The Devil in Pew Number Seven Read Online Free PDF Page B

was the same God who had rescued him from a life of unrestrained vice. He was living proof that God changes lives.
    Before making his peace with God, Daddy could raise Cain with the best of them. As a young man in his midtwenties, fresh out of the Navy, Daddy had spent his free time going to bars and brawling just for the thrill of it. Giving no thought to anyone or anything else other than the pursuit of beer and women, Daddy took frequent jaunts on the wild side.
    Recognizing the self-destructive path Daddy had been traveling, my grandpa urged Daddy to attend a revival service at their small country church. For five weeks Daddy rebuffed the offer. A revival service? Right. There were bars to visit. Drinks to be shared. Friends to laugh with and women to chase. Going to hear some preacher rattle on about sin wasn’t just low on Daddy’s list; it didn’t even make his list.
    Grandpa persisted, prayed, and asked again.
    During the sixth week of the revival, Daddy agreed, albeit reluctantly, to attend. Anything to humor his father and get him off his back. At first, he only half listened, checking his watch in the hope that he could catch up with his friends at the bar while there was still beer left on tap. Everything about the revival made him feel as awkward as a pig at a barbecue, even though, with the skill of a mason, he had constructed a wall around his emotions. The wall was a tribute to his first wife, who had taught him a hard lesson: the more you love someone, the more you have to lose when that someone decides you’re no one. And yet there was something about the preacher’s message of faith that chipped away at his heart of stone.
    One by one the bricks were knocked out of place.
    He stopped checking his watch.
    By the end of the service, he was convicted by the simple truth of God’s love for him. With knees on the ground, Daddy prayed for Jesus to come into his heart. His life would never be the same. For starters, Daddy lost his taste for beer and gained an insatiable thirst for the Scriptures. At night he’d read the Bible until the sun crested the horizon. He loved talking with other godly men from church for hours on end.
    More than that, he learned to love God so much that if he wasn’t holding a Bible, he made certain he had one tucked into his pocket. He’d steal unused minutes from the day to absorb every ounce of truth on the printed page. Daddy’s transformation was every bit as spectacular as when a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly.
    How could he not tell others?
    Not surprisingly, Daddy’s old drinking buddies weren’t thrilled at this changed, Bible-toting man. Much to their surprise, when they’d invite Daddy out for a night on the town, Daddy would tell them he didn’t live that way any longer and then turn the tables by inviting them to church with him. They liked the old Bob Nichols, the ex-Navy womanizer who chased the skirts and drank long past midnight.
    So radical was the change in Daddy’s life, and his zeal for God so infectious, his pastor asked Daddy to preach his maiden sermon just two months after his conversion. Within half a year of falling in love with the Lord, Daddy felt the hand of God, like a powerful magnet, drawing him into full-time ministry. He gladly quit his factory job at the Scott Paper Company to hit the road as an evangelist.
    On January 5, 1964, Daddy walked into the Church of God on Warren Street in Bogalusa for what would be his second revival. There was no way at the time he could have known that God had someone special waiting for him at the organ. Someone who would be a perfect helpmate for him.
    Someone with neon pink rollers in her hair.
    Momma.
    Now almost four years later, Momma was waiting for him again. This particular autumn afternoon, with their dog prancing through the underbrush and chasing small game, she wanted to know what was weighing so heavily upon his heart. She knew Daddy struggled with his desire to be a father. And yet, she