John and Miss Willie Hight-- THEY TOOK IN STRAYS! I was one of their strays!... but first, some background: Just prior to teen years, on a certain day I let a Methodist Pastor and wife through the barnyard gates so they could drive about a mile down to 3 fish ponds. Slowly, elderly pastor Charles Wright drove his 1953 Plymouth through the open gate. But he stopped and asked about the state of my soul. I do not remember the exact words he spoke; but the Holy Spirit sent them straight to my heart and I was, (for the first time in my awareness), under conviction of sin and needing Jesus as my Saviour. However, I acknowledged none of this to Pastor Wright. Nevertheless, soon thereafter I was captured by the grace of God; I was turned and I looked upon Jesus for salvation and I LIVED; and on a chilly April afternoon I has baptized in Paul and Winfred Raleys pond, just outside of Jewell, Georgia! However, in my teen years I became trapped in hidden dungeons of bitterness, depression, various forms of wickedness; and at times I held a gun in my hand as I contemplated murder. Im no Apostle Peter, but I was being sifted like wheat; and UNKNOWN and/or UNREALIZED by me, God was also surrounding me with people who loved me and a preacher, Doyle Middlebrooks, (Director of Missions, Washington Baptist Association), who was divinely give a BURDEN TO PRAY for me. [I learned this amazing fact about 10 years ago!] Only God could have brought me through those days... and God used and still uses people to do much of His fine work! I AM AMAZED that in the midst of all that, the Holy Spirit filled me with a desire that seemed strange and foreign-- the desire, the calling to become a pastor. It was not an audible voice-- but the call was loud and clear. Thus, I proceeded in some of the early steps of my pastor, John W. Seaman-- I enrolled in Truett-McConnell College, Cleveland, Georgia, in the fall of 1963. Sometime that October I received a letter from Doyle Middlebrooks which read: I am recommending you to become the pastor of the Fairmount Baptist Church, just outside of Sparta. Please come prepared to preach on Fourth Sunday, October. With fear and trembling I showed up. I got out of my car and the first person I saw was a man of small stature... sitting on the church steps-- John Hight. O no, Im in trouble. Sparta policeman, John Hight, goes to this church! You see, as a policeman, directing traffic as school buses pulled out... his CAP seemed as big as Texas... at least big enough for foolish boys to stick their heads out of school bus windows, and yell, Hey, Cap! I thought, I have not even got inside this one room church building and I am already doomed! But, John simply stood, smiled, stuck out his hand, and warmly greeted me. I do not remember all the details of that morning; but after a horrible attempt at preaching... the compassionate folks at Fairmount welcomed me as their new pastor. Afterwards, Doyle Middlebrooks said, Follow me! I followed him to the house just a few hundred feet from the church. It was John and Willie Hights home. We had a most wonderful meal, encouraging chat, during which I found out that 3 Sundays a month the Hights were Methodists; but every 4th Sunday they were at Fairmount! In fact, they were the key servant family in the church. Well, suddenly, Doyle Middlebrooks announced: Im leaving. You will be preaching tonight. Uncle John and Miss Willie will take care of you this afternoon. Before I could tell him that I had just earlier preached the only sermon I had-- he left. Miss Willie: Thats what Middlebrooks does! Fairmount gets without a pastor; he goes and finds some poor soul who could not start anywhere else in the world; he brings them to Fairmount; he then dumps them at our house and leaves us to take care of the strays. John and I take in stray pastors! (Those are not her exact words... but the true essence!) ME: Miss Willie, I dont know what to do. I dont have another sermon. She always had a twinkle in her eye, a smile on her face, and a heart of loving compassion for her strays! [After all these years, as I remember this... tears are coming...] She sat down beside me. I was thumbing through my Bible. Out fell a post card size card... which I had received at VBS a few years earlier at Mineral Springs Baptist [John W. Seaman pastors there today!] ... the cards had a list of Scriptures on each side... outlining some Biblical subject. Miss Willie took them and in a moment simply said, Just use these. Develop a sermon from these. And I did.... THUS, WOULD BEGIN two of the most important years of my life as I was loved, nurtured, encouraged, and prayed for by these LOVERS OF STRAYS-- John and Willie Hight! I WAS ONE STRAY that moved one but never left-- I was blessed to keep coming back to visit with them... and then with just Miss Willie...up until she went home to heaven... way up in her 90s... I have had the privilege to find John W. Seaman and face to face, say, THANK YOU, for caring for me during those troubled years; and when he was age 90 to see Doyle Middlebrooks... and say, THANK YOU for prayers i never knew you prayed; but that God so graciously answered. O WHAT AMAZING GRACE TO ME A SINNER! [When I type something and memories are flooding... I tend to write with a lot of... and think little about correct.... sentence structure.... sorry... but on this occasion... I be too lazy to fix it!...]
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 20:17:31 +0000