My Faith Journey – J.E. Martin

My Faith Journey began in November 1965 when I was 16 years old. I’d been dating a young man whom I’d met in the summer of 1965 while doing volunteer work for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. We were preparing packets for the Mothers March to occur on Labor Day to collect money for research for this dreaded disease that my older brother had been diagnosed with in 1957.

My 18-year-old date and I hadn’t had that many dates when he invited me to accompany him on a bus chartered by his Baptist church to hear Rev. Billy Graham speak at the new Houston Astrodome, known as the Eighth Wonder of the World. Well, of course, I said, “Yes!” I was actually going to see the Astrodome, with its green Astroturf that everyone was talking about, a huge indoor, air-conditioned stadium that could seat 50,000 people!

I wore one of my nicer church dresses with a sweater draped over my shoulders. My date wore dark slacks, dark tie, and sports jacket. When we arrived at the Dome, we were told to remember the parking section number and the bus number so we could find our bus in the huge parking lot that surrounded the Astrodome. We also had to remember which entrance we had entered, since there were four public entrances.

We walked up the lighted ramp and entered through one of the three, side-by-side, double doors on the first seating level of the 18-story stadium. A concrete walkway circled the entire seating area and was lined with food and beverage vendors. I don’t remember smelling any food. In fact, I don’t think the vendors were open. We moved forward to the seating area that was quickly filling up with people from the field level striped in white for a football game all the way up to the top of the glass-paneled dome.

My date found us two seats on the end of an aisle about 20 rows from the field. Great seats! Colorful cushioned seats, alternating between orange red, deep yellow, and magenta. I was enthralled. I kept looking around at the overhead dome, the podium in the center of the field, and the thousands of people from all walks of life, all dressed in their church clothes—ladies in dresses and men in suits or sports jackets. The man sitting next to me had a Bible on his lap. I glanced around. Most of the people had their Bibles. I clutched my small black purse on my lap, since I didn’t have a Bible. I don't recall if my family even owned a Bible.

I had been brought up in the Episcopal faith. The Book of Common Prayer was provided in the holder on the back of the pews in front of where we sat. The Episcopal priest read from that book, but I don’t remember him emphasizing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Perhaps I was too immature in my faith to hear it, if he did speak it. I just don’t remember if he did.

But I did hear it that night in November 1965.

The choir, led by George Beverly Shea, began to sing and the audience grew quiet in preparation for listening to Rev. Graham. His message, delivered in his North Carolina accent, was powerful. In the midst of his message, he read the following passage from John 3:16: “‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ It’s only 25 words, but it’s the whole gospel in a nutshell.”

And that was the night I believed in Jesus Christ as my Savior. That’s when my Faith Journey began.

In fact, my date and I grew in our Faith Journey together and married on September 1, 1967.

50th Wedding Anniversary - 2017

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