Allow me to introduce myself . My name is Richard Burroughs and I was born September 12 , 1970 . I was the third child born to my mother and father . At the age of a year and a half , my father died and mother remarried when I was two and a half . Growing up was hard having a stepfather who was an alcoholic . As a child I attended Church on a regular basis . I loved the Lord and wanted to grow up to be a preacher like my grandfather on my mother ’ s side .
When I was about ten years old , my older sister and brother started running away from home and at times I went with them . By the age of thirteen , I began running away on a regular basis . I began drinking and experimenting with drugs . By the age of fourteen I was addicted to speed . For the next ten years of my life I lived on the streets and was in and out of Juvenile Hall and Jail . During this time , I had hitchhiked all across the country . I spent several years searching , dabbled in the occult and tried eastern religions . No matter what , I was never satisfied .
Around the age of 18 , I was introduced to the hippie counter cultural lifestyle of the 80s and 90s . For the next five or six years I was involved with this lifestyle . Several times over the years people would tell me about the Lord and at times I would try to live the ‘ Christian ’ life but never experienced a real conversion . Though I had said the ‘ Sinner ’ s Prayer ’ on several occasions , there was no change of heart . However , the Lord was drawing me to Himself . I would carry a Bible in my backpack and read it on a semi regular basis but lacked having any real understanding .
Prior to becoming a Christian , the Lord was working on my heart . I knew the truth and was just running from the Lord . I was sick of the life I was living and wanted to change . Then I met this girl in December 1993 , we hitch hiked across the country together and ended up in Louisiana , then Alabama . At times we would be sitting on a ramp trying to get a ride and I would just sit there and read my Bible . On a couple of occasions she had told me I spend more time with that Bible than I do with her . I was ready to change my life but did not want to lose her . Then one night while under the influence of drugs , I told God to prove Himself to me and change her . Thank God for His mercy . Approximately three days later we were sitting on a ramp trying to get a ride and I opened my Bible , surprisingly she asked me what the Word was for today and I read Psalm 91 .
20 | SHARE | MAGAZINE July - September 2017
A New Creation
Thinking back to when I got saved , it amazes me what we must go through before we will see the error of our ways . It was Palm Sunday 1994 ; my girlfriend and I are hitch hiking through Springville , Alabama with two dogs and no real place to go . We had already stayed on this ramp one night and now we are sitting in the rain , with a river through our tent , making some oatmeal for breakfast . After finishing breakfast , we went to this gas station and hung around there all day . The people that worked there were really nice to us , they gave us food throughout the day . Then all of a sudden the sky turned green and one of the attendants at the gas station told us to come inside and bring our dogs in with us . There was a tornado coming down the highway .
That night we were told we could stay in this Church to get out of the weather . During this time the Lord was really dealing with both of us . The next morning the Church custodian came in and gave us some canned goods and a ride back to the ramp . He also gave us five dollars . When we returned to our tent , everything was wet but it was still there , though we had nothing staked down . We packed up all our stuff and went to a Laundromat to dry everything and then back to the ramp to try and get a ride .
After a while back at the ramp , this lady gave us a ride . She took us to this small town named Gadsden and asked if we knew any place there where we could get out of the rain . Well , it just so happened that I had been passing through this town a year prior to this and a man had given me a tract . Remembering the tract , I pulled it from my wallet and found that the man had put his address on it . The woman that we were with went out of her way to find the house and when we finally did , we were told that he had moved , however , his previous landlady told us where he had moved to and that we should go see him , so we did .
Arriving at this man ’ s house , we had no idea of what to expect but he took us right in . We stayed the night with him and his two boys and listened to him talk about the Lord all night . The next day he gave us a ride to the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee and dropped us off there . Now here we are back on the road with nowhere to go . The next day , still at the campground he dropped us at , we are sitting back cooking some rice for dinner , when we noticed a car coming , it was the man returning . He got home and felt the Lord spoke to him about us and he decided to come back to see if we were Continued on pg 31
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