Testimonies of Gods Grace and love
From the Pit to the Pulpit
Testimony
of
PitStop
I was raised with four brothers
and two sisters in the small town of McGill, Nevada by parents who
struggled to make ends meet. My mother was raised Catholic, while
my father was raised in the Mormon Church. As a result of these two
views of church life, church attendance was not something high on
my parent's priorities. I did occasionally attend a few Baptist
youth functions with a nearby family, however the church and this
Jesus guy was not for me. By age eight, I had began the habit of
cigarette smoking, and by age twelve I was well on my way to living
a life apart from God or the laws of the land. My desired way of
life was built on the dreams of being a member of one of the
country's most notorious outlaw motorcycle clubs. At age eight and
with the goal of being an "outlaw biker" I got my first bike. It
was a Rupp mini-bike. You may laugh, however that mini-bike
represented for me not only freedom, but one step closer to living
the life I wanted. Next I received a used Honda 90 for Christmas
and drove it all day in approximately nine inches of snow, but it
did not matter because I was riding. I then procured a new Honda XL
70 and began to mimic the life of Bronson, from the 1969 NBC series
"Then Came Bronson." Bronson rode his Harley Davidson Sportster all
over the country and lived life as he chose to live it. He
symbolized for me, the freedom I desired to live, which was life
unto myself, with little care for anyone else. And so, with hair
down past my shoulders, a brown leather motorcycle jacket, and a
self made motorcycle club patch, I was ready to enter the rough and
tumble world of bikerdom.
With a desire to build my own Harley chopper, I needed ideas,
so I began to steal monthly issues of Easyrider magazine from the
local drug store and its owner Jerry Culbert. Eventually, Jerry
caught on that it was me and confronted me with the evidence which
was folded in half and slid inside my boot. Jerry did not involve
the authorities or my parents, but rather if it happened again he
would press charges. My father knew my passion for motorcycles and
bought two used Triumph Bonneville 650cc motorcycles for myself and
my brothers. My older brother then purchased a Harley Davidson from
a Salt Lake City police auction, and later prospected with the
Misfits Motorcycle Club. Then another brother purchased and chopped
a Honda 750, and we were on our way to living the biker life. At
age thirteen drinking was becoming a part of my lifestyle, all the
while knowing how it affected many members of my family. I began to
associate myself with the Roadrunners Motorcycle Club. During the
summer of my fourteenth year, I with the cooperation of my friend,
stole a car and escalated our wild lifestyle. By age sixteen I had
become involved in the drug culture and more illegal activities
with friends. Such people as Scott, who was my best friend and
partner in crime. Following High School, Scott shot two men to
death and is now serving a life sentence in the Nevada State
Prison. Scott and I both had a thing for guns. Scott even shot at
me in anger, just grazing my head by six inches. With my ear powder
burned, the slug made its way through the bed headboard, out the
wall and into the street. Being small, but with a tough demeanor I
found myself confronting a local teenager out of anger. It evolved
into a knife fight, but was short lived when an all out brawl broke
loose among our individual friends. He later served time for
robbery. My indifference towards God and the church hit an all time
low, when one night after having indulged myself, and ingesting
plenty alcohol, I broke out all the windows from the local Mormon
church. Following this incident, I just wanted to get on my scoot
and ride out of the small flea bitten town with the wind in my hair
and the town in my rear view mirror. Well my desire for freedom was
short-lived, when I was detained by our local sheriff and juvenile
delinquent officer for my actions and spent the next three summer
months working for the Mormon Church to repay my debt.
My junior and senior years seemed to be remembered only as a
foggy haze with no real progression towards building my chopper. My
problems began to mount, including my relationship with my
girlfriend, who is now my wife of some 29 years. My wild child
spirit needed something new, so I enlisted in the United States
Navy on July 18, 1976. The Navy, and particularly the Uniform Code
of Military Justice, affectionately known as the UCMJ began to wean
me from my wild ways with the exception of my alcoholic desires. I
married Elizabeth on July 5, 1977 and three months later deployed
to the Western Pacific for nine months. During this time of
separation, I plunged my life into the depths of sin and began to
drink with "gusto" my life and problems away.
Returning home and back to my wife I began to hit the wall and
eventually came to a crossroad not only in my life and relationship
with my wife, but also in my drinking. I not only, did not have my
Harley chopper and my free wheelin' life, but now I didn't have a
stable marriage either. Seemingly, I had hit the proverbial wall.
In August of 1978, at the very break-point of our marriage, we drug
ourselves into a local Baptist church in a last ditch effort to
save our marriage. As is custom of many Baptist pastors, the pastor
visited my wife and me the following day. It was there on my couch
that I first realized that God truly did love me, cared for me,
would forgive me, and had a plan for my life. As the old song says,
"I saw the light!" It was God who took away the desires to drink
and live like hell. He indeed changed my life for evermore!
Interestingly, a year later God called me into the ministry. I was
discharged from the Navy July of 1980 and entered college that Fall
at Wayland Baptist University. I began to pastor a local Baptist
church and moved on to my seminary studies at Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Following graduation
from seminary, I pastored Victory Baptist Church in Nampa, Idaho
until 1992 when I received a commission in the United Stated Navy
and entered to serve as a navy chaplain. I am currently on active
duty and now ride bike again, but this time for Jesus. I began to
hang around the Son's of God Motorcycle Club
® and eventually
went from a slick back to that of a full patchholder.
Years ago there was a desire to wear an outlaw biker club
patch, but God has replaced that desire and placed His Son not only
in my heart, but also on my back. The two club patches indeed
symbolize life and death. I eventually chose life, I trust you will
too! I had come to a crossroad in my life and I needed a change in
direction. Perhaps you are at a crossroad in your life. Heed the
following words and choose life "eternal" over the eternal grip and
penalty of death.
"AT THE CROSSROAD"
**"It is easy to follow the path down into Hell; where day
enters into night, and the gates of DEATH stand wide open. This
gate is easy to enter, but to find an exit, retrace one's steps,
and climb back up into the light of day, here lies the most
difficult task." One that most poor souls find it impossible to
accomplish, but for the few of us that have made it, Life begins a
new journey. Living with death, but not fearing it. The voice of
the path will always beckon you, but it is only you who can decide
if you listen or ignore this warning I pass on to you. For you see,
I have followed this same path through the gates of Hell, only to
find, LIES, HATRED, VIOLENCE, SORROW, MISERY, UNIMAGINABLE PAIN,
and DEATH. I was lucky enough to fight and survive to make my way
out into the light of day, but many around me never found their way
out and are trapped for eternity. The choice is yours, think long
and hard before you decide. But ultimately the choice is only
yours! Choose wisely!
Praise God, Jesus Changes Lives!
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come." 2 Corinthians
5:17
** Virgil: The Aeneid
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By HIS Grace
by
Moppy
I was born Dec 22nd 1967 in Ft Dix, NJ. Yep you guessed it, I
was an Army Brat. My bigamist father was an MP in the Army. My
family was a fractured mix of emotions with the predominant one
being anger. My father beat my mother until she divorced him when I
was 6. From then , my life went on a downward roller coaster ride
designed by Satan himself. My father had barely left us when our
apartment was broken into and my mother raped. The opening that the
rapist used to get in was one that I had created. A screened in
window that I had worked the molding loose to let myself in the
house when my mother wasn't home. The fact that I had inadvertantly
assisted my mothers rapist was a fact that was to haunt me for
years to come. Then I was awakened when the police picked me up and
carried me downstairs to a neighbors apartment. I heard a
description of the getaway vehicles. I went outside sometime later
and saw the vehicles leaving but did nothing. Another fact that
haunted me for some time.
My mother plunged herself into politics and without a positive
father figure to be molded after, I was on a downward spiral. I saw
therapist after therapist and was admitted to the State Hospital.
It was there that GOD himself began working behind
the scenes. First there was a man named Bob who was not only a
devout football fan but a CHRISTIAN as well who took us kids to
CHURCH. He took the time to hang out with me. The hospital was also
the place that I was molested for a second time in my life as
well,.I was molested by a doctor who was later jailed for molesting
other kids. But GOD wasn't finished yet. I had
been there 6 months when a Bishop in the Episcopal Church
intervened. He talked to a man in charge of the group home where
there was a waiting list and got me admitted. If it wasn't for that
intervention, I wouldv'e gone to the adult ward where I would
probably still be if not for GOD getting me outta
there.
It was during this time that my Mom married her Coca-Cola
cowboy. He was a real man. Whenever they got together, we were
always invited to tag along. Whether it was a day at the park or
whatever, this man knows how to be a father to this day.
Incidentally he was the one who taught me how to drive a big
rig.
In my 2 years at the group home I was exposed to other kids who
had worse problems than myself and got into Heavy Metal Rock and
Roll. To show you how mixed up I was, my 2 favorite songs were
Highway to Hell and Stairway to Heaven.
In the summer of 83, God began to move again. I was given a
case review in which they decided to transfer me to a halfway house
called River House. 3 of the 6 overseers there were CHRISTIANS.
Whenever I had a problem, they would always open the bible. I gave
my life to JESUS in the summer of 83. In 6 months I was
released to go home with my MOM and DAD.
I went to high school where I was to play football under one of
the best coaches in the business period. I wound up being a 3rd
string tight end. Funny thing is that while I was in the mental
hospital, I followed this team never dreaming that I would play
there one day.
When I finished
school, I tried being a missionary but failed miserably. I wound up
in the NAVY where I found cigarettes, booze and sex. Since I
had never grounded myself in Jesus, it was easy to fall into these
things.
One of my heartbreaks in the navy was when I got dumped by my
then fiancee. I was an overpossessive, controlling idiot and didn't
realize it at the time. I was gonna kill myself and had a plan. I
was thinking about how to put it into action when my father called.
He told me that he was gonna be in Philly where I was stationed and
asked if we could go hang out. I think that he sensed that
something was wrong and wanted to be there for me. We got together
and he allowed me to talk. I blamed everything on my ex and never
once took any responsibility for what happened. But now that I had
talked, the planned suicide was off. I even asked
GOD to allow me to apologize to my ex in time. Ten
years later that prayer was answered. She and I had the chance to
talk.
It was at the end of a church service, I was waiting for the
end of the service so I could leave, the pastors wife was praying
for people in line and she asked the lady whom she was praying for
her name. The lady gave it and something in my spirit clicked.
After the service, I went to the front to look for this lady and
was pointed in her direction. It was her. I tapped her on the
shoulder and when she turned around, she said in a broken voice my
name. We asked each other for forgiveness and both requests were
given unconditionally. GOD did this in his time,
not mine. He knew when I would be ready and he was ready to answer
my prayer that I had prayed so long ago.
But I still didn't get it. I drifted from one job to another
finally landing a job as a welders helper at a shipyard. I was also
married to a woman who tried suicide 3 times in the year that we
were married. One night when I came home, she asked me about going
to school to drive a truck. Frustrated with the shipyard, we went
to truck driving school.
We teamed together and that did not work out because she did
not want to work. So I went solo and had some problems in driving,
so my Dad, who has 30 years of experience, teamed up with me. he
taught me what I needed to know but, more importantly, gave me hope
after my divorce from my wife was finalized and kept me in
check.
After I seperated from my 1st wife, I met a girl who taught me
that it was ok to love again but me and her Dad weren't gonna get
along and I broke it off with her. Around this time, I had begun to
talk with the LOVE of MY LIFE. I met Popsicle in a Harley Davidson
chatroom. 2-3 months later we met in person. We were head over
heels in love and married on Nov 15th, 2001 at the nursing home
where she worked at the time.
I would love to tell you that we lived a fairy tale from there
on out but we didn't. The first year and a half of our marriage was
hell for her as I was a rude, inconsiderate jerk. During this time,
I hung out with a motorcycle club, got booted and was hurt by it. I
went back to driving a truck over the road. The Lord in his wisdom,
told me to get ahold of the SONS OF GOD MC. I contacted a chapter
president at the time and we arranged to hook up. We met in Daytona
at Bike Week. I also met PitStop and Curt.
I hung around then was asked to prospect, since Curt and I both
own Ironhead Sportsters a friendship was formed. My wife and I went
up to North Carolina one weekend so Curt could work on my Sportster
and show me some things. My wife and Nancy went shopping and Nancy
began to minister to my wife. She told my wife that she could see
the love that I had for Margaret and to not leave me. MY WIFE WAS
CLOSE TO LEAVING ME AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT. Our Marriage was
saved by the GODLY intervention of Curt and Nancy.
Curt then began to challenge me to be a man, so did the former
chapter president and then PitStop, Sons Of God MC. It has been
Pitstops ministry that has helped me and my wife the most. Are we
perfect? No. We still have our problems but realizing that divorce
is NOT an option for Christians, we work them out. I have Awesome
Brothers who hold my feet to the fire in PitStop and RETRO. These
men show me how to have an awesome marriage. PitStop and RETRO also
make sure that I am in the word on a daily basis, thru bible
studies. Those studies have helped me in my walk with JESUS. God
Bless.
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