What a blessing it was, growing up in L.A……Lower Aberdeen! We lived in the country outside the small town of Aberdeen, North Carolina. My childhood experiences included hunting, fishing, horseback riding, working in the garden and many wonderful memories with my two brothers Bruce and Dale. We learned how to work hard and play hard. We attended church when we were younger where, as a kid, I was baptized and joined the church. My mother was determined that we would be faithful attendees in Sunday school and for several years I, along with my brothers, received perfect attendance pens. I remember drills where we would race to find Scripture passages. I never won, and it seemed that the other kids were always reading the verses while I was still in the index trying to find the book.

My dream as a young man in high school was to become an astronaut, and I was fortunate to serve as the Commander of my ROTC class and to be nominated to the Air Force Academy my Senior year. During the testing, they informed me they had detected a heart murmur and I would not be able to be a pilot. It was devastating to have my dream dashed and as a result, my life took another direction. After graduating from college in 1975, I had a degree in Psychology and a desire to help others. I worked in an inpatient mental health unit for a period but became disillusioned for serval reasons with what I experienced in that time. I then set my sights on a new dream. Stardom! I knew adequate finances would be necessary for me to make a major move to Hollywood or New York City, so I signed up to be a door-to-door book salesman for the summer of 1977 to make the funds necessary for my big move.

Before my summer commitment began, I planned a trip to Aspen, Colorado to test my musical abilities in a venue where no one knew me. John Denver was a megastar then and I thought I might have an opportunity to meet him. I did have a chance to play music with his band members. On the drive across the country, somewhere in Kansas, I asked my brother Dale if he believed in God.

I had begun thinking about my life and had a heart full of questions. We spent the weekend in Colorado Springs with my cousin Johnny and his wife Renee. After one day in their home, it was obvious there had been a real change in Johnny. I asked Renee a question. “What’s wrong with Johnny?” She responded with a question, “Why do you ask?” My response was, “Well, I’ve been here all day and I haven’t heard him curse one time, he hasn’t offered me anything to drink, and he’s acting so nice. What’s wrong with him?” She answered, “Sammy, Johnny and I have been ‘born again’.” I was clueless as to what ‘born again’ meant but this I knew; it sure had changed Johnny. After a weekend with them, we went to Aspen, and after several months returned home. It was then off to sales school in Nashville, Tennessee. At the end of the training week, I was assigned to sell books in West Texas.

“Hello, my name is Sammy Frye and I’m your friendly door-to-door salesman. You don’t shoot em’ out here, do you?” That was my pat line at every door and as you might imagine, door-to-door selling called for many wonderful and unusual experiences. In fact, that summer turned out to be the greatest summer of my life. I remember asking a suntanned, bow-legged, calloused cowboy why his home seemed to be filled with such love. He explained to me that he had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and that he had been ‘born again’. I listened, but I just didn’t understand this personal relationship business. Not long after, I was in another home and a man asked me a shocking question, “Sammy, if you were to die right now, would you go to heaven or hell?” My first thought was, “Oh no, a religious fanatic, why did I stop here today?” At least I answered honestly, “Sir, I don’t know.” He then said, “Young man, if you don’t know, odds are you are not going to heaven.” My next thought was, “Thanks a lot.” I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. What he didn’t know was that I had been asking myself a lot of questions lately regarding the purpose of my life. Questions like, “Is God real?” “What’s life all about?”

“Why am I so empty inside when I seem to have so much going for me?” He opened a Bible and asked me another question, “Sammy, are you a sinner?” My first thought was, “This guy must know me.” I answered, “Yes sir, I am.” He then 3 shared with me Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Then he read Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death….” He said, “Sammy, your sin has to be paid for and either you pay for it by living a life separated from God and then spending eternity in hell, or you allow the death of Jesus to satisfy the judgment you deserve.” He said, “You see, the Bible in Romans 5:8 tells us that, “God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”, and in Matthew Jesus Himself said, “I am come to seek and to save the lost.” I was listening, but I just didn’t get it, so I asked, “Then what do I do?” He said, “Your part is to repent of your sins (which means to be sorry about your sin and to turn from it) and believe Jesus died for you, that He was buried and rose from the grave. You simply must as the Bible says in Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” This man wanted me to pray, and he got down on his knees in his living room. I got down on my knees nervous as can be thinking about only one thing……getting out of there. He said “Amen,” and I got up and as I turned to leave his wife came from the kitchen and told me she had called some folks from their church, and they were praying for me. Her words gripped my heart and I found myself fighting tears. While I didn’t receive Christ that day, I knew those folks were serious and that their faith in Christ was real and their concern for me was sincere. I left their house, sat down behind a Mimosa tree there in Sweetwater, Texas, had a good cry. I then got myself together and made a decision. 

My decision was that I was going to stay away from those Christian people because after talking to them I was crying, and I didn’t even know why! At that point in my life, I had two thoughts. I knew I couldn’t live the Christian life and I wasn’t convinced I wanted to.

​

Later that summer, I called a young preacher, Dwayne Martin, met him at a local restaurant and asked him a page full of questions. At the end  of our question/answer session he said to me, “Sammy, you have had some great questions, but I believe your greatest need is that you need to be ‘born again’.” He explained the gospel to me and quoted John 3:16, “For 4 God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I left his office that day, went back to my apartment, fell to my knees, cried out to God, and received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I know for sure what God did. He saved me! I knew something wonderful had happened to me, and the relief and sense of being forgiven for my sin brought forth a flood of tears and thankfulness to God. In coming to God honestly and humbly, convicted of the sin in my life, believing on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I received the gift of eternal life and became a child of God. (Romans 10:13) I was ‘born again’. I had found forgiveness, peace, and a joy beyond description. I didn’t work my way into this relationship, and it didn’t happen because I had been baptized as a boy or was a member of a church. It took place when I, by faith, cried out to Jesus Christ as a bankrupt broken sinner for His forgiveness and received Him as my Savior. (John 1:12)

So, my precious friend, how about you? You may be very uncomfortable right now and not really understand why. Could it be that the Lord is speaking to your heart as you have been reading these words? You are searching for purpose and meaning in this crazy mixed up world. You may have been deeply hurt, you may have been abused, you may be all alone, or you may be very religious thinking you are all right but know something is missing in your life. You may have recently prayed and asked God for help. You may think you’ve gone too far and can’t be forgiven. John 3:16 states it clearly, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” You are loved! So the question is, ‘If you were to die right now, would you go to heaven or hell?’ You can know! 1 John 5:12-13 states, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye many know that ye have eternal lie, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”” Please trust Jesus as your Savior today. He loves you, and not only will He save you, but He can bring forth beauty from the ashes of any life given over to Him. If I could be saved 5 for you I would, but I can’t. You and you alone must make this decision.
Please do it today!