Testimonies of God's Grace
Ernie Appleby: "Planting My Roots"
I was a rebellious boy. I never listened to my dad who said “You ought to get your roots planted.” I also drank and I’m not happy about that. I quit school in 11th grade and joined the Army against my dad’s wishes. I received an honorable discharge in 1962 after getting pneumonia.
When I got out of the military, I didn’t take nothing from nobody! I had lots of different jobs. For example, I was at Grove [Manufacturing] 3 different times! I just didn’t take static from anyone. If I didn’t like something, I just picked up my tools and left!
I was an ‘outside’ boy. I loved hunting, and being outside instead of inside. Like I said . . . I drank. I closed many a bar. I met Flo [Ernie’s wife] at the auction. Her mom didn’t want us to get married ‘cause of my drinking, but we married in ’66. Terry was born in ’67 and Laura in ’68. And I still had a drinking problem. 2 AM, 3AM . . . I’d come home, and that made me hard to live with. And I’m not proud of this.
Now all during this time, I had brothers, sisters, aunts and my mother all praying for me and telling me to go to church. I told them “I don’t need that.” Like my dad said, “Get established”, so I went back to Grove for the 3rd time. I was there for 2 years when I had a fallout with another employee, ended up hitting him with a pliers. After I left Grove, I went into business in ‘74 with my brother-in-law. ‘A & B Builders’ was what we were called. We remodeled homes, did roofs, concrete work, and built new homes. I had four guys working for me and business was good. We had lots of work. But I was still drinking, and stayed out late. Flo had even contacted a lawyer to see about getting a divorce ‘cause I was so hard to live with.
It was December 22nd in 1976 and I was driving my ’48 Willys Jeep back-n-forth to Spring Run working on my cousin’s house. I worked till 10 o’clock that night, and promised her that I’d be back in the morning to lay the carpet so she could put up her Christmas tree. At the same time I headed home, 5 vehicles left the Milky Way Restaurant and ended up racing on the same road I was traveling. Now I already had one beer, was drinking the 2nd with a 3rd one between my legs when I was hit head-on by one of the racing cars going 100 mph! The last thing I remembered was seeing their headlights.
My Jeep was pushed back 35 feet and thrown up on the road bank. When I was found, my legs were pinned in the Jeep and the rest of me was hanging unconscious upside-down out of the Jeep. One guy who came upon the accident shined his flashlight on me and thought I was dead. The brake pedal was stuck in my shin, my right wrist was pushed up and over my hand, my right foot was broken, my left arm was broken in 7 pieces, both hips were pulled out of joint, and I had 2 concussions!
For three days in the hospital, I didn’t know anybody. Flo sat by my bed and I didn’t even know she was there. After I ‘came to’, and my brother walked through the door . . . [swallowing hard and choking back some tears] . . . I told him “I’m ready to meet the Lord.” I know I had people praying for me . . . and I know it was the Lord . . . I don’t know why I’m still alive, but it’s all because of the Lord.
My brother prayed with me and I was saved. My old business partner found out what happened and said “You’ll never stay saved . . . you’ll be back drinking with me again” – but praise the Lord, it never happened!
The Lord touched me! I had problems with my back where I had to be hospitalized and in traction for 8-9 days at a time. I had to use a cane to walk [pointing to two canes now hanging on the wall]. But I’ve been ‘prayed for’ a number of times, and the Lord touched me!
One thing that makes me happy is that my dad saw me get saved before he went to be with the Lord. I’ve got so much to be thankful for. Now that my ‘roots are planted’ in the Lord, I am praying, “show me what you want, Lord.”
Picture of Ernie's Jeep after the accident.