Episode 44 - Scott Hudson

Listen in as Scott shares his journey to salvation.  

Transcript

Becki 0:10

Hello, I'm Becky 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. Today my guest is Scott Hudson. Hey Scott.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

How are you?

Becki 0:23

I'm good. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Good, good.

Becki 0:26

Uh Scott, you know, my first recollection of you is I know you didn't grow up in Wynne, or you didn't you weren't born in Wynne. Right. Eventually moved here, but uh I remember I guess seeing you the first time maybe out of the country club swimming one summer.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Really?

Becki 0:41

Maybe the year you moved here, I'm not sure what year that was. But uh that's really my first memory of you. But can you just give us some information about where you grew up and that sort of thing?

SPEAKER_00 0:53

So I was born in Jacksonville, Arkansas. Um was there for I don't know, maybe a year. And we moved to my dad got a job with Warwick. We moved to Far City and um mom and dad split up. So I come from a divorced family. Uh they were married till I was about a year, a year and a half old.

Becki 1:25

Oh wow, so that's pretty young.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah, yeah, it was. And and uh from there, dad was trying to remember where he where how this how the split went. But anyway, so we were in Far City till I was in about the fourth grade. Okay, we moved from there to Conway, lived in lived in uh Conway for about two years. So I came to Wynn when I was in uh eighth grade, the summer of the eighth grade. My brother had moved in with my dad. He had moved, we both lived with my mom, and um Steve moved back with with uh my dad, and then the following year I came, I came and moved to Wynn. Okay. So I came, I was here in the eighth grade, was I guess I was around twelve, thirteen.

Becki 2:25

Okay. And Steve is two years older than you, is that right?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah, three. Three years older. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So we would come and spend the summers in Wynn with my dad, you know. We would stay for uh a lot of the summer, and then we'd go back to my mom's and and just kind of the old divorce family type deal.

Becki 2:48

And then eventually your mom moved to Wynn, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:51

A lot later. Okay. Yeah, she's been here what twenty-five years or so. But but yes, after kind of after she well, she still worked when she came here, but yeah, she was she moved back here later. She lived in in Little Rock, then eventually came to Wynn. Dad lived in Wynne, and we would come here for the summers, and and mom lived in Little Rock, well, in Jacksonville, and then when I moved to Wynne, then she ended up moving to Little Rock. So then we'd do the same. We'd go to my mom's on opposite weekends and all that, kind of the the normal divorced family type deal.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

As I grew up as a kid at mom's, we were mostly in uh I guess you could say the poor housing or whatever, you know, just whatever uh apartments or whatever, you know, never really had a house or anything. We were in apartments and had a good life, you know, as just a regular kid. Grew up poor, but just a good, good life, you know.

Becki 4:06

And uh um so you moved to win in eighth grade, and then how was it for you in high school here?

SPEAKER_00 4:14

You know, it was good. It was probably I think it was about the ninth, ninth or tenth grade. I kind of got in with a group that were doing a lot of the wrong things, and uh I ended up doing a lot of the wrong things, you know, and uh uh kind of uh just kept going up from there, you know, as I was just a big partier in high school. Wasn't really I was more worried about girls and sports and everything but school, you know, having a good time and just uh living out life.

Becki 4:58

You and I graduated together and um I don't really remember all that about you.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah.

Becki 5:05

Um I guess that's good.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Maybe I kept it under uh under under wraps. Yeah, under wraps a little more than I thought I did. Yeah. I guess you know, there there's always those couple of different groups of people in high school though, you know, the this group's hanging out with that group and the wild groups hanging out with this group and you know, all that. But uh, you know, as as went through high school and uh my senior year, I got um my girlfriend at that time come up pregnant, and we got married this summer after I graduated. And uh uh at that time I was you know it's it's kind of weird because I had a bad addiction, but I didn't I never was out of work.

Becki 6:12

I did you have an addiction?

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Oh yes. Okay, yes, yes. Um I I you know smoked pot, did crystal meth, you know, all that stuff, and and it it just escalated over the years and and uh uh You did hide it well because you know you and I saw each other probably a lot at school and whatnot, but yeah, that surprises me because I didn't realize really yeah.

Becki 6:43

I thought everybody knew it.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah. So, you know, that summer the summer after I graduated, I was on my way to work. Uh we were still married at that time, and uh Brandon was about a year old, and no, he was about six months old. And I got hit by a train on my way to work out on Bachman Road.

unknown 7:16

Oh wow.

Becki 7:17

So I spent at that time I spent I spent uh We have a fly in the room, so we're trying to get rid of it.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Uh I spent about two months in the hospital over at Baptist East. Uh broke basically everything on my left side was broken. Oh wow. My arms, my my femur here, this leg, this arm. I had about 70 stitches in my head.

Becki 7:51

Were you by yourself?

SPEAKER_00 7:52

I was. I was on my way to work that morning and uh just didn't see it.

Becki 7:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Just didn't see it.

Becki 7:59

Yeah, there wasn't really a uh crossing guard or anything.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Yeah, it's just just an old crossroad sign and weeds were growing up or whatever, and just wasn't paying attention, going to work, and never saw it until I the I know the engineer came to see me at the hospital, and he said he said all I saw was you look straight up. Oh wow You know, look straight up. So it knocked me about 300 feet down the tracks. I was in a little Ford Fiesta, little bitty car. Wow. It hit between the the driver's front wheel and my driver's door, and I was in the driver's seat.

Becki 8:38

So that was a miracle in that little bitty car that you made it to.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Yes, yes.

Becki 8:45

So let me back up just a second. When you were growing up, did y'all go to church?

SPEAKER_00 8:50

We did not.

Becki 8:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

No, it was never, you know, maybe once in a blue moon when I was at my grandmother's or something like that, or maybe a Easter here and there, but we did not grow up as a church family, never, never went to church as far as pretty much any time, you know.

Becki 9:13

Uh uh, what were your did you have any thoughts on who God was or anything like that?

SPEAKER_00 9:19

I knew there was a God. I mean, I I think we kind of get I think that's kind of borne into us that you've you've got a sense of right and wrong and you've got a sense of how everything exists, but did I know anything about God? I did I mean, as far as what it was like to follow Him or or know Him, you know. Yeah.

Becki 9:47

Um Okay. All right, so what happened after your So after Hospital.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

After the hospital stay, uh about six months or so after that, uh, we ended up me and my first wife ended up getting a divorce and and uh um went back into the party scene, you know, just living life and partying all the time.

Becki 10:17

You're in your early twenties?

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Early twenties, yes. As I guess I was probably 19, yeah. Nineteen or twenty. And uh then as as that life went on, it just it got worse and worse. And actually, uh uh my wife now, Kayla, had uh she had asked me to her senior party. So she's a few years younger than I am, and uh she had asked me to her senior party and and uh went with her and what thirty-nine years later or forty-three years later, we're still together thanks to her. So uh, you know, back at that time as as we got married a little later, uh we dated for about four years and we were both kinda into the same same thing, you know. She didn't have the addiction that I had. I I was kind of one that felt like I had to have it all the time or something, you know. But uh um she she lived the life with me, but she didn't partake all all that I was, you know. And uh it escalated, got worse and worse. Uh uh over the over time. Uh the meth got really bad and and uh I guess it was kind of like I was the guy that a lot of the people said if I get that bad and I'll quit, you know. It was at that point. Uh one day I came home and there wasn't nobody there. I got a call. Or I called I called her. She's like, I'm out here at your dad. You need to come out here. So I went out there and I knew what was up, you know. So my whole family was there. Everybody. And they basically basically told me, you know, either get straight or we're done. We're done with you. You know. You need help and and I I knew I needed help. I couldn't, I couldn't get away from the people. You know, I kept hanging around that same crowd, uh, you know, all the same people, all the, you know, you will never get out. You can't hang around the same people and change.

Becki 13:26

It just hard not to do that when you're in the same town. Right. And you've known them forever.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Right, right. So at that point, I I just broke down. I knew I needed I needed help. And uh I enrolled in a my mom knew of a place in Little Rock that I went in. It was a 30-day, it was a 30-day rehab that I went through and come out of there and everything was a whole lot better. I still did not know the Lord at that time. And and it was mostly NA and AA oriented. So, you know, they they were big on finding you a higher power to pray to, you know. I don't care if you pray that doorknob, but find you something to pray to. And I'm like, I don't really know that doorknob's gonna do a whole lot for me, but you know, so um went to uh AA meetings, NA meetings for for a couple of years, even uh led a few groups and stuff. We started going to church at East Baptist, it's where I started off at. And got involved in church and probably went to church for a couple of years before I actually got the true conviction of being saved, you know, of Yeah, you're going through the motions, but you're not really walking in the church door every week. Yeah, every week. You know, and uh had a whole new group of friends, you know, and and uh during that time there was a lot that went on in that church at that during that time, and it kind of make you know, you you can't focus on the preacher and you can't focus on everything else, you know. You got to you you know, it's uh it's it's about the Lord and it's not so anyway uh we went got a new preacher and started feeling really convicted, you know. Every time it would come up that uh, you know, whether you're saved, you're not saved, all that, man, my whole heart would just get to pounding and and I finally gave my life to the Lord and it was kind of funny because I went to work at night. I was working at Rubitex down at Coke and went to work at night and started telling everybody, hey, I got saved, I got saved. They're like, You've been going to church for long time, haven't you? I'm like, Yeah, but I got saved, you know. I mean it it settled in. Yeah, it settled in. Life went pretty good from there for for quite a long while, you know.

Becki 16:35

Uh how old were you at that point?

SPEAKER_00 16:38

I that was in 1988, was when I went to rehab, uh, got saved in 1990. So about two years after after rehab, I got saved.

Becki 16:51

So you had did y'all have your son Dustin then?

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Yes, so I guess back up four years after me and Kayla got married, we had we had Dustin, had our son, and uh actually we got custody of Brandon when he was eight. So uh uh we had the two boys there at the house, and you know, we were baseballing and sports and you know everything, so uh just living the good life, you know. And ever since then, uh there was a there was a little hiccup. Uh I I get I get migraines a lot. And I had a doctor that put me on something that an addict don't need. So it kind of uh it triggered some things and uh it was hard to stop and then when I did stop the the Lord showed me that you know you you can't do that. You know, once you've to me, once you've got that addiction, yeah, whether it's the doctor gave it to you or whatever, if you've got that bottle, you better give it to somebody else. Let them give it to you because you know, uh so but other than that, uh So let me ask you something.

Becki 18:28

You've got some people that you're close to that have had uh that have had some of the same problems that you have.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Yes.

Becki 18:38

How have you been able to speak into them uh as they're going through those things?

SPEAKER_00 18:44

You know, the biggest thing I guess that you can tell anybody going through this situation is um number one, you you got to look to the Lord for direction, read that Bible, uh, but you've got to stay away from the same the old people. You are not gonna change your life being around the same people that got you in the situation you're in. You know, and it just won't happen.

Becki 19:14

Because they're still doing the same things.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

And and you will not you will not change and and be in the same place. And to go along with that, if you find the Lord, you're not gonna want to be around those same people. Right. You know, and I think that that's what really changed for for me was you know, we had a house full of people every weekend, you know, it was it was it was on come the weekend, you know. So but out of all those people that were hung out with and all my buddies today, I can say there's maybe two of those people that I still talk to on a regular basis, or that we'd we do anything together and and you know their life is good also. So, you know, you just uh to me the biggest thing if you are addicted or you do have an addiction, no matter I guess no matter what it is, is to stay away from the people that that that bring you to that point, you know.

Becki 20:31

And uh 'cause you're not gonna be able to go in there if they're doing those things and you not do it.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Right, right. Well it's gonna trigger once you've if you're a true addict, it's it's almost it's almost a given. If you put yourself in a place where that's going on or or something, you know, those people are there, then it's gonna trigger something within you that's gonna bring you back.

Becki 21:04

So Scott, you're involved at Wayne Baptist Church and then also you have a D group you're a part of.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Yes.

Becki 21:12

And I think you come to a men's group at the bridge church Wednesday mornings. Yeah. Um how have those things how have those things really helped you in your walk, but also as you are walking alongside other people?

SPEAKER_00 21:29

You know, coming you know, staying in church and being around the right people as I call it. And um those people that are walking with the Lord. Walking with the Lord. And you know, the other side of that is don't always put your don't don't always look at everybody else, you know. Think about your s you know, where your walk is or what something Somebody else that's doing, but but just being around the people who are walking with the Lord who are who are praying for you, the people who are uh just doing the right things, and people who who you know that you can count on to uh uh that you can ask to be praying for you, and you know that they are, and then like our different D groups, it's it's such a good thing to have something that uh like we'll go through certain scriptures or whatever, and just getting different people's views and the things that they bring out about that scripture, to me, it makes me so many of the times now when I get to reading, well, I'm like, wait, I I gotta go back and read that again. Or somebody else has uh brings up something that it never clicked, yeah, you know, with you. I I mean in in that Wednesday morning with Dustin, it's like there's always somebody's got a uh different view of something or brings out a uh something about a scripture, and you're like, where'd that come from? Yeah, you know, I I missed I missed that, you know.

Becki 23:26

So Yeah, that that is I find that enjoyable too, being around being in a group like that where you are uh breaking down God's word together.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Right.

Becki 23:36

And because you can uh learn things from each other. I mean, God wants us to meet together and to study his word together.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Right, right.

Becki 23:44

So so Scott, now you have both of your boys are grown. They have families and and kids, you have grandkids. And so what's life look like for you now? I know that we talked about you going to church, being a part of the disciples discipleship group and uh another group here at our church.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Right.

Becki 24:06

What else is what does life look like for you know other than fishing? I know that's your favorite.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Yeah, five fish and hunt, you know, that's uh that's kind of what I do in uh in my pastime. But you know, it's uh you know, the grandkids with uh baseball. So Dustin's boy is involved with baseball and basketball and football and Brandon's kids are uh actually Aiden just graduated this year.

Becki 24:35

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

And uh he was uh like he was class president and he was um drama club president, he was he's been the lead role in in um all the high school plays for like the last three years. Very talented in that. And just you know, spending time with the kids family, so proud of both of my boys are are they're both doing well, you know, self-supportive. And uh uh they've they're very I'm very blessed to uh have my kids in the in the uh uh where they're at in life right now, you know, and uh you know, and and that's one thing that uh where Kayla and I are really at as as as we've grown as Christians, as we've uh um just grown as Christians, you know, we we look to each other uh for prayer time, Bible study time, uh things like that, like uh every morning before I go to work, uh me and Kayla sit on the couch and uh pray over our family, pray over the kids, the grandkids, you know, for any who are lost that they will find the Lord, for the Lord to put protection around them, for them to uh rebuke the devil away from their household. And um, you know, and and just everything else, you know. We we put it all in his hands, you know, and and I think that's one of the biggest things with uh uh prayer is is is you can't you can't pray about it and then try to fix it. You put it at God's feet and let him do his work, you know.

Becki 26:51

Because there's so much we can't do. I can't you know, we can't save anyone, but we can pray that the Holy Spirit will draw them to the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

Yeah. We uh matter of fact, in D Group last night we were talking about your giant, what's your giant, you know? Everybody's got a giant that that they're trying to to uh overcome, you know, whether you know, no matter what it is, there's something and and if you don't have something, there's gonna be something at some point that comes up that you're you're gonna try to beat, you know, but you you can't do it by yourself.

Becki 27:30

Right.

unknown 27:30

You know.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

So Scott, what is your Bible verse that you go to that's really leaning into the You know, mine is probably the most simple thing in the world is you know that probably everybody knows, and it's it's John 3 16, just because you know, I think of uh us having two boys, and to think that I would give one of them up for somebody else. You know, it just you know that God so loved the world that he gave his only son, and that just that just that sinks in deep with me.

Becki 28:13

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 podcasts. So, where are you on your journey to salvation?