Episode 27 - Tommy Swaite

Listen to Tommy as he shares his story.  Tommy was headed down a destructive path until the Lord changed his heart. 

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:10

Hello, I'm Becki Dowd, and this is The Journey to Salvation. Join me as we walk alongside real people and hear the unique journeys that led them to faith in Jesus. My guest today is Tommy Swaite. Hello, Tommy. Hello, Becki. How are you doing? Good, how are you doing? Doing fine. Thank you for coming in today to share your story with us.

Speaker 2 0:30

Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 1 0:32

Pleasure. Yes. And I, you know, I don't know you that well, Tommy. I know who you are, but our circles have never really uh crossed. So I'm hoping to get to know you a little bit better today. So can you just share some background information with us, maybe until you graduated high school?

Speaker 2 0:47

Sure. So my uh childhood was uh chaotic. Uh uh come from a uh very poor background. Uh grew up in Vandale, single mother. Uh we I had three older sisters, and you can just imagine the struggle with no no dad. And and uh I hadn't really ever been the the slow type as far as everything had to be fast for me. Uh if things wasn't moving fast enough, I was I was bored. And uh little did I know that's that's a disorder now. But anyway, it it wasn't nobody knew about it then. But if everything was chaotic, I was comfortable. Uh things like that. My mother, she was uh, you know, of course she was a single mother with with three older girls and and a little baby boy, and but uh she the one thing we did have was my mother. Uh she just loved people. Uh there wasn't a person that she met that she didn't, you know, she would bring them in and feed them. Of course we didn't have a lot, but she was just she was a good woman. I miss her. Uh so and all of, you know, my daddy was not there. He was a a fugitive. And uh all I heard was these stories my whole entire life about this. And it it was exciting. To hear his story? To hear, yeah, just stories, his story, and what he'd done, and uh how that you know my whole family was, and it was like that was really exciting. So I I thought that's that's what I want to I want to do. I'm gonna I want to follow those footsteps. And uh, you know, uh my mother, she would, she would take us to church, and I I remember uh in Vandale, they had Vandale Baptist. She would take us to the to the church sometimes, and uh Brother George Fink, do you remember him? Love that man. He uh he was instrumental in my life. I was just a little guy, and he was he was such a a big guy, and I remember we'd be at church and and he'd give the altar call. I didn't know what was going on, and man, I'd ever I'd run down there and uh he'd every Sunday? No, it wouldn't be every Sunday, no, it wasn't. It was when we did go, but he would he would hug me and pat me on the rear end and send me on basic and go back to your mama.

Speaker 1 3:49

Yeah.

Speaker 2 3:50

And uh those were the things that I remember. Uh and you know, life just the more chaotic I was growing up, uh I'm gonna say some sensitive things here. Uh my sister uh had a boyfriend, and uh of course my mom didn't know about a lot of this. Uh my the first time I was ever introduced to any uh drug. I was eight. I started smoking weed when I was eight. Oh wow. Terrible. I guess, you know, at that point that was the only male figure I had in my life was my brother. Well, soon would be brother-in-law, but he wasn't then. And uh that just spiraled in and growed into a uh a lifestyle that uh uh it was fast, it was exciting, constantly, you know, doing things and and uh did you continue smoking from the age eight?

Speaker 1 5:04

From age eight?

Speaker 2 5:06

That not consistently. Uh I I journeyed off into other things, drinking and things like that. Uh now that that was a big thing. Uh I began to do all of that stuff. And of course, after after a while, you know, you begin to, it was just we would go get a cooler, sneak in somebody's cooler and get a beer or something like that. Little did I know that that was uh that was cultivating something in me that uh from a uh genetic standpoint that I really didn't need to be into because there was my whole family on was alcoholics and and I didn't know that. And uh the next thing, you know, before you know it, it's it's I mean, that's what I did all the time. And uh my mother being single, you know, she was limited. She had uh three teenage girls, and uh can you can imagine having to deal with that, and then uh uh just continue to do that, drinking and and all the stuff like that that come along with it. But as far as, you know, just a childhood, it was it was a it was a good childhood. I mean, we didn't have anything, but what we did have, my mother loved us. And she showed that. I mean, it was there was no doubt that uh if you encountered my mother, she you knew that she loved her kids. She did.

Speaker 1 7:03

So did you go in and graduate high school?

Speaker 2 7:07

So uh I was going to school, going to high school, and I'll just, you know, make I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to have anything to do with school. Uh and uh it just wasn't enough, exciting enough for me. There was nothing going on, and I would go to school, and uh the subjects that I liked, I was okay with it. But for the most part, I just didn't I didn't like school, didn't want nothing to do with it. Uh and my my mother would, you know, it it was just never one of those things that was uh important, I guess. And uh but I had two teachers that uh could see through what was going on, and uh I got the uttermost respect for both of them, and one of them was Miss Linda Brooks, and the other one was Miss Carolyn Mbolden, you know Mr. Richard M. Bolton's wife, Miss Carolyn. Uh I would go in and I would just sign my name and go through and check stuff and turn it over, and Miss Brooks would come over and she'd say, I I see what you're doing. And she said, We're gonna get this. And they spent time with me, and of course my grades went up. When my grades went up, I began to play sports. But you we're still in high school and we were doing things that that that you know high school kids do, which is different now than they were then.

Speaker 9:02

Right.

Speaker 2 9:03

But yeah, uh, but I was I guess we were uh I was 13 and uh we had a family down the road that uh they were going to East Baptist Church and they had a revival and they had a big old church bus that they would pick kids up on, and I'd walk we'd go down there and we started going to church then, and uh uh brother Larry Pettis, I don't know if you know him, he's from Forest City, he was the pastor there, and we had a uh we had a uh a revival going on and I think I was 12 or 13 years old and uh man we were in that we were in the revival. I don't know what what they was uh preaching on. I just don't know, but man, I know that I could not sit in that pew no longer. And I remember just running down there. And I knew at that point that I I was I was saved. I uh the next day we was drugging the baptistry and baptized, and I didn't even know what that was, you know. And uh so uh a couple months rocked on, and then I just fell through the cracks. I slid right back in the secular way of life and uh began just to live my own life. Uh but I I knew there was, I always knew there was a God. And uh so I was just an angry kid. My dad was gone. Uh I wanted to be like him, and he done things that was, you know, it's just when when I was at odds with the authorities, the law, I was I was comfortable in that zone. If I was running from them, I was comfortable with that because I thought that was cool because that's what my daddy did. But uh it wind it that way of life winded me up. I was 16 years old, and uh I'd got in, and a lot of a part of my runaround and stuff was the aggression, was we I stayed in trouble fighting all the time. And uh I remember when I was 16 years old, I spent 30 days in jail in Jackson County for beating a guy up in in Newport at the age of 16 in jail. And I didn't think anything was wrong with that at all. I mean, I was just comfortable like that. So, you know, it it sounds outlandish, but it's it's just it's it's crazy. It was a crazy life for me. Uh, because when everything was chaotic, like I said, everything was chaotic, everything was comfortable to me. And that just followed me uh all the all the way through uh life. I mean, it's just you know, that's 13 years old, from 13 to up until I was 18, it's just that that's what I'd done. Uh I was still in high school, uh, and uh I met this girl from Wynne. We dated for a while, and uh we were going to the same school, and uh it was my senior year uh with the help of Miss Brooks and and all of them. I mean, I'm second semester, I'm passing everything, I'm fixing to graduate. And I think, you know, playing high school ball, and I think I'm I've got it all figured out. And then, you know, doing things that you shouldn't do as a teenager. I had a lot of time spent with my girlfriend alone, and so next thing you know, you know what happens. So I we're expecting. I'm 18, 19 years old, I'm expecting a a child. And I thought, well, I'm done with school, I'm fixing to go get a job, I'm gonna do what's right. Which was fine for a while.

Speaker 1 14:16

Because you were really close to graduating then.

Speaker 2 14:19

I didn't even graduate, I just quit. I just quit.

Speaker 1 14:25

But you thought you were doing the right thing by quitting and getting a job. Right. Yeah.

Speaker 2 14:31

And uh by then the the addiction for drinking and things was full blown then. I mean there was no it was just yeah, it was full blown. I mean, there was no turning back at that point. Now what God did in my heart when I was 13 is what I w was was what I was doing. Did that make that of none effect? No, it didn't. Because I knew uh I knew what he had done. There was no mentorship, no discipleship, anything like that. I didn't even know what baptism was. And uh but yeah, that was 18, something like that. And then uh we had our first child, and I thought, you know what, this is this this is fantastic. And uh I was working in Memphis and I was doing we were doing good. Uh but working, coming home, there was too much uh spare time in between that, it just wasn't enough. And I began to spiral into addiction. And uh so it created a lot of problems. I was in and out of jail, you know, just doing things, just just stupid stuff, living my own life is basically what I was doing. Didn't care what uh type of destruction come along. Because it's all chaotic. It was it's where I was comfortable there.

Speaker 1 16:54

So you were making those chaotic times to to feel good. Right, right. Yeah.

Speaker 2 17:01

I mean, I was comfortable with that. It didn't bother me at all. You know, it didn't bother me at all to be locked up in and out of jail all the time. You know, for some people it's like, oh, I've never I I don't know, you know. Yeah, I was comfortable there.

Speaker 1 17:19

That is odd that you found more comfort in jail than being out of jail.

Speaker 2 17:23

Well, and that's that right there is one of the things that we would talk about after 18.

Speaker 1 17:32

Okay.

Speaker 2 17:33

Because uh there was a purpose for all that. There was a purpose for that. In and out of jail all my life, but guess what? The only time that I would ever call on God is when I was locked up.

Speaker 1 17:53

Why do you think that is?

Speaker 2 17:55

Because he knew exactly where I was gonna be broken at.

Speaker 1 17:59

Yeah.

Speaker 2 18:01

Now, is there two salvation events in my story? No, there's not. There's one salvation event at 13. I believe your salvation is instant. But your journey, your your your walk and your growth is a lifelong journey. And uh we can be born again and walk around and feel like we're disconnected and miserable.

Speaker 1 18:36

Well, because when you were saved, that's something that the Lord did. That wasn't something I mean, the Holy Spirit drew you to him. That was his doing. Yes. Um, and we still have our sinful nature, and if we're feeding into our sinful nature, then we're gonna be acting in those ways, you know. And that sounds like that's probably what what you were doing. You didn't have anyone to disciple you um in the ways of the Lord. Right, right. And so you're going the only way that you knew.

Speaker 2 19:08

Right. And you know, still in the churches today, that's one of the things that uh that we deal with in the churches today. We're all excited when somebody comes to Christ and we pat them on the back and we love on them and why they're there. But when they leave out those doors, there's no follow-up, there's no discipleship, and there's no mentorship, and we forget what it took and what we had to go through to get to where we're at. So out there now, it's intensified by two times. And that's how people fall through the cracks. It's easy. It's easy.

Speaker 1 19:58

Right. Yeah, and I think some people are somewhat intentional about reaching those that ha have recently given their life to the Lord uh to disciple them. But yes, in a in a bigger church, that can easily, people can easily fall between the cracks and not have that discipleship and spend a life, maybe not spend a life, but spend a time um not really having that guidance.

Speaker 2 20:28

So past 18, uh so we uh I had my son when I was uh 19 or 20, my first one, then three years two years later I I had another one. And I thought, you know, this this is this is good right here. This is gonna straighten you out. Right, no, it didn't. And uh so I began to uh dabble in uh other things, uh methamphetamines and uh that right there, I liked that. I liked it a lot because uh I could stay up, I could constantly be moving, I do stuff and never have to stop. And uh that uh drug me down a whole different path than I thought I'd ever go. It took me to places I thought I'd never ever be. And uh a lot of tragedy come along with that. I my youngest son, uh, when he was just uh three or four, they were petting the horses and he ran across a road and a car hit him.

unknown 22:01

Oh wow.

Speaker 2 22:03

And when I come home out doing running around. Yeah. Uh he was he wasn't good. And I think about those times and uh I tell people all the time tell his young husbands and dads always be good to your your wife and your kids because the way I treated them the the the grief and the you'll never you never get over that. I know it's it's been covered under the blood but this is when them little old boys were little and I should have been there and it's just a grief that you can't ever get past.

Speaker 1 23:01

So did he pass away?

Speaker 2 23:02

No.

unknown 23:03

Okay.

Speaker 2 23:03

Praise the Lord he's fine today. As a matter of fact he's a uh he worked for the same company I do. Oh wow and uh yes come full circle it could have gone really bad but uh I ended up getting a divorce and uh I messed that up and uh in 2000 no nineteen I was doing things that I shouldn't have done messing with the drugs and stuff and in uh uh nineteen ninety three uh there was an episode at at a bar and uh a man got killed and uh they said I'd done it we were all fighting in there but anyway uh they locked me up I was 24 years old that should have been a breaking point and uh so I didn't know if I did or not I was so inebriated I was so drunk I didn't know what I was doing but uh it was such a big deal Ronnie Huey bless his heart I love that man he uh he was the sheriff at the time and uh he was and uh he uh I was getting so much backlash from this whole ordeal that he he set me up with a uh polygraph test and I took the polygraph test and uh I passed it and I told him I said man I didn't do that so anyway fast forward to that right there jail after jail after jail after jail running from and all these times that uh I spent in there uh that's the only time I really called on him do you think that was because you really couldn't get to those things that you wanted like the drugs and alcohol and doing the things that would get you in trouble? Well after about three days in there you kind of get your head straightened out and then you get to thinking you get to thinking about the important things. Yeah family God what you gonna do with your life you know we would make all kinds of promises in jail and uh but I remember being in there and uh that's the only time I ever called on God is when I was in there. Because your head was clear right my head was clear uh it was you can get to yourself and it's you know be still and let him speak to you but uh so in 1998 I uh I went to the my first trip to the Arkansas Department of Corrections in prison uh when I was thirty years old and I spent maybe a year and a half in Brickies Arkansas at Brickys Penitentiary and where that right there would usually break somebody it was just comfortable to me I got out doing the same thing but there was something different this time so in 2000 I was running crazy. In 2001 I met this girl which is now my wife Callie and uh it wasn't good on my part uh we began to date and I mean it's just you know like you we was together every day and uh there was something about that that was different from the rest of them I was still doing what I was doing and uh I was actually running really crazy at the time and not only was I running crazy I was dragging her with me and uh I ended up getting locked up again and uh I remember laying in that jail cell in D cell four and I was reading my Bible and I said Lord if you can do anything with this mess that I've created I said I'll live for you the best of my ability for the rest of my life now Becky was that another salvation no I think it was a complete surrender at that time I knew when I woke up that next morning something had happened me and Callie were dating and she's she loves flowers and I'm like it's just a daggum flower but I was laying in the door in that jail and I woke opened up my eyes one morning and I remember this like it was there was a dandelion there with dew dripping off of it about to drip off of it and that's the first time I ever seen anything like that that I was like now I know what she's talking about. I was I started seeing things different I started hearing things different I started thinking things different and uh it just that's where it began I was still locked up but I know that the reason why that I was locked up so many times and the Lord allowed that because now I understand that's where he was going to reach me at it wasn't gonna be out outside those doors it was going to be where he reached me at the sheriff was Ronnie Bowen and I did not like that dude not because he had done anything to me at all just because he was getting in the way of what I wanted to do and I would see him walk down the hall and I'd threaten him open this door and I would I was talk nasty to him I would talk terrible to him he would just look at me like are you crazy and I'm like you know now I look back yeah and I understand what he was looking at. Yeah long hair crazy but uh there was another guy that was real instrumental in my life and his name is Robbie Nelson I used to work with Robbie and uh he was on drugs just like I was and he got saved and man he would just he was uh went to church at uh church of God there across from uh I guess the Methodist church the school yeah and uh he would come and see me in jail and man I remember after after I prayed that to to the Lord and uh I uh he would come and see us and I just I remember him coming in there and I just I said man I'm done I'm done and man I it just began and I knew then that man I've got to get past this anger that I have for these people because I was just angry all the time and Ronnie Baldwin the sheriff just happened to be the one that I was really really angry at and uh finally I was like every time that I'd hear his name the hair would stand up on my neck if I could just get my hands on that guy.

Speaker 1 32:15

Not because he did anything but just because of his position just because I did had zero respect for authority number one.

Speaker 2 32:25

Yeah and that wasn't right and the Lord kept dealing with me in that cell now mind you I'm still locked up and I was like okay I've got to make this right and uh I began to write him requests to to talk to him and he just keep turning them down turning them down which I didn't couldn't blame him but after about the sixth one six weeks in a row he uh he finally let me come up there to talk to him and uh I remember going in there and I was like he's like what you doing I said well look there's some things that's been happening and I told him what went on and I said uh I'm not up here trying to talk get my sentence lower or anything like that because you know me better than that because you like it in there well it didn't bother me yeah and I was like uh I come to apologize oh wow and he looked at me for what I said for the way I've been I said I and I've got to get this out of here I said I'm angry at you and I can't be that way and he looked at me he said you see his gray hair I said yes sir I do he said well you put half of it in there and we laughed and for an hour and a half I sat up there and I talked to that man and uh we got done and I started to get up and he said hey he said would you want to be baptized and I turned around and I said I sure would oh wow and here's the funny thing so there was 31 of us baptized men and women in a portable baptistry outside that jail guess who they had to win progress there guess who was the chief editor there who James Langston oh really yeah I didn't even know this so James was there and uh he was gonna take pictures of these people Ronnie Baldwin's like no no no that's not the one that's not the one that's not the one when I come out he said that one right there I still got the picture of me on the front page of the Wim Progress. I didn't know it was James Langston. Oh wow and uh so that happened man and it's just like something was happening in that jail they would open the doors up we would have a Bible study in there we'd go from different cells to different it was just an amazing time. Wow what year was that in uh this was 2004 by then and uh it was just everything was was going so I had got in trouble and they were trying to give me uh sixty years oh wow yeah they were gonna my lawyers they didn't even want to talk to me they done had enough of me and I remember this this is before all this happened before my my surrender I was that's what I was in there for and uh I remember praying before the night before court I was like Lord I you got to get me out of here and it's it's two o'clock in the morning I'm praying I just let me get out of here and it just like what are you gonna do when you get out of here and I'm like okay I see all right I see now I know you're in control whatever that whatever I've done I'm gonna have to pay for I'm just gonna trust you the next morning went to court the prosecutor went up there and he said I'm gonna give you one opportunity he said you either take five years or you're done and I was like signed the papers and my mom was there and she was just crying I said Mom you don't even know what went on last night oh well and I was like I'm gonna take my five years and I went done my five years as a born again believer and I took that opportunity to study his word and that year and whatever it was I wouldn't trade it for nothing. I got to see God work in the prisons but uh so I I I got out and uh when I got out uh me and Callie were still together uh when I got out uh prison uh which was in 2005 and almost 2006 I got out and uh I got me a little place got me a job got me a little place to leave but when I back up to when I surrendered my heart to the Lord in jail me and Callie were living together and I remember calling her I said look you're gonna have to go back home and I was thinking this could be over with but it didn't because she she made me want to be a better man even though I was doing there was like I said there was something different. Because you didn't want to be living together no because you knew you shouldn't have been doing if I'm gonna I always did everything 100% whatever I was doing. Right and if I'm gonna do this if I'm gonna do be with her do it the right way. Right and uh so I got out got a job everything's going good proposed to her and uh 2006 we were married and it was another uh oh I guess another two years and then Lily but we were we were attending church at a a Baptist church outside of town and uh it was just a small church and uh there were a lot of people like me that were in there. The pastor I've known him all his life we were really in a good spot and I thought you know I was talking about you know When Baptist I think was a uh sister church maybe I forget how that worked but I was like man I'd never go to that church that church is too big man I'd never go out of the country on a mission trip. That's you never know what the United States done these people well don't ever say that uh few years later I'm at Wim Baptist and uh there was another guy there that really was instrumental in uh the things that happened there and that was uh you probably know him Kirk Owens I do know Kirk yeah he's uh he's something else he's he's one of my best friends uh I remember Matt was preaching and uh we were attending church there and Matt Pearson Matt Pearson yeah we were attending church there and uh I was like man I never would have thought I'd be here but I was I I loved it I mean there was something about that place I felt like God had led us there and uh we uh we were attending the church there and uh and I just like I was to the point like God whatever you want to do I mean I'm in a good spot I I feel like everything is going my direction I mean we're putting God first and everything starts working out and we was at a service and man it was just like the music had me tore up I was just there was something uneasy I'm like God what are you what are you what are you doing and then a few minutes later you know we got the three big screens up there and it was freaking Kirk Owens in China and I was like no no I am not doing that no you I you've got the wrong guy for that and I don't know if Kirk remembers this or not but after the service was over I went down to talk to him and he seen me come and he said boy what's wrong with you had he not left for China yet? He had come back he had left and come back so they had pictures. Okay and uh he said boy you running and I'm like man I don't know and I talked to my wife I was like I just don't know about this I said I just feel I mean it was just it was no doubt and uh the next Sunday we were there and um I just went up to Matt and I was like man I think the Lord's called me to commit to a short term short term mission trip and uh he's like good good and I didn't know anything about all that and another guy Jeff Gibson I love that guy too he's a good man and uh you know I'm country's a cornbread cake I don't know nothing about a lot of stuff and he uh so I committed and I'm thinking here's another thing how am I gonna come up with all this money I've got a wife at home with a baby uh I'm the only person working and uh it was like this ain't and then I called her I was about to back plumb out he said don't do it he said God's got it all and uh man it was a few days later Jeff Gibson called me and he's like hey I ain't even got my passport yet I've got to wait till the next week to get some money to get my passport he said hey what are you doing? I said I don't nothing I said what are you doing he said I got a check down here with your name on it for $212. I think it's what it was for the passport. Yeah I said you've got to be kidding me so I went down there and I went to sign for my passport and he's like well It's gonna be four to six weeks before you get it. Ten days later they call me, Hey, your passport? I'm like, really? So all that being done, you know, we're we're we're everything's in in forward motion, man. I'm getting excited.

Speaker 1 44:15

I've got Now had you committed to a certain trip, or were you just open to go to any on any trip?

Speaker 2 44:22

I think it was a China trip.

Speaker 1 44:24

Okay.

Speaker 2 44:25

And that's where I ended up going to China. But but anyway, we were uh I went down there to get this passport check. I went and signed it, got my check, then went down there, got my passport in 10 days. And man, it's all going my way. And uh I called Jeff Gibson, or Jeff calls me, and he's like, hey, I got some good news for you. He said, How much you like getting the rest of your money? And I'm like, Well, dude, to be honest with you, I'm I'm I'm I might have to back out. Because that was a pretty expensive trip. Yeah, she was about $4,000, something like that. And uh I just didn't feel good about I mean, I got a wife and a baby at home, you know, taking that money for a cause, but you know, that's my way of thinking. I was taken away from them. He said, Well, he said, you don't have to worry about it because it's been paid in full. I said, You're blowing me away right now. I said, Are you serious? He said, Everything's good. He said, We're waiting on your visa to be okay. And I'm like, man, this is I'm at work. I am, we're working in Mark Tree, and we're building a bridge over there, and man, I'm on top of the world. I'm telling everybody, man, I'm going to China, we're going down there, we're going to live with these people, we're going to share the gospel with them. I mean, it was just, I was on fire. And then guess what? I get another phone call from Jeff Gibson, and I'm like, hello. He's like, what are you doing? I was like, nothing. What are you doing? You doing all right today? And I'm like, Yeah. He said, Well, I need to tell you something. He said, they denied your visa. And it's like you just let the air out of me. I said, What? He said, Yeah, they denied your visa. He said, We're gonna try again. And I just hung the phone up. And I was like, I was deflated. I mean, I was just done. And I was like, Lord, why have you provided everything? Got me to this point. You're just gonna leave me right here? Of course, it didn't take long. All the pouting and stuff, you know how we get sometimes. And he's like, you know, that's not the way I work. He said, I don't, I don't work like that. And I was like, I got it. Again, I got it. I know you're not done with me, and I'm sure not done with you. And you're in control, whatever happens, happens. But I just wanted to get in that truck and drive off and leave the job site. And I didn't even know what I was just so broke down in tears. I'm like, why? And a couple days later, let's see, that was on a Thursday. I think we was that was on a Wednesday or Thursday that week. I went to church on Sunday. We went to church Sunday, and then here comes Kirk Owens. Of course, they knew all what was going on. They wasn't telling me. Right. Uh Kirk's like, hey, we're fixing to go to Houston, Texas. I'm like, who? He said, me and you. I said, for what? He said, we're going to the consulate. I said, what the heck is a consulate? He said it's a Chinese embassy. I said, what? He said, yeah, we're gonna go down there and we're gonna get this visa. Only her would do that. And I'm like, I'm like, okay. All right, when we leaving. And uh I think we left I think we left that after that church, let's see, no, was it it was the next day, I think we ended up leaving. But anyway, so we go here we are. Yeah, we're going to the the Chinese. Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas. To try to get your visa so you could go to China. And Kirk's, you know, he's speaking Chinese, and it's crazy to make it.

Speaker 1 48:47

It's crazy to see Kirk speaking Chinese.

Speaker 2 48:50

Yeah, and I'm thinking, man, we're gonna go down here. I don't even know what a consulate is. He's gonna drag me all over this place. We go down there and he's gonna we're gonna stay in a hostel. And uh I didn't even know. I said, What's a hostel, dude? What is that? You know, I'm I ain't never been anyway. We go in there, we check in, and I'm like, and I see these girls walking around. I said, Kirk, that's the only bathroom we got. He's like, it's gonna be okay. I said, dude, no. I was like, oh my goodness. I was like, Lord, please. I said, that's all I need. And uh, but anyway, we we prayed over the doors of the consulate that that night. And uh the next morning we went down there and there was a carrier there. He was getting a bunch of these visas, and he, you know, we were talking, he's like, nah, you ain't got the right paperwork, you ain't gonna get it. And Kirk was gone to do something, and he'd come back and they'd just tell us, he said, Man, what's what's wrong? I said, This guy says, We ain't I ain't got the right paperwork. So I'm on the phone with J.R. Smith trying to get some stuff. He was a sheriff trying to get some stuff, because you know, they're all all on board for this. Because they done seen a change in me that know that my entire life. I mean, just totally different.

Speaker 1 50:19

So some of your charges might have been the reason your visa didn't go through?

Speaker 2 50:25

Exactly. My background, my my past, and uh the the times I spent in prison and stuff like that. And uh I told Kirk, I said, they're not gonna let me. He said, Look, that guy don't know who we know. Come on. So here we go again. And we get up there, we get in there, and I don't know what Kirk's saying to him. But he eventually told me, he said, Look here, I'm gonna I've been to your country, I've got my friend, I'm gonna show him your beautiful country. And uh they said, nah, nah, nah. And they went pointing at this paper, and I was like, Well, that's over with, no more. And he's like, they turned the mic off and he gets on the phone, turns the mic back on, he's like, We're gonna give you 15 days, and you got 10 days to get there. And I was like, Praise the Lord! I'm I'm in there, and Kirk's like, calm down. And I'm like, I looked over at Carrie, I said, I'm in there. Praise the Lord. And uh so man, everything worked out. So I go to China, I mean, and it absolutely changed my entire life. We spent 10 days down there. It was me, Kirk Owens, Mr. Bob Stanley, Steve Frisbee, David and Tanky Hill.

Speaker 1 51:56

Yeah, I think that was us, but and Kirk. That's a hard trip. Oh, that China trip. I loved it. I loved it. As far as um the driving and just the getting around there.

Speaker 2 52:10

It was it absolutely changed my entire life. And when I got home, man, it was like my feet didn't hit the ground for a month.

Speaker 52:21

Yeah.

Speaker 2 52:22

And then, you know, you get back down to down to the routine. You get down to earth and get back in the routine with everything. But though those those were some really life-changing things that happened to me. And uh I'm still at Wynne Baptist, and I feel like uh God moved me there, and until he tells me to leave, I'm I'm gonna serve.

Speaker 1 52:55

How is God using you in areas of working with people that have a past like you?

Speaker 2 53:02

So I work for Roberts contractors out of Poplar Bluff, Missouri. I'm a bridge superintendent. And uh normally people with my background don't get that move up to that. Right. And uh so I have people coming in with all kinds of backgrounds, and people are like, Oh man, I really don't want to apply. I'm a felon. I'm like, dude, look, don't worry about that. And I get these guys out here, and there's a couple of them that still work there right now that uh I just ministered to and have come to know Christ or got back on the right track with Christ, and yeah, I was like, you know, when Jesus told the disciples, You're you'll be my witnesses from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the ends, his he was in Jerusalem when he said that. So I take it as wherever God has your feet at is your mission field. And I use that job as uh my mission field.

Speaker 1 54:24

And uh because you travel, right? Well, yes. Uh you're in different parts of the state?

Speaker 2 54:33

Sometimes. Uh so and here's another beautiful thing. Is a company that I work for is really on board with the way I handle things. It's my job. My bridge, my it's it's it's my uh construction site when I'm out there. And uh these guys that come in there, especially the young guys, you'll you will see them with all walks of life. You'll see them with tattoos all over their face, uh, Hispanics that can barely speak English, you know, that are uh it's just a struggle. And I can relate with them when they tell me things, uh when they come to work not feeling so good because of last night, and I'm able to say, hey, dude, I've been there. I know exactly where you come from. There's nothing good about what you're doing, man. It's just gonna cause you problems. And I'm able to talk to them. And a lot of them see the way that I handle my job site. Um and you know what? God's it's it's all glory to God for when you you do these things, when you invite the king into anything, it's gonna go good. You may not see that it's good, you may not feel like it's good, but when he's involved in anything, it's good because he's good. And that's what I tell those guys. You think my job is to come out here and build this bridge to provide y'all with what you need and you know make sure everything's safe. I said, You got it right, that's a part of it. I said, but this is my mission field, and my job is to tell y'all about Christ, and if I don't tell you, whether you like it or not, if I don't tell you, then I feel like I'm not doing my job completely. So yeah, I use that my job as a as a mission field.

Speaker 1 56:50

Are you part of the jail ministry here?

Speaker 2 56:53

I was. Uh me and Kirk and Dustin and them would go up there, yeah. I love that. I I love that. Uh, you know, it's just the the not being able to be, you know, has absolutely as you know, it shuts it down. It it has done that a couple times in the past. You know, everything will go good and then all of a sudden something will happen. And then yeah, I'm not able to be there. Uh you know, I feel like if those guy if if if I'm gonna do that, I need to be 100% because that's what they expect.

Speaker 57:36

Right.

Speaker 2 57:37

And uh so when I can I'll go. Uh but it's it's there's a hole that's there. That's my passion, is is to is the jail ministry. I love it.

Speaker 1 57:53

Did you ever think that you would be where you are today, back where you used to be?

Speaker 2 58:00

Did you ever think not in a million years, Becky? Not in a million years. I look back and it's all God. You can't make that stuff up. No. You can't do that on your own. No, you can't change your life. You you can't. Yeah. You can't change. I hadn't got the ability to change what was changed. No way. Because you had a heart change. I I had a heart surgery, a big one.

Speaker 1 58:27

And only God can do that.

Speaker 2 58:30

You know, that's what that was a lifestyle for me. That was a lifestyle for me, that chaotic lifestyle, and I was comfortable in that. And no, I I can't see, you can't, you can't make that stuff up because what I come through when when God absolutely just moved in and he took over, and I said, here you go. I can't do it. When I prayed to him that night in that jail, when I said, I'll live you the best of my ability for the rest of my life. I had a reputation that was, and I you know what? It I wasn't worried about that reputation. It was me and him at that time, and I was broken, and I was sick as anybody could ever be. And for the first time in my entire life, I got a glimpse from the outside in, and I didn't like that guy at all. I didn't like that. You know, you're talking about a guy that's been in and out of jail his whole entire life, charged with a first-degree murder charge, bunch of assault battery charges. That's just a total wreck. A total wreck. And God put that back together to what it is now. You can't it you can't make that up.

Speaker 1 1:00:01

Yeah, looking at you, it's hard to believe that that was who you used to be.

Speaker 2 1:00:06

I s I get that a lot.

Speaker 1 1:00:07

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:00:08

I get that a lot. It's a good God. He's a good God. But I think a lot of it is a good woman will do that too. And I love my wife, and I love my kids. I die for them.

Speaker 1 1:00:24

Tommy, thank you for sharing your story with us today. Yes, ma'am. And do you have a favorite Bible verse you'd like to share with us?

Speaker 2 1:00:30

I do. Philippians 1 6. He who began a good work in you will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ. He's not done with us. He's not. I don't care what you've been through, you matter. I don't care where you think you're at, you matter to him. The smallest things that we think that don't amount to anything matters to him because he loves his creation. He does.

Speaker 1 1:00:58

Thank you for joining us today. New episodes release every Wednesday, so be sure to subscribe and get notified when a new episode is available. You can listen on the Journey to Salvation website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcast. So, where are you on your journey to salvation?