day a stranger came by my house while I was cutting grass.  We talked and before he left told me that on Sunday he would be praying for me but had rather pray with me.  That stayed with me after he left.  It touched me, a stranger would do that for me, and so Sunday morning I went to church.  I felt like a fish out of the water when I walked in but I was drawn to be there.  I kept going and taking my son Eric with me.

Next, I was invited to go to a Sunday School class.  I found out quickly that I knew very little about the Bible and what purpose it would serve in my life.  I wasn’t raised in church so all the stories  my Son would tell me they heard in his little class were new to me as well.  I was like a child myself but that would soon change.  My Sunday School teacher was a stranger to me as well but what he taught seemed to reach a part of me that I couldn’t explain at that time, but once again I was drawn to be there.

Then one Sunday that didn’t seem any different than the rest something happened.  My son Eric said he wanted to be Baptized.  What?  How?  Eric at 8 years old had the desire to be a follower of Christ and dad was still a fish out of water.  I did not understand but a talk with the children’s ministry leader said that Eric was serious about it and God had put it on Eric’s heart to do this so he could go to heaven some day.  Wow!  I didn’t see it coming but Eric even convinced me he was ready so I agreed to go ahead with it.  Eric was baptized.  He had a white robe on with his big brown eyes and perfect little smile.  I watched a little angel become one of God’s own.  This changed my life.  At last, one Sunday morning I was uneasy, I could not explain it.  I went to Sunday School and the lesson changed my life.  The lesson was about David.  He had a child with a woman named Bathsheba.  The child became sick and evidently died.  2 Samuel 12:23 David says, “But now he (the child) has died; why should I fast?  Can I bring him back again?  I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”  Eric my son was going to heaven if he was to die.  Where would I be?  Man, that was tough to face.  My heart fell like it was being stepped on.  Then I went to worship.  The pastor’s message was about …what would it take for you to want/desire to go to heaven.  I was actually having a hard time breathing.  I was drawn to a place I did not understand.  Then the invitation was given.  The choir started singing, a friend of mine named Jan Thomas came back where I was and just stood beside me with her head bowed and her fist down by her side.  She was praying, praying for me.  Then I felt my hands let go of the pew in front of me.  I looked at Jan and her hands were now reaching to the heavens.  I don’t remember walking up to the altar but I was there. I was led by the pastor in the sinner’s prayer.  I had received Christ as my Savior.  When I stood up with tears running down my face there stood the stranger in my yard (Pete Sewell), the stranger that taught Sunday School (Jimmy Sandlin) and Jan Thomas.  They were strangers no more.  They were now my brothers and sister in Christ.  I was now a fish that had found the waters in which I belonged, The Living Water of Jesus Christ!