TRYING TO FIND MY WAY BACK HOME

....................NEVER ENDING STORY CONTINUED...TESTIMONY!.............




.......................MY LIFE AFTER CHRIST APRIL 12, 1981 A.D..........................



"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new!" (Apostle Paul)



To all my loyal followers, which basically consists of mostly my family at this point, I will try and be more faithful in the telling of my story and HIS STORY which I know is basically our story from this point forward.



I am aware that it has been incredibly difficult to follow the history chronologically...

... and in order...

... because of my frenetic style of jumping back and forth from the past,

... to present day concerns and musings...



...I will try and help out by reminding you,

... I last left off, on the Post, dated 3/23/09,

... Titled, "TRIUMPH" The Rest of The Story! Part 3 Doug.



...I've already told the story several times, About Doug Tuttle's untimely Death, and the impact that His life and Death had on me...

... and how that event actually saved my life, and changed it, and my future / destiny forever.



I however, cannot say it too often, that Doug's Death was not in vain...



...His legacy has continued until this day and beyond in all of the lives that have been changed for all good and eternity...



...It was shortly thereafter on April 12, 1981, In Deridder Louisiana, at The Texas Avenue Baptist Church, I finally surrendered my old life, and sinful ways, to become that new creation, the Apostle Paul told us about, when we make Jesus Lord and Saviour of our lives!



... ONE OF THE ABSOLUTELY MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS OF MY LIFE!!!





...An amazing thing happened three weeks after I landed In Deridder Louisiana...





..................................... "I BECAME A CHILD OF GOD!"...................................









...I left my young wife and 2yr old daughter Aimee behind in Kalamazoo, while I tried to seek my fortune, find adventure, and escape the law, in the oilfields of Louisiana.... I lived, with my uncle Barry and the now suddenly Deceased, Doug Tuttle, 20 years young!!!





...We didn't know it at the time, Doug had been poisoned by "White lightning," He had shared a few sips of it with me that night, and by the grace of God... I didn't drink enough of it to do to me what it did to Doug a few hours later...







...Two blocks down the street, Ashamed, shy and very embarrassed, I walked into that Church a few minutes before the service was over...



... Sunday morning, April 12 1981, Palm Sunday as it turned out, last day of the revival meetings, at Texas Avenue Baptist Church...



...The Pastor,.... Hollis Roberts, was giving an invitation...

... to any who would,

to turn from their lost lives....



... to Jesus, the "Light of The World"...



...At That moment, I was transported, I seem to float down that center aisle...



...I "BEGGED" God, to forgive me all my wicked sins, and save my lost soul...



...I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, living as a slave to my addictions, and sick appetites...



...I wanted to be delivered, and I wanted to live a new and better life...



...Suddenly, the weight of the world lifted off of my grieving battered soul....



... and I was filled with inexplicable joy and happiness.



...I knew in my heart, and felt it in my body and soul....



...That my wicked, wretched, miserable, horrid slate, had been wiped clean.



...God heard my petition, and granted to me a new and better life.





...A life worth living...





...a life with a purpose...



... HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!





...I truly had been born again.!!!!





...Wow, was my bride ever surprised,... when she got that phone call later that afternoon!



...Her wild, crazy, dope dealing criminal of a husband called her and...



... Declared, that he was now a 100% Bonafide Jesus freak.



...Her life, and the life of our child were changed at that moment forever.



...God brought true REVIVAL to that little church that day.



...I was on fire for the Lord, and began to bring everyone I could,

to that same loving Savior, that so willingly, and freely accepted a poor and miserable wretch like me...



... The change in me was so drastic... my conversion experience,

was so dramatic, it was infectious,

contagious, just about everyone that was in the realm of my influence,

wanted what I had found.



That tiny Church, Baptized more new converts that year,

than they ever had in their history.



6 months later I surrendered to Gods call on my life to Preach the Gospel,

and Texas Avenue Baptist Church, Pastor Roberts, the deacons, elders and the members of that church examined me, and extended to me a license to preach and practice the Gospel Ministry of The Lord Jesus.



...Throughout my entire life up to this point on this day when I became officially recognized and commissioned by my Local Church and Sent forth by one of the largest Protestant Denominations in the world, The Southern Baptist Convention, Home of Such Spiritual Giants as Billy Graham and Charles Stanley, to name just a small few...



...Who would of Thunk It???



...What a foolish Prediction, assumption, or even an ambition on my part???



...Almost an impossible, unlikely dream!



...But isn't that just like our loving, and most gracious Heavenly Father?



I Cor. 1:25

"Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men," verse 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.



verse 27 "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;"



verse 28 "and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen: and the things which are not; to bring to nothing the things that are,



verse 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence."



verse 30 "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus; who became for us wisdom from God-and righteousness and sanctification and redemption--



verse 31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."



...In mine own eyes and I am sure, in the eyes of the rest of the world, the most foolish thing God ever did was to call out Michael Bowling Sr. to preach the greatest story ever told...



...I don't know if there has ever been a more flawed individual ever created under heaven, a person more unworthy and unlikely failure than myself???



...Surely God has made a terrible mistake and a foolish choice in this instance...



...The disappointments are too numerous to recount!



...Truly I know how the Apostle Peter and the other Disciples must have felt when they denied their Lord and ran off in His greatest hour of need...



...Oh yes, there has been many miracles and victories that took place because I started my race well...but now in my early Fifties I feel like the prodigal son...



...My greatest hope is that I might find my way back to that Loving Father with the ring and the robe and the fattened Calf...



...From April 12 1981 until now December 26 2011...



...There is a lot of "HIS" Story and too much of "MY" Story to be told...



...TAG ALONG AND WE WILL BOTH DISCOVER TOGETHER HOW THE REST OF THE STORY TURNS OUT???



WWJD



Brother Michael Sr.