1 Chronicles 29:10-15 “O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel,[i] may you be praised forever and ever! 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. 12 Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.
13 “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! 14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! 15 We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.
“All You Have To Decide Is What To Do With The Time That Is Given To You.”
Who Am I…
Born in 1955 in Aransas Pass Texas
My life there was one of just living day to day with no real cares of what I was to be.
I was shaken one day by my dad who told me once you graduate high school you have to leave.
I was devastated because I knew I couldn’t afford college and my parents couldn’t afford to send me.
My only option that I could think of was to join the military. The first recruiter that visited our house was from the Marines. He arranged for me to travel to San Antonio to the AFEES. I had a physical exam and went through all the departments and the last one was legal who asked me is there anything that you have not divulged today. Of course, I told him that I was on probation. I was told to have a seat and after a while they call me into the Senior enlisted Marine who told me that the Marines could not take me until I was off probation and they would accept me at that time. I took the bus back home and waited for the recruiter to come see me. Then I had a visit from a Navy recruiter, and I told him about being rejected by the Marines and without much hesitation he said we’ll just request a waiver and he took all the paper work that had Marines on it and one lined it and wrote in Navy. So, on June 1974 I graduated high school and left 3 days later for boot camp…I was in the Navy. Who flew me from Texas to Orlando, Fl., across the country to San Diego, Ca. What was hilarious after I was in boot camp is that the Marine recruiter came to my home asking to speak to me and my sister Lupe told him that I had joined the Navy because the Marines had rejected me. He quickly asked to borrow our phone and I can only assume that no one told him from the AFEES about the outcome of denying me entrance into the Marine Corps.
Then to Camp LeJeune, NC my first duty station. There my life took a major change I worked in the hospital where I witnessed death both natural and unnatural. This was hard to take as a young man and was what I believed harden my heart about life. That’s when I met this young girl named Kim Chandler she would have appointments to the Internal Medicine clinic where I worked, for asthma. At one visit she asked me do you know Jesus. She then told me all about how he loved me and cared for me. She invited me to her friends’ home that lived on base because they held prayer meetings on Fridays. My first visit when I walked through the door, I saw this room full of young teenage kids. There I met Gerald and Donna Royal (leaders), Tom, David and Jim Henderson, Paul Frazier, Bill Macky, Caroline Albert, Linda Smith and Kim Chandler.
This is where I started hearing about people that filled the positions of Apostle and Prophets, etc. this was the structure of the church. Also, I witnessed people speaking in Tongues, prophesying, laying on of hands and people falling out by the power of the Holy Spirit.
On June 1978 I was discharged from the Navy, and I chose to stay in Jacksonville NC where the people that I had built a close relationship lived. I knew if I moved back to my home town I would probably go back to my old ways.
I was employed as a furniture delivery driver, then was hired to work at a milk company where I eventually was promoted to deliver milk. I would attend Sunday morning prayer meetings at the home of Gerald and Donna Royal. Worship, speaking in tongue, laying on of hands and the teaching from the bible would be normal service. This was where I met this young girl, Amelia Rivers, who I tried to woo by one Sunday offering her some milk that I brought from the milk company. Well to my surprise she told me that she didn’t like milk and I was like what who doesn’t like milk.
One day my friend Gerald Royal wanted to have coffee with me which I thought was strange since he didn’t drink coffee. While we where there he asked me this which threw me off. Has God been speaking to you about marriage. I paused to think and said no God has not spoken to me about marriage, but I knew that I wanted to be married. He then said to me that Amelia wanted to marry me some kind of bad…. So, on July 7, 1979, Amelia and I were married. Matthew 19:5 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
A new adventure began, we remained in Jacksonville. Amelia then told me that the surgery she had at a young age had made it impossible for her to get pregnant. Her surgeon told this to her parents. God then reminded me of what Jesus told his disciples in Matthews 19:26 “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
The following year was rough financially, I had to come up with something on providing for my wife and family. Well one day I decided to go to the local Navy recruiter’s office to see about coming back into the Navy. He said that it should not be a problem and that he would submit my application. I had requested to come back in as a Hospital Corpsman. But my requested was approved by BUPERS but not by BUMED. BUMED would not reinstate me as a Corpsman, so I decided to return as a non-rated sailor. My other challenge was that I had only 2 years to advance in rate. My first duty station was on the USS John King {DDG-3} where they tried numerous times to reinstate me back into the Hospital Corp. Even having my take the Hospital Corpsman E4 exam, results came back invalid route of advancement. My final resort was to write to my congressman. So, I wrote to Senator Jesse Helms from NC. Who quickly responded to me within two weeks saying they were forwarding my letter to the Navy Department. While at sea after knocking off ships work. I was sitting in one of the TV rooms and over the 1MC I heard this…SN Avila report to the bridge….my heart skipped a beat and as I attempted to put my shoes on, I proceeded to the bridge still trying to tie my shoes. I open the door to the bridge and requested to enter. The Officer of the Deck turn to me and pointed to the walkway on the starboard side of the ship. I was surprised to see the CO of the ship standing there, he turned to me and said… All good things come to those who wait. Petty Officer Avila. He told me that BUMED reinstated me to Corpsman and BUPERS validated my examination and promoted me to Petty Officer Third Class.
Philippians 4:6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
I am His…