Christian Family Services Ministry

9-28-2018 – Personal History – The news headlines lately has brought up for me a very painful experience that occurred some 50 years ago at this time of year, and experience which was to have a profound effect on my direction in life.

I had just graduated from graduate school. I accepted a ministerial position at a small church in northern Arkansas. Been there about three months when a woman in the church accused me of making obscene phone calls too her ( Of all the evil deeds I had consider doing in my life, even had done, making such phone calls never entered my mind).

It was assumed that I was guilty regardless that a polygraph showed that I was innocent and investigation showed I was eight hundred miles away at the time.

However, as is mostly the case with slander the truth is not important and people believe the accuser regardless of the facts. Even the school that I had graduated from believed the lies.

My faith in people was crushed and within a year I quit preaching altogether. Took a job at Terrell State Hospital, and joined the Dallas Police Department as a reserve officer.

I learned a few important lessons though. It really is unimportant what people think of you, and more importantly the only thing that is really important is whether the Lord is pleased with you.

Another discovery was the real pleasure one receives from putting evil doers in jail. I guess only police officers can identify with that experience. Because I worked where really bad people committed really horrible crimes I never tired of hauling the evil ones to jail. I never arrested someone who was innocent or failed to jail the guilty.

Sometimes late at night I wonder is the world better off for the 200 or so I brought to the Lord, or of the thousands I put in jail?

As for the counseling, I do not know how to judge its value or purpose. I really cannot take credit for it because it is more the Lord’s doing.

The Lord shows me what is in the heart of the person, and guides my words to them, so I cannot really take credit for the 11,000 or so I have worked with in the last 30 years. Only He is able to judge which activity pleased Him. Regardless, I do hope I have pleased Him for that is really the only reason for being here; to please the Lord.