There was a young man in his early teens who felt that God was calling him to music ministry. It was the very early days of music and worship ministry coming into its own in the church. He grew up in a family that worked very hard but had very little and he started throwing a paper route as a very young man. He bought his own bicycle, becoming somewhat self sufficient at an early age. He quit school in the 8th grade and went to work at the cotton seed oil mill where his father was superintendent. He fell in love a few years later and at 17 married a girl who was also 17. She finished high school after they married. About 3 years later she was with child. Back then they didn't know whether it was a boy or girl until the birth. But the young man prayed . . . "God, I failed to follow you, quitting school and all, to be the minister you wanted me to be. If you will give me a son, I will dedicate him to music ministry in your name."
The son was born . . . and it was me. Without any real musicians before in a family of mostly athletes, early on I became very interested in playing piano. At age 7 my parents sacrificed more than I realized and bought me a brand new piano (on a salary of around $90 a week as a machinist/welder). I took to it and my mother made sure I practiced. She said to me more than once, "We sacrificed a lot for you to have this piano . . . you will practice." As a 9 year old, being brought to church from the beginning by my faithful parents, I was saved in a revival with Bo and Dick Baker in our church. From that moment I wanted to play and sing just like Dick Baker. I was student director of the high school choir and high school band and drum major. I was church pianist from 12 years of age, playing for the adult choir in our church and conducting a 40-voice Junior Choir my junior and senior years of High School. I got a scholarship to Hardin-Simmons University. Without my father saying anything other than that he wanted me to go to college, I pursued a Church Music Degree from HSU. A short while after I graduated, my quiet father told Fran and me the story of how he had given me to God for ministry. All those years he never pushed me, just simply made it possible for me to have the tools to grow. I had no idea that my faithful earthly father had given me back to the Heavenly Father for His ministry and glory. There could be no better heritage and I am so grateful that my dad stepped up in the way he could. I am grateful to the Heavenly Father, also, for giving my dad 86 years+ to see what God would do with a bashful little guy like me. Thank you to both my Heavenly Father and my earthly father on this special day! mjm
