Back in the mid fifties, my previously idyllic childhood was changed forever, by a stubborn fever and a stiff, aching neck. Following a spinal tap and a diagnosis of Poliomyelitis, I spent several weeks convalescing at Kaiser Hospital in Vallejo California. During a two week confinement in a crowded hospital, with countless other crippled children, a five year old has worlds of time to pray. One night, all alone in my room, scared half to death and miles and miles from home, I called out to Jesus from the very depths of my soul. Days later the hospital ran some tests and told my folks to collect me and take me home. Infantile paralysis had run its course; my symptoms were gone, and my folks free to take me home. When I tugged my cowboy boots back on, and Dad and Mom headed out with me in tow, I began a walk with Jesus that has lasted to this day. When my family and I arrived in Missouri in 1978, I became a member of Dry Creek General Baptist Church, where I was baptized under the bridge at Indian Creek in 1979. Twenty years later, in 1998, I became a member of Pomona Christian Church, where I maintain my membership today. I live in the Ozarks now. Suffice it to say, the majority of my church family are lifelong, staunch conservatives. I love those folks dearly, and so far they tolerate me. As someone who has considered Jesus Christ my personal Savior for over fifty years, I follow The Golden Rule. I respond to others as I’d have them respond to me. I believe in doing justly, loving mercy, walking humbly with my God, and enthusiastically supporting the rights of others to walk with theirs. I believe freedom is all about personal choices. I cherish my own freedom; I make my own choices, and I passionately support the freedom and choices of others. If that makes me a liberal, so be it. I prefer to consider myself an American.
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