My Dad was a man who ruled his home with an iron hand—or, rather, a rawhide whip! When one of us got out of line or did not appear in church, he would march us down to the basement and flog us with that whip.
Down in my heart there was revolt. I thought, You just wait! Some day I’ll grow up and show you what I’ll do with your old religion. But I went to church and Sunday school, and even received a Bible for regular attendance.
From the time I was seven years old, I sold newspapers on the street corner every morning and after school. We needed the money. The time finally came when I had to leave school to go to work.
I got a job driving a delivery truck. At the end of the first week I went home with a total of $23.50. I thought I was a millionaire and that my chance had come, so I waited until Mother was by herself in the kitchen, handed her some money, and said, “Mother, I’ll give you ten dollars a week for my room and board, and I’ll do what I want about church.” For a long time I was not seen around church.
A rebellion against my parents began. They told me not to smoke, so I smoked. “Don’t let us catch you in a pool room,” said the folks, so I started to play pool and gamble. They warned me never to go into a dance hall, so I took dancing lessons. Many a night I got home so late that I had to climb a pole to my bed on the back porch so no one would know what time I got in.
I was still in my teens when I left home and drifted around the Pacific Coast. I went to Los Angeles, and as I walked down Broadway with my bags, not knowing where to go, I met two girls I knew.
“Haven’t you a room yet?” they asked. “Why not try the Bible Institute? They have a hotel for men and one for women.”
A Bible Institute surely did not appeal to me, but they persuaded me to try. Setting my bags down in the lobby, I walked over to the desk and asked for a room. The clerk looked at me and said, “Young man, are you a Christian?”
Well, I had not come to be interviewed and, since I thought I was a good deal better than many Christians I knew, I said yes. I thought that because I had not killed anyone, or held up any banks, I was entitled to call myself a Christian. He said he could accommodate me for a few days. That was Thursday.
That night I went to a dance; Friday, I went to a party; Saturday I went to another dance. On Sunday morning I thought it would be nice to go to church to keep up the spiritual side of my life, so I went.
It was a large church, seating over four thousand, and I knew no one would know me. I sat near the door, just in case I did not like the preacher. The service started, and did that man preach! I had never heard anything like it in all my life!
The preacher talked of hell and heaven and sin, and told me Christ was the One I needed. He seemed to pick me out of that huge congregation and speak directly to me. At the close an invitation was given for those who wanted to accept Christ to raise their hand. I raised my hand—and took it down quickly for fear someone would see me. They sang a hymn and asked those who had raised their hands to come forward. I would not, but one who had seen my raised hand put his arm around me and walked with me to the front—and there I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Saviour!
What a joy the Lord has been to me ever since! That is why I travel forty thousand miles a year to talk to other young men and women about the Saviour.
Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth;
and let thy heart cheer thee
in the days of thy youth, and walk
in the ways of thine heart,
and in the sight of thine eyes:
but know thou, that for all these things
God will bring thee into judgment.