Touched By A Smoker
As I look back over my life as a Christian I am truly indebted to so many people for their influence on me. One of those is a fellow by the name of John Smoker. This is John in the picture to the left. It is not a recent picture; it was taken back in the early 70’s. I don’t know what John looks like now, but that is my image of him from the last time I saw him. John’s story is unique in that I have never heard another like it. He was a gigolo, a male escort/prostitute. This was his profession. I don’t know the particulars of how he was won to Christ, but John did a real 180. He attended the Sunset School of Preaching and one of his first places to preach was in Lancaster Pennsylvania. At the time he was in Lancaster I was in Glen Rock, just a few miles south. We got to know each other, played golf for a while on a pretty regular basis. To my knowledge I only beat him one time. John was a pest on the golf course. He could always spoil my concentration and keep me off balance. Anyway, I grew to love and respect John and he took a special interest in me.
A young preacher in my first full time work who was a lot like the young man who had just received his plumbers license and was taken to see Niagara Falls. He studied it for a minute and said, “I think I can fix this.” I was convinced that I had all the answers, just bring on the questions. John helped me see that there were other veins of thought that could lead me to different conclusions. This was especially true when it came to matters of justification, works and grace. John opened my eyes to God’s grace.
John had worked in construction for a while before preaching full time. On a job site one day he was torch cutting the bottom of a 55 gallon drum and exploded right in his face. One half of the side of his face and head had to be totally reconstructed, and it was miracle he lived through the ordeal. He told me of a trip he made to the dentist some time after he had recouped from the accident and the dentist had taken x-rays of jaw and told John we would not touch him with a ten foot pole because of all the wires and screws holding his head together.
I wish the story had a happy end, but the end that I know is not happy. John and his wife divorced and he moved back to Oklahoma where he was from. He started his own business and remarried I learned later through the grapevine.
I am so thankful for John Smoker. God brought him into my life at such an important and critical time in my spiritual journey. If you happen to be from Ok., I think around the Oklahoma City general area, and you happen to run into John, tell him Lee said hello and thanks…and tell him to give me a shout. I would love to hear from him again.
