Hal Hall

Name: Hal S. Hall

Rank/Classification: Electricians Mate Second Class (EM2)

Service Date: August, 1976 - July, 1980

Duty Stations: USS La Salle 1977-1978, USS Pensacola 1978-1980

Salvation Testimony

        I was saved Saturday, November14, 1993 by the wonderful grace of God, through the precious blood of our Savior Jesus Christ.

        I was not raised in church. Oh, I had gone when I was young, I remember being in Christmas plays or saying a verse at Easter time. My parents divorced when I was 7 and church was not where our family spent their time. I visited church as a teenager with friends but I never felt comfortable or like I fit in. I did not know what it was to be saved or to be born again. I believed there was a God, I knew of Jesus but I did not know Jesus.

        When I joined the Navy out of high school I wanted to travel, party, and learn to be an electrician. Two things happened while I was in the Navy that I won’t forget and now reminds me of how long suffering and gracious our Savior is.

        While in Naples, Italy my buddies and I ran into a group of college students from Columbus, Ohio. They witnessed to me and asked if I was saved and going to heaven. They told me how Jesus loved me just the way I was. That he would save me if I would confess and repent of my sins. He would even forgive me if I sinned again. I didn’t understand or believe it. Those young people from Ohio had planted a seed.

        One night while laying in my rack onboard ship in an intoxicated state of mind, thinking about home or how much time I had left in the Navy, I found myself standing in what seemed like a tunnel. In front of me was the devil (evil) behind me was Jesus (good). The devil was wanting me to cross to his side. I mean it seemed like there was a line drawn in the dirt and he was saying come over here. You can have what ever you want money, women, position what ever. I could not cross that line because I knew I would be trading my soul to the devil. That was very real to me, I never forgot that experience.

        In October 1980 I came back home to Jasonville, Indiana. My first weekend back I went out with friends and met my future wife. She just didn’t know it or realize it yet. Rita had two small children April and Paul. When she lived in Midland a church bus driver from Blessed Hope Baptist Church stopped by and asked the kids if they would like to ride the bus and go to church. Rita and I got married in August, 1982. We moved to Jasonville and started having our family. One Saturday this same church bus driver stopped by to see if our children would like to ride the bus to church. They went to church sometimes but it was still not a priority in my life. We moved again and again this same church bus driver stopped to see if our children would like to ride the bus to church. This was all in God’s plan for our life. Our family had grown from four to now eight. We had many trials and sorrows along the way in eight years of marriage.

        Our daughter Lacey loved the big red church bus and loved to walk up the driveway on Sunday morning to get on the bus by herself. Our boys Paul and Kaleb would go sometimes or get hurried out the door to catch the bus on time. Our kids started asking us to go to special church events or to hear them sing. We started going to church occasionally and I started hearing the messages they were preaching. Many times thinking or feeling like the preacher was preaching right at me. He was bringing the word of God to me, the Holy Spirit was allowing me to hear God's word for the first time in my life. I was starting to understand about Salvation, to understand what it was to be born again. I had been praying and wanting to be saved. My Pastor, Robert Ross asked me about getting baptized and to come into his office on a Saturday to discuss the procedure for baptism. That morning in his office I asked Jesus to forgive me for the sins I had committed, I asked Jesus to come dwell in my heart and to make me a child of God.

        We all fall short of God's glory and we all sin. He will forgive us when we ask. Just like the college students from Ohio said, Jesus will save us as we are. The Holy Spirit will convict us to do God’s will if we will open our hearts and listen to Him speak.

Veterans at Blessed Hope Baptist Church