Bumper pool prowess

I went to three different high schools growing up. Part of my junior year and all of my senior year was spent attending a high school in Mississippi. I did not like school, teachers or authority, and was rebellious to no end. I used to skip school and go hunting or fishing or get drunk, or other things as the mood would strike me. Sometimes I would go up to school during lunch period to see my girlfriend and other friends. The school principle was not too enamored with the idea of me skipping school and then visiting at lunch time, and I was routinely in big trouble to the point of his notifying my parents of my poor behavior, and taking his own actions, such as paddling me with his custom made paddle on many occasions as a means of trying to beat my rebellious nature out of me.

My mother would call a family meeting to try and discern why I was not “normal” and why I was always in trouble and such a bad kid. She would berate me as would the rest of our small family and she would tell me that I would never amount to anything. She challenged me one time to name one thing that I excelled in. She was thinking of school related activities of course, and my reply caught her off guard as I told her that I was the best bumper pool player in the southeast. I had a natural talent for this complex and difficult game and was excellent at it the first time I shot a game. I actually did go on to become perhaps the best player in the entire southeast and used to win huge sums of money every weekend. She was not amused, nor was she impressed. I went on to say that I was pretty good at fighting too. Conversation over

Bumper pool was the game of choice in all of the bars of which I had already begun to frequent in earnest my senior year in high school. My skill in this game had become legendary and people would bet on me and I would shoot for money far into the night at various sleazy bars around our community. We lived in a very rough neighborhood. For starters our county was the only “wet” county that sold alcohol for 150 miles in any direction. Our town was located one mile from the Alabama state line and rednecks from Alabama, (and everywhere within 150 mile radius), would pour across the state line to get tanked up every weekend. The local Mississippi boys did not like Alabama rednecks, so there were definitely going to be some fights in that regard. There was also a major university just down the road and the college guys would pour into town on the weekend and of course none of us liked them coming into town getting liquored up and hitting on our girlfriends, or strutting around town thinking they were cool and there were fights in that regard. There was also an Air Force base near our community. Neither the locals, nor the Alabama rednecks, nor the college guys liked them hitting on our local stable of gals and there were fights in that regard. Finally the local Mississippi boys, (me included), were rednecks in our own right and one of the traits of rednecks is that they are warlike and fight like ignorant bumpkins even if it is among themselves. Combine all of that with all of this bunch of drunken loudmouths betting serious money on bumper pool games and knowing that whoever lost was not going to take it without eventually starting a fight and you can begin to see the scenario that developed every weekend.

I was right there in the middle of it every weekend. I ended up in jail frequently with swollen hands from hard fighting and a swollen head from hard drinking. Frankly the only way I could have survived those days and beyond when I really started going downhill was for God to be watching over me and protecting me in some mysterious way.

I was thinking about this scenario this morning and I was wondering if I could have that conversation with my mother again today and she asked me to name one thing in which I excelled, how I would answer. I’m still good in bumper pool, but I don’t think my answer would be that. I haven’t been in a fight in many years and that would not be my answer. I have developed business skills and am good at that, I’m a good fisherman, and a few other things, but I do not think she would be very interested in that. If I had to narrow it down to one serious thing, I would think I would answer her that I was good at being a father and loving and raising my boys not to be like me.

Neither of my boys, (to my knowledge) has ever been in a fight and they did very well in school and got their college degrees in short order. They are far from perfect, but they are both Christians who love the Lord. They are as far from being like me during my youth as one could imagine. I consider raising these boys to be my greatest accomplishment and I hope my mother is looking down from heaven and smiling and worrying about me no more. I really regret putting her through the ordeal of having a son like me. Worse, I hate the thought of letting God down with my ignorant behavior. I am so happy His light came into my life and transformed me and that I no longer walk in the darkness of this world. It is truly a good example of God’s amazing saving grace. He saved me and without Him I would most likely be long dead and suffering in agony in Hell…

What do you excel in?

John 8:12
Then Jesus spoke to them again,
Saying, “I am the light of the world
He who follows Me shall not walk
in darkness, but have the light of
life”.