The Legend of Jimmy the kid

The Legend of Jimmy the Kid

by Gary Alford

For the imagination of a man's heart is evil from his youth.

The year was 1977. FLEETWOOD MAC (who was later to become his favorite rock-n-roll group) released their number one album "Rumors".

Over thirteen years before, when John Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, Texas, he was only three years old.

When America's children were sent to die in Vietnam, he didn't notice it. He had his own problems at home.

Almost a decade had passed since the Woodstock Music Festival. He missed it. He was only eight in August 1969. His family had recently moved into a house in Pearl, Mississippi. He grew up listening to country music and Elvis. He probably never even heard about Woodstock.

And when the peanut farmer was elected for President of the United States in '76, it didn't matter to the kid at all.

Born on November 24, 1960 in Biloxi, Mississippi, he lived on the Gulf Coast, in Ocean Springs, with his parents and five brothers until May of '64. Then, they lived in the Jackson area for the next ten years. He didn't have a happy childhood. After making all A's for six years in school, his grades dropped in 7th grade. In the ninth, school was just a place to go to get away from home. He didn't care about his grades and failed that year, although he enjoyed helping other students in Math class. He was a lonely boy and his best friend was his dog until it died in 1976.

He quit school a couple months before he turned sixteen. Then, his family moved to Plano, Texas and he started listening to rock music. He had almost no parental discipline in '77, and although he wasn't in school, most of the time, he didn't work either. So he spent his time hanging out at 7-11, or at Willowcreek Park, getting high with his friends, or at a party. He got high with somebody almost every day.

He learned to play pinball down at the local 7-11 store. After a while, he would go there, regularly, just before lunchtime and play while waiting for the kids from the nearby high school. By the time any of them arrived, he would have five games racked up. Back then, it was two games for a quarter and he would give three for a quarter. When the first buyers's three games were over, he still had two left, so, he would rack up five again, and the next up got three for a quarter.

He grew his hair long and wore a red bandana on his forhead. The kids that he hung out with thought that was cool. He was 'cool' because he was different. He looked different than anyone else and he had no curfew. (When ever a Plano policeman gave him a curfew warning, his dad didn't give it much attention.) He would sometimes get frustrated because his eighteen-year-old friends had to be home by eight o' clock. He was younger and stayed out as long as he wanted. His peers envied his freedom. Some wished they could be more like him. Most of them, however, were probably better off.

So many kids knew who he was that he didn't know who all of them were. Yeah, they knew who the kid with the long hair and red bandana was. Some said he looked like Jesus Christ. Others said he looked like Charles Manson. They called him "Jimmy the kid".

I don't remember much about living in Pearl. On February 15, 1973, we moved to Lee Drive in Jackson. We lived there for only one and a half months. One evening, some people visited us from Candlestick Baptist Church. This event brought a major change in my life. I don't have memories of church prior to this time although Mom and Dad had taken us sometimes before.

Three brothers and I started going to church at Candlestick. I entered the church scene full force, attending as much as possible. I went on Sundays and Wednesdays. I went on visitation nights, going door to door, telling people how to be saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ. I attended all other functions in between whenever possible. Finally, my life had some purpose and I had a reason to be happy. I had something to take me away from my unhappy home life.

They had a school at the church and the four of us enrolled the next September. I liked school again. The cirriculum was probably much like home school and it was easy. But then it didn't have to be easy for me. My teacher was one of the preachers. I had a lot of respect for him. We played flag football on the school team. One time, we traveled to Alexandria, Louisiana to compete with a school out there. It had rained and we played on a wet, muddy field. My brothers and I had always played tackle in earlier years in the front yard across the street from us in Pearl. And, I thought that pulling a flag off a runner was a sissy way to play. But we enjoyed it, anyway.

To the best of my memory, I continued to attend church for about a year. There was a record burning at the church one time and another time we had a carnival. We used to laugh at one older member who every week would run his fingers over his ear and say how badly he needed a haircut. We thought it was funny because he barely had any hair. I had learned during that time it was wrong for women to wear pants. I knew that my school teacher professed to believe this. One evening, I was at church and saw his two daughters come into the building wearing cut-off pants. I thought it was odd and later asked him about it. His reply was, "We had just come back from the lake". Maybe his answer should have been sufficient, but I wasn't sastified. I didn't understand why this man who I respected was going against something that he actually taught others. I was very offended by this. Soon after, I quit going to church. In July 1974, we moved to Vidalia, Lousiana and many years passed before I would have much thought about God or the Bible.

In March 1979, Jimmy the kid joined the U.S. Navy. He had a girlfriend who because of her father's transfer, moved to Ohio in December. So the kid went through boot camp and two weeks of apprenticeship training. When he took his leave, he spent a week at home in Texas and then a week with his girlfriend in Ohio. That is when she broke up with him. He was a heartbroken, lonely teenager going to a frightening new world and now with no purpose for being there.

Somehow he pulled himself together and reported for duty on board the USS Roanoke AOR-7 in Alameda, California. He was a likeable personality and soon became known on the ship as "the creeper". Of his many friendships, two of them, Jimmy Eason and Rich Merrill were Christians. The two tried over the next two years to win him to Christ, but the kid just wanted to have fun. He maintained his "sanity" by drinking, smoking pot, dropping acid, and hanging out with the gang.

In reality, he was miserable. After two years serving on this ship and going AWOL twice, he found himself, in May 1981, in a lonely cell in a Navy brig awaiting courts-martial. He was confused and scared. he thought he wanted to die. One day he looked up on the wall of his jail cell and saw some writing. He read these words, "For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country." Although he read the whole verse, just the thought of Jesus was what he needed.

As I recalled the gospel of Christ that I knew from my earlier childhood, I bowed my head and with tears, I cried, "Jesus, save me." That is when I truly received the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. And now because of that I know that I have eternal life (I John 5:13). I am free from the power of sin through Jesus Christ my Lord. And I also joy in God through my Lord Jesus Christ.





You too can be saved!!!

You must believe you are a sinner.
Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

You must believe there is a penalty for your sin.
Revelation 20:15 says, "Whosoever was not found in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire".

You must turn from your sin and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 13:3 says, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

You must believe that Jesus Christ, God's perfect Son paid your sin debt for you.
Romans 5:8 says, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. "

You must receive Jesus as your personal Saviour.
John 1:12 says, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:"

Please be saved today! Ask the Lord Jesus to come into
your heart and forgive you for your sins.

That if though shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:9-10