Fishers of Men

My first knowledge of God began when I was 7 years old. A wonderful Christian lady named Hazel Hobson gave me a book for my birthday called Bedtime Bible Stories. Hazel was my Aunt Peggy’s mother who was married to my Uncle Floyd.

I remember opening the book to the first page and seeing God’s hand dwarfing the earth and suspending it in space. The first chapter told of the creation story in which I immediately believed.

A babysitter of mine named Melinda Colby took me to Vacation Bible School for a week that next summer and I loved it.

My parents, who weren’t saved at the time allowed me to go to Sunday School on a weekly basis. A wonderful Christian lady named Grace Crosby along with her husband Elwin picked up many of us country kids and took us to Sunday School.

They owned the Crosby-Neal funeral home, which is still located in Dexter. That is my hometown. I went on and off to church for a few years until my teen years when I gradually fell away. I remember when I was a senior in high School wondering if God was real.

My first influence with music came from my mother. She was a country singer in a group with her 4 siblings called the Judkins Sisters. They traveled all around the State singing with such known Maine country music stars as Dick Curless, Yodelin’ Slim Clark and Shorty Thomas. She was always working around the house singing and playing country music records.

When I was 8, I actually saw the Beatles playing on the Ed Sullivan show. I remember watching Ringo Starr on the drums and thinking, that’s what I want to do. When I turned 12 my mom bought me a snare drum. My brother Jimmy and I would play old 45’s records and pretend we were in a rock band.

When I was 16 I bought a cheap drum set and began to play a little on my own and drive my parents crazy.

After graduating from High School, my friend Steve Provost asked me to play in a rock band that he and a few other guys were starting. We were all just learning together and by the age of 21 were playing all over the state of Maine.

Unfortunately, I had been introduced to the lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll. I remember my pipe dream was to become a famous rock n’ roll drummer. We were actually on the verge of recording an album, but the Lord had His hand on me and the band broke up. I was so bummed because my dreams were shattered. My mom and Dad got saved during my late teen years. My mom gave me a Bible and was always praying and witnessing to me. After the band broke up I began an introspective search for meaning in my life. I packed up my drums and all my possessions and trucked it to Florida where some of my relatives were.

On the way I stopped and stayed in Maryland with some friends of mine. I went to a party and did a couple of doses of LSD. I didn’t realize that the LSD there, was a lot more powerful than it was in Maine. At the height of the trip I saw Jesus. He told me that He was what I was searching for.

I am a man of science and reason and don’t know how to explain it, but I know it was real. I prayed so hard because I was terrified, but then a peace came over me. After making it to Florida for almost a year. I came home, still not totally clear about my experience with the Lord. In the last days before the band broke up I began lifting weights. I think it was part of my continual search for meaning and fulfillment. In the gym one day an old friend that I used to ride motorcycles with named Bill Patterson was there. I hadn’t seen him for 5-6 years. We started talking and laughing about our old biking days riding our motorcycles.

Bill talked about the Lord a little and I started asking him questions. I noticed how happy and at peace he was and I knew he didn’t party. I had told him about my spiritual experience and that I was trying to be good and find God. He explained that we can’t be good on our own power and that is why we need the Lord. He invited me to the First Free Baptist Church in Dexter.

Bill introduced me to a man named Dan McNutt and he took a real interest in my spiritual condition. He invited me back next Sunday too. I went home that day and remember reading the Bible that my mom had given me. I knew at that moment that God was real. I started going to a Bible Study with my girlfriend and realized that I was saved. What JOY!! That Fall I got married and life had really turned around for me. I lost the urge to party and my life changed.

Unfortunately, 8 years later my wife and I went through a divorce. We had 2 sons named Elijah and Noah. I continued to bring them up in the Lord as we had shared custody. After about 8 years after the divorce my ex wife had gotten married and she and her husband moved to Michigan with the boys. Her husband had a lot of money so fighting a court battle was fruitless. My heart was broken.

I remember weeping in my bed night after night. After they moved I began a downward spiral and remember being mad at God. How could He let this happen? I struggled financially and spiritually for a few years after that. I rebelled and got in some trouble with the law and was just broken. I left the church and figured God was just punishing me. I went through 2 or 3 jobs on my own volition and just couldn’t find peace again.

Finally, the Lord opened my eyes again. I got rid of my home and moved to Farmington to go back to college to become a School Teacher. Previously, my fellow band member Steve Pratt had taken me on as a mobile DJ and helped me get started with my own business. I knew I could make some money doing that and survive in college. I got involved in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship on campus and God began using me again. I met a wonderful Christian woman online and started dating.

After I had finished college. I had gotten a Teacher’s position in Dexter and moved to Sangerville . We got married that December and we bought a house in Palmyra. She moved up that next June and we started going to church again.

That’s when my other fellow band member Glen and I talked about starting a Christian band. My son Elijah had been going to college in Portland and told me how he had started learning how to play the guitar. I couldn’t believe how good he was in such a short time. He always bragged that it was the Lord. After some band member changes the group took off. Elijah and I had built a studio in my garage and the rest is history.

In conclusion, I now have a wonderful wife named Barbara. A daughter Amy, and 2 sons, Elijah and Noah. I also have 2 stepsons named Matthew and Mark and 5 grandchildren, Jacob, Tristian, Hannah, Levi and Fox. I am an Alternative Ed High School Teacher in Guilford and a part time Mobile DJ and Personal Trainer. I also am an Assistant Coach in wrestling at Guilford high School too.

Fishers of Men has a wonderful ministry that God has given me, and is using me again by playing on the worship team at the New Hope Baptist church in Dexter too. I am so blessed that I can barely handle it. He is a marvelous Savior who NEVER gives up on us. My favorite Bible verses are Jeremiah 9:23,24, which go like this.

Thus says the Lord, “let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast of his might, and let not the rich man boast of his riches. Let him who boasts, boast of this. That he knows and understands Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth. For I delight in the things,” declares he Lord.