This is the 22nd of 25 special reflections based on lessons I learned from my mother. These will run from my birthday on October 27 until her birthday on November 20.
Read
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Reflect
Mom had high hopes for all of her children and grandchildren. She wanted us to strive to be the very best we could be, no matter what we chose to do in life. But there’s something she saw as infinitely more important than any success we could achieve.
Salvation.
She loved spending time with us in the here and now, but she knew so well that today is just a blip compared with eternity, and that most of our time together would be in Heaven. But we had to get there, first. So she prayed and prayed and prayed for each of us to make our own decision to accept Christ into our lives.
And sometimes she did a little more than that.
I visited Mom during the summer between my junior and senior year of high school, and I think she had planned to put the “full court press” on me about my faith. I had known for years that I needed to accept Christ, and I’d even started listening to Christian music sometimes. But I just wasn’t willing to take that final step.
Mom and my stepfather had become friends with the youth minister at a place called Christian Retreat in Bradenton, Fla. The center was having a couple of week-long youth retreats and the first one was coming up in a couple of days. Mom really wanted me to go for at least the first night to hear a preacher named Billy Mayo, whose message centered around the dangers of rock music. I was obviously leery of this and figured that Billy would probably spin a few Beatles records backward to get us to hear someone invoking the name of the devil. Despite the obviously hokie nature of it all, Mom’s persistence won me over and I agreed to go.
It was a decision that would affect the rest of my life.
Yes, Billy Mayo played some music backward, but his message was so much different than I’d expected. He focused a lot more on the positive side of things – not what we shouldn’t be doing, but what should we do that would please God. He ended with a couple of songs that made an eternal impact on me. The first was AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” I’ve since heard the explanations that the band wrote the song about how life on the road can be hell, but that day, this lyric jumped right out at me:
Hey Satan
Payin’ my dues
Playin’ in a rockin’ band
Hey mama
Look at me
I’m on the way to the promised land
I’m on the highway to hell
Billy followed that up by playing “Altar Call” by Keith Green. I encourage you to listen to the entire song below, but it closes with this line:
You know
You’re gonna find out that He’s the way
No matter which way you choose
But I pray you
Find out by His love for you
I knew right then that I had to accept Christ. Even so, I made a deal with the Lord that if someone in front of me stood to go forward I would, too. (Deals like that aren’t a good idea.) I was only in the second row, and Mom was sitting to my left. In front of me was a row filled with girls from the youth group hosting the event, so it seemed safe that I’d probably not have to stand up. Until the entire row of young ladies stood at once. God wasn’t letting me go that night. I stood, and I remember sensing that Mom was jumping out of her skin with glee that her baby boy was about to get saved.
That was June 17, 1984, and it’s a night I’ll never forget and never ever regret. I was initially annoyed that Mom was so insistent that I go to this conference, but it ended up being the best thing she ever did for me. I’ve worked in ministry for much of my adult life, and now I’m sensing a call from the Lord to potentially be ordained as a minister. None of that would have happened without that night in June. Mom gave me some amazing gifts over the years, but none of them can compare with the gift of salvation that she led me to in 1984.
Reflection copyright © 2025 Doug DeBolt.
