The Evangelist

We voted yesterday, and Howard finished filling out his ballot before I did. I was scrutinizing the back of my ballot, trying to digest it, when from my booth I heard my gregarious husband chatting with the vote workers at their table nearby. The snippets of conversation seemed to be his testimony of surviving an armed hold-up in New Orleans and his decision to enter the ministry. They were obviously hanging on every word.

As we were leaving, I heard one of them ask if he had any more cards. Then I knew he had given out some of the scripture cards he carries with him. "Do you have any more?" one of the workers asked. Another said she needed some, too.

Later that afternoon, we stopped at the farm supply store where a worker called out, "I still have that card! I read it every night!" He had given her one with the scripture, "O taste and see that the Lord is good." (The one at the voting precinct read, "Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them; for the Lord thy God, He it is that does go with you. He will not fail thee nor forsake thee.") Deuteronony 31:6.

We were hungry by then, so we stopped at a diner famous for their delicious burgers. Filling my glass with tea from the dispenser, I heard a conversation at our booth between Howard and the friendly restaurant owner. As the proprietor listened intently, my wonderful spouse related how he had heard God's voice as he waited to be connected to the Armed Robbery Division of the New Orleans Police Department. The Voice spoken into his ear said, "I've kept you through two of these things, and I'll never keep you through another. Now go do what I've told you to do."

Howard says he knew from an early age that he was meant to preach the gospel, but life rushed in and he neglected the call. He went on to preach and pastor for the next 23 years. He is still spreading the Word.