Chapter 13: A Light On My Path

Page 31

God saved me from a life of crime by guiding me away from those

who would lead me astray. Along the way, I gave up a several friends. True friends will not lead you into doing anything evil. Then there is the matter of smoking. I started at the age of 10. My dad caught me smoking at the age of 11 and made me sit down in the living room and smoke a cigar. He

liked cigars and I think he thought inhaling it would make me sick. It didn’t and after that I smoked cigars too, when I could get one. Smoking is a sin against our body. Its evil effects are well documented and even the major tobacco companies now admit it causes serious health problems. Yet, listen,

when Jackie and I were growing up — these companies were advertising the health benefits of smoking. Yes, I am serious. We were taught that smoking was good for us. Eventually sinus and chest pain would force me to quit.

One day at the age of 20, I found myself lighting up a cigarette as I

arrived on board the USS Berkeley DDG-15. I hacked nonstop for a solid ten minutes and as I coughed it felt like a knife was being twisted around in my chest. The pain was so severe that I immediately threw the cigarettes over board and quit cold turkey. I had smoked up to three packs a day at

times. That is the short hand version of how I quit smoking. Suffice to say that God enabled my body’s pain to speak to my heart. I got the message. Smoke, you get pain; don’t smoke, you won’t get pain. It had been going on for the prior six years of my life. I only regret that I was unable to get Jackie

to quit with me at the time. The smoking eventually became a contributing factor in her pancreatic cancer.

Drinking had also been a problem for me in my youth. At age 15, I

was well on my way to becoming an alcoholic. I was putting down several quarts of booze a week. Not good. Jackie didn’t like it and informed me of that fact. She was my saving angel. At least she tempered what I thought of as fun in those teenage years. I stopped drinking completely at age 34, a

couple years after starting my new walk with God. I would usually only have two drinks in a given evening, but God showed me how those two drinks affected both my mood and my mental thinking the next day. I gave up drinking because I wanted a clear mind for my fellowship with God. I

will have a glass of wine on rare occasion now. I also offer real wine to those who participate in the communion services of my ministry.