I’m sure it’s surprising to some that any of my family received Christ as Saviour, but God is faithful and we had a godly Mom who spent a lot of time praying for us.

The preacher who was in our church when I finally got my life straightened out was a young man himself.  Bob Dunlop was probably no older than 23 or 24 when I was eighteen but I really looked up to him. He seemed to be a man to me. He took a real interest in us and preached hell-fire and brimstone.  During the time he pastored our church, he turned the place upside down. Many of those in our church were playing games with their faith and

Dunlop was determined that they get serious with God. They didn’t like having their feathers ruffled and a faction in the church was strongly opposed to him.  There was a business meeting where people almost came to blows. Several wanted to give Bob a raise in pay; he did need it. However, because of the reaction of a number of people and the possibility of another business meeting being called, Bob refused the needed raise. He didn’t want problems over money. Bob went to the church clerk and had her draw up a statement saying, “I want to go on record as refusing the raise.” He signed it and the matter was settled.

But those who stood behind the pastor prevailed and he continued to preach. The Charleston Airbase was not too far away and the people from the church were active in inviting the boys to come for church and have Sunday dinner in their homes. There were quite a few solid Christians among them and a number of others made decisions for Christ.  Those were exciting times in the church. A lot of people were saved. Bob Dunlop even led some of the well respected church folk to the Lord; those who had been fooling everybody, including themselves, for years.

Without hearing Dunlop’s preaching for months, I’m not sure I’d have gone to the Youth for Christ meeting that Saturday night, or that I’d have been ready to make a decision. A fellow by the name of Reuben Martin was preaching.

I remember that I was sitting in the middle of the pew when he gave the invitation. I don’t remember his text, what he preached on, or what touched my heart but I knew I had to get this thing straightened out. Some went forward at the close of the service and people all around me filed out, but just sat there alone.

“Are you going forward?” I asked myself. “Or aren’t you?”

Something inside of me kept saying, “if you go out of here tonight, this is your last trip.” I thought about the close shaves I’d had in my life and realized that the Lord knew about them, too. When I got up and got to the aisle I still didn’t know which way I was going to go.  Thank God, I turned the right way and went down to where Bob Dunlop was standing. I had read the Bible a lot, even on my own but I had never applied it to my life. I believed that I had to confess my sin and place my trust in Christ to receive Him as my Saviour, but I had no assurance of my salvation. I hadn’t really made a decision for Christ.

He turned in the Bible to 1 John 5:13: “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, .... that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” When I realized Christ had paid the price, I stopped trying and started trusting.

That verse made salvation clear for me. He prayed with me as I made my decision for the Lord.  I knew, then, that I was truly a child of God. I walked out of that building that night, clean! I knew I was saved.

When I went to church the next morning I didn’t know Bob was going to call me up on the platform, but he did. “Carroll has something to tell you,” he said.

I had to go up and give my testimony. I’d never been so scared in my life, but somehow I got through it.

As we kids grew up we got to be sort of hefty.  I’ve often wondered if Dad wasn’t a little uneasy as he saw that we were getting as big as he was. And we were all in good shape.

Take me, I’m not the biggest by a long way and I’m fairly good sized.  What he didn’t know was that he had intimidated us so much we were scared to death of him.  Wilbur who was the oldest, and as I mentioned, the one who seemed to get the worst treatment, finally ran away. He came to my room and told me his plan.  I remember crying. We were probably as close as any in our family. I’ll never forget him putting an old trunk on his shoulder and slipping out into the night. I didn’t know it at the time, but he walked nine miles.  We didn’t know for some time where he went but he worked as a herdsman and put himself through high school.

Nathan, my next oldest brother, was tough. We fought a lot as we were near the same age. We are good friends now and enjoy getting together. Nathan was about the only one who would question my Dad, but he paid for it with black eyes, etc. When we went to school he would say he ran into a door or something.

When Nathan was eighteen, he-was driving a pulp truck. He kept seeing those signs at the post office and other places in town that were put out by the armed services, “Uncle Sam wants you!” Finally he stopped at the recruiting station and signed up. The day of his induction he left for Bangor with a load of pulp, left the truck on the street near the railway station and left on the train for the Marine Base in North Carolina.

When he didn’t show up at home that night, Dad got anxious about his truck. Finally he phoned the Bangor police and they found the truck at the railway station. Dad didn’t say anything about Nathan being gone but he did a lot of raving because he hadn’t taken his load off first. We were laughing inside but we didn’t dare let him know it.

When we were fairly well grown, Dad didn’t spend much time where we were working. He’d get us going and take off. Sometimes he was with a bunch of his friends in town, bragging about what we were making and how much money he had.

At other times he was playing games with a number of banks around the country. I don’t know how he got it started, but he would borrow money from one and use it to pay a note he had at another.  He didn’t get that money to spend. He was working to build up a good credit rating. I was with him once when he went to the bank president and told him he needed ten thousand dollars.

“I need it right now, but I’ll have it back to you in a month,” he said.

As far as I could tell he didn’t sign a note for that loan. Then he went to another bank and paid off the loan he had made there. I don’t know how many banks he worked in that little game but he kept it up until he had an excellent credit rating. He could go into any one of half a dozen banks or more and borrow a sizable amount of money. I don’t think he signed his name on a note any place. He even carried money for banks.

After I was saved and Nathan took off, Dad came to me and said, “I suppose you’re taking off, too.” I don’t know what he was thinking but I do know he was planning something.

“Well,” I said, not knowing how he would take it, “I’d like to go to Bible school.” I wasn’t lying to him. From the time I was first saved I had a longing to dig into the Scriptures and learn more about the Lord. I got myself a Thompson Chain Reference Bible. I’ve bought another one since, just like it. It seemed as though I couldn’t get enough of reading it, so I felt that I had to go to Bible school.

That must have freaked him out but he always was a fast thinker. “I’ll make you a deal, Carroll,” he said.  “We’ve got this contract for 500 cords of cedar and the whole family will be working on it. If you’ll stick around and help, I’ll pay your way through school.” That sounded good to me. I had planned on running away too, but I believed him so I stayed all summer. I should have known better. I’d had him lie to me plenty of times before. I guess a fellow always wants to believe what his Dad tells him, no matter how many times he’s been lied to.

As soon as we started making a good dent in the cedar he put my brother and me on that alone. The others were on a different crew; which meant that we had to work our guts out to make the deadline.  Besides the cutting, I had to haul the cedar to the mill.  It meant a lot to me because there was a bonus if we made it and that bonus was to pay for my tuition. Dad got the bonus but I never saw a cent of it.  Looking back, I’ve often wondered if I didn’t have a hunch I wouldn’t get paid working for Dad. In late summer I worked for him all day in the blueberry fields and worked in the factory at night for myself. I only had two or three hours of sleep a night for five weeks.  I managed to get through Bible school, but it was a struggle in spite of the fact that in those days it cost less than $300 a year.

My brother, Nathan, was a fine Christian and didn’t drink or carouse when he was in the Marines. He soon made sergeant with a good increase in pay.  Other men blew the money on their first weekend in town after pay day and started borrowing from him.  He set up a little business, charging them 25 or 30% interest for the loans.

He saved his money and regularly sent it home to Mom, who put it in the bank under his name. At the end of his enlistment he should have had a sizable bank account. But, somehow, Dad found out about it and just before Nathan got home he went to the bank and drew it out.

How he managed that I don’t know. The account wasn’t in his name, but Dad was clever, especially when it came to money matters, and he had a lot of pull in our little area. So he got Nathan’s savings for himself.

Nathan could have taken off but he had been away from home for a long time and wanted to be with the rest of us. I think we were closer than the average family. We had to stick together to survive. Dad didn’t pay him so he drew a sort of unemployment check from the government that was available for exservice men when they were discharged until they found work.

When the six months were up, Nathan told Dad he was quitting. Dad didn’t say anything but he went to town and told the authorities that his son had been working for him all the time he was collecting unemployment checks from the government. So Nathan was forced to pay it all back.  After I went to Bible school, Dad had bought a big old house in town. It was a huge place, right across from my grandparents’ house. It must have been built by someone who had a lot of money. The rooms were large and there were five fireplaces. He moved Mom there while he stayed out on the farm, tootin’ back and forth and doing his own thing.  Mom had to work, but the day everything blew up she had taken time off to do some sewing. Dad was in one of his rages and came in, cussing and swearing. The next thing she knew he had her by the neck and was choking her.

Nathan was in the garage with the door closed working on his car when my little sister ran out and got him.

“Dad’s home!” She cried. “And he’s choking Mom!”

He dropped what he was doing and raced into the house. Dad was making such a racket he didn’t hear him. He didn’t know Nathan or anyone else was close until Nathan grabbed him and threw him out through the living room. He rolled across the floor like a basket-ball.

“There’s the door!” Nathan shouted. “If you ever come back, you’ll come on your hands and knees!” That brother of mine is a big guy and Dad knew he was no match for him. He slunk out of the house and never came back. This happened during my last year of Bible school.

But he couldn’t leave without getting back at Mom. He put a big mortgage on the house and pocketed the money. Then he went all over town, telling people stories about her and what a terrible person she was. He had the whole town buzzing.  The bank foreclosed on the house but my grandfather paid off the mortgage and gave the place to Mom. She still lives there.  I still can’t understand how Dad could have deceived everyone in town the way he did. Even Pastor Bob didn’t believe me at first when I went to him and told him the truth. I soon discovered that Dad had been there first and convinced him that Mom was the one who had caused all the grief and turmoil in their marriage.

“I can’t understand any of this,” Pastor Dunlop said.  “Your mother’s at least partly to blame. There has to be some truth to the stories that are going around.” “That has nothing to do with it,” I told him. “Dad has painted her as a real bad woman to everyone and that’s not true. “

We talked for awhile and I saw that I wasn’t getting anywhere. “Why don’t you phone Dad and ask him to come over here to the parsonage,” I said. “But don’t tell him I’m here.”

I was taking a chance. I knew what a violent temper Dad had and how he had to get revenge against anyone who crossed him, but I felt that it wasn’t fair to Mom to have Bob believe what he had been told.

Our house was next to the parsonage but Dad didn’t know I was anywhere around when he drove up from the farm. You should have seen the look in his eyes when he stepped inside and saw me sitting there. He realized that he was trapped but that didn’t stop him from trying to wriggle out of it. As always, he put on a good front.

Bob started questioning him and he gave him the same line he had given him before. “She’s an awful woman, you know.” Then he started elaborating on some of the things Mom was supposed to have done.  I sat there listening for awhile. Finally I said, “Dad, did you ever consider that maybe you’re part of the problem?”

I knew the reaction I would get. There could have been a fight in the pastor’s living room.  “Is that what you brought me here for?” He demanded of Pastor Bob. With that he tore into him, giving him a terrible, profane tongue lashing. When Dad finished, he stormed out the door, slamming it so hard pictures rattled on the wall. He jumped in his car and burned rubber on his way out of town.  It was a minute or two before Dunlop could speak.

“Don’t ever do that again!” he said.  “I just wanted you to know what he’s really like,” I told him.

“You don’t have to say another word. I know now.”

It was kind of a dumb trick. I have to admit that, but the pastor found out exactly what Dad was like.  He also found out why all of us kids stood by Mom.  The only thing that bothered us was wondering why she put up with him as long as she did. I suppose it was because she didn’t believe in divorce even though she had divorced him once when we were small.

One of the surprising things to me is the way our family turned out. Most of us kids are Christians.  Cathy got introduced to Dad the summer after we met in New Brunswick Bible Institute. She came to Corinth for a few days to meet the family. Of course, Dad had a job lined up for me trimming a big pine tree right in the middle of the Corinth cemetery. He warned me not to hit any of the tombstones, especially this huge one with a big marble ball on top.  Cathy sat in the car watching and Dad was trying to be calm to impress her. Well, things were going great and I only had this one more big limb to cut and sling down by ropes when it happened. Wouldn’t you know, I misjudged and this huge limb swung like a giant golf club. It picked that big marble ball off like a golf ball off a tee. I remember a big thud, then the awful noise. Dad was jumping up and down and the air was blue ‘til it seemed like he stopped in mid air glancing toward the car. He had momentarily forgotten that Cathy was there. I jumped down out of the tree and picked the marble ball up and hoisted it into its cradle on top of the, tall gravestone.  Everything was back to normal, but Cathy never forgot my Dad.

Let the Spirit Guide

Come to Christ, let the Spirit guide,
Let Him lead you through the valley deep. 
He will give strength for every trial
When fear into your heart would creep.

Fellowship

Just to fellowship with Him,
Though the trail is often dim.
Giving up my willful way,
Close beside Him I would stay.
Oft through shadows dark He leads
But He supplieth all our needs.
Just to know His gracious love
Till I meet him up above.

Down at the old place; one of the deer we got. Nathan got this one.	The kids leaving camp to go to school. I stayed here that winter and worked.

Eating water-melon; Daddy, Isaiah, Patty, Carroll, Lois, Becky, Johnny, Wilbur, Nathan