How in the World Did I Get Here?

By D. Ray Lewis

Has God ever done something for you that exceeded your wildest dreams? As I sat at my desk this afternoon working on my last article for ONE Magazine, I took a look around and caught myself asking, “How in the world did I get here?”

Growing up, I couldn’t even dream big enough to picture myself being blessed the way the Lord has blessed me. If anyone had told me that someday I would oversee a $60 million ministry and stand before hundreds of people giving reports, I would have laughed at them.

Yet, here I am winding down a 32-year ministry with the Board of Retirement. I am amazed that God honored me with the privilege of serving Him through this ministry. Getting here has been amazing. God’s Word tells us He knows the plans He has for us and that His plans are to prosper us and not harm us and to give us hope for the future. I’m a living testimony to the truths of those words. I haven’t always understood the paths that led to the fulfillment of His plan, but I say, “Thank you, Lord, for Your plan for my life.”

I did not grow up as a Free Will Baptist. I didn’t even grow up in a Christian home. Neither did I come from a long line of preachers. I was the sixth of seven children born into a poor tenant farmer’s family. Growing up in poverty wasn’t easy. I was on the receiving end of a lot of jokes because of the hand-me-down clothes I wore, or the lack of funds to take part in class outings and activities that most other students were able to do. Many times, I was the recipient of what is called bullying today.

All this caused me to become very withdrawn. I developed low self-esteem and almost no self-confidence. Throughout school, I would rather receive a failing grade than stand and give an oral report.

In high school, I saw no way to go to college, but God did. One day, I saw a catalog for a small college where I could attend for one semester if I worked really hard during the summer, saved every thing I made, and got a campus job.

Well, I made it! I love history, so I planned to become a history teacher. On the last day of orientation, the incoming freshmen were in the auditorium. The president announced where we were to meet with our advisors. All I heard him say was, “Everybody whose last name starts with the letter ‘L’ go to Room 201.” So, I went. As I sat there, I soon realized this was the room for business majors, not history majors. I was too shy to tell the professor I was in the wrong room, so I just stayed. Three and a half years later, I graduated with a business degree.

Four years later, I left my secular job to attend Welch College. After graduation, I moved to North Carolina to my first pastorate. Three years into that ministry, having never attended a national convention, one day I drove to Charlotte where it was being held. Of all the restaurants in Charlotte from which to choose, we ended up seated next to Dr. Joe Ange. He asked if he could submit my name to the pulpit committee of a church in Alabama that he thought would be a good fit for me. I told him yes. To be honest, I never expected to hear from them, but a couple of weeks later I received a call and ultimately ended up there.

During a deacon’s meeting three years later, one of the deacons said, “I think we should send our pastor to the national convention.” So they did. During that convention, a call went out for a business teacher for the college. From the first day I stepped foot on the Bible College campus, my dream had been to return one day as a business teacher. I was hired. It was a dream come true, and I assumed I was there to stay until retirement. That was not God’s plan, however.

Toward the end of that year, Herman Hersey invited me to come to work as business manager for the Board of Retirement. My first reaction was an immediate no. He asked me to pray about it, however, so I did. And, on May 16, 1983, I began this journey.

As I look back over my life I can see how God worked in all of these things, and more, to complete His plan for me. Most important, I see that God’s plan for my life did not depend on whether I grew up in a Christian environment or not. It depends on my relationship to Him.
I also realize that growing up poor and experiencing all I did helped develop within me a compassion for other people. I believe that is why I have such a burden for the needs of Free Will Baptist ministers and employees. I want to see them reach retirement and not worry about how they will survive.

I see that God’s plans for me are far better than anything I could ever dream for myself. Little did I know when I sat in that room with the business majors in 1966, that it was exactly where God wanted me. He knew that 16 years later, He would fulfill a dream I didn’t even realize at the time. Had I not taken the position at the Bible College, I would not have met Herman Hersey and been offered a position with the Board of Retirement.

The journey has been long, and sometimes the road has been rough. Even though I didn’t always understand how the rough spots were working toward fulfilling His plans for me, He was faithful! When I look back over my life, I stand amazed at how God worked out His plan for my life, even when I had no idea what He was doing.

I remind you, God has a plan for your life as well. Just trust Him and know His plans for you are to prosper you and not harm you, and to give you hope for the future.

About the Writer: D. Ray Lewis joined the Board of Retirement in 1983. He became director in 2005 after serving several years as assistant director. Visit www. BoardofRetirement.com.