09/06/2025
From Jeff Sanders. Please read until the end if you have ears to hear. I've been as broken as a man could have ever been and if God will pull me from the muck of sin, He'll rescue anyone from their sin! (kind of like John Goodman pulling William Forsythe from the mud hole in prison, from the movie Raising Arizona, pictured) This post isn't a brag on myself, but of THE Man, my God, my Jesus, my Lord and Savior. The last year has been so special for me. God has really been great to me and my family. When I was a teenager I couldn't put down a Stephen King book, today I feel that way with my bible, it's a craving that I have to have. We do a family bible study at least 4 nights a week, and we don't just read, we go into footnotes, concordance and discussion. To quote Jim Ramos, when a man gets it, everyone wins!
As a child, I was told about Jesus by my grandmother and taken to church somewhat, but not like we worship today. By the time I was 9 years old I lived with my mother and stepfather again. That year at VBS at Parkview Baptist in Tallulah, I felt Jesus in my heart. Though I didn't know Him personally on that level, I knew it was Him in my heart. I went to the altar and prayed an unselfish prayer, not for me but for a couple of children at my school that had disabilities. (God worked in those situations later on too) I went and tugged on the pastor's jacket while he was preaching and I told him I wanted to be baptized, which happened on the last evening of VBS/revival. Sadly, after VBS, church ended for me, being raised in a secular home. I went into the world living a life that I learned at home. By age 14 I'd been a part of multiple divorces, an alcoholic mother, no father or stepfather. I can remember multiple times I'd hear strange voices at night and wake up the next morning with a strange man in our kitchen. These were terrible things for a young boy to see and feel, practically a young man at this point. By age 15 I was out of control. I drank, smoked ma*****na and had even been exposed to crank. It's hard to be normal through all of this. I had a curfew of 11 on weekends and after 3 or 4 times not being home on time, the door didn't get unlocked for me anymore. I lived with friends and sometimes the wilderness for about a year. Then I went to my mother's to ask for another chance to live at home and she was gone. She had sent my 2 younger sisters to live with their dad, but I didn't know where she went. My grandmother rescued me again! She sent me a bus ticket to the Grayhound station in Eureka Springs and sent me $20 Western Union for the trip back to Louisiana. I didn't go back to high school, I went to Vo-Tech for GED and welding school. Thankfully Mr. Alvin Hawthorne, who was my T-ball coach as a child, was also the instructor and he spent extra time helping me, even helping me get my first welding job, 16 hours from Home building a Amaco plastics plant outside of Charleston, SC. I was still rotten inside though. Alcohol, drugs and anger were still very active in my life and my relationships. By the time I was 30 I'd gotten reconnected with my father and stepmother. Shortly afterwards our mother was killed in a car accident. She never grew up, she gave away every kid she had, she died riding in a car with 3 of her friends. They were all drinking and no telling what else, I'll bring this back up when I get to salvation. After losing her, which I didn't really have, my grandfather died, then my grandmother. I felt I had lost my entire mentally support system. I then moved to Arkansas to try and turn over a leaf and get a fresh start, but I was still as worldly as I could be and I wasn't pursuing Jesus. I was alone. I had a good job, a nice apartment, a decent truck, but before I left for work I'd count the beer in the refrigerator. I knew how many I needed to keep myself from driving back to the store, usually 14-18 a night. I got to a point where I'd get drunk, go to bed and cry, I was alone and felt helpless, but inside I remembered Jesus. I'd pray every night that God would send me a church going, Godly woman, someone who would whip me into shape and help put my feet on the path to Jesus. Within 2 weeks of me praying, a co-worker, Jason Rich set me up on a blind date, with Wendy Roughton. We fell in love, but she didn't love who I was and she broke up with me! Within 6 months I began getting ahold of myself and she took me back, in love again! We were in church! Not long after we got married. We prayed really hard and had a lot of people helping us pray for a baby and God blessed us with Dylan! He's 15 now! It was 17 years ago I got back in church but not until December of 2024 that I understood salvation. I was driving through Atlanta and praying that God would help me find and understand what was still missing in my life. The tears came from somewhere, and I physically felt a pain leave my chest, a lifelong struggle of pain, and I felt the most pure feeling/mindset enter my chest. God answered my prayers immediately. Later that night I was at my hotel reading my bible and the answer came to me. I read and understood salvation. We have to publicly confess that Jesus was born of a woman, spread His gospel and left it in the men He chose to continue, He was nailed to a tree, a tree that He created and by men He created, the old man died on that tree, 3 days later a new creature was reborn, He spent 40 days on earth before He ascended into Heaven. 10 days later was Pentecost and His 12 "clueless" disciples were blessed with the Holy Spirit, which they spread throughout their regions, along with many other blessed ones who shared the gospel. I did what was on my heart. I confessed to my church what happened to me in Atlanta and I asked my pastors, Randy and Sheila Roughton (also my in-laws) to baptize me. On New Year's Eve we had a testimony service at our church and I got the microphone and confessed even more to our congregation, much of what I said today, and it felt so good and I felt His loving arms around me and I felt a nurturing love from my church family. I don't believe that we're once saved always saved and I'll rebuke anyone who tries to tell me that. We're human beings and we're not perfect, we WILL make mistakes and we're bound to sin. In the bible it says if we break even one of the commandments, we've broken them all. Once we're saved we CANNOT quit building our spiritual maturity or it will fall away. Lately I've thought about salvation more than ever. Not just mine, but my family, friends and loved ones. I think about my family who's still alive and those who have passed. Through my bible studies I believe that we have to do the things I mentioned above before we can go to Heaven and I believe that even if we are saved, if we aren't living a Christian life, we can go to the grave as a non-believer. I also believe that when a person goes to the grave a non-believer that it's over for them, salvation can only occur when we're alive. When I go to Heaven, the New Jerusalem, I want to bow and praise The Most Holy, I want to physically feel His arms around me and I want to see, hug and kiss all my loved ones who will pass and have passed before me. But how many will be there? How many knew the truth that I know now and lived a Christian life? It breaks my heart to think I may never see some or any again. When we get to Heaven, there will be no sadness/madness, anger, depression, anxiety or any temptation of these things, we won't know our loved ones aren't there, just the ones who are there. Satan won't be there because he is the only tempter, never God. It's never too early or too late for salvation but please, please understand that we aren't approved to be alive an hour from now! Choose God and your salvation while it is called "today" I love you, my Savior, my family, my church family, my friends, my enemies. Choose today!
Hebrews 3:13 (TRUTH!)
But exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
