After many years of work at a steel company, Paul Hollis felt something was missing. “I was making $130,000 a year, but I wasn’t happy with anything in life,” he says. “No matter what I had, I just wasn’t satisfied.
“So I discussed it all with my wife, and finally I just told her I wanted to quit my job, because it was turning me into something I didn’t want to be. In fact, I told her that I really wanted go live in our cabin up in the Arkansas mountains for a while.”
Most of us may have wished something similar at some point of our lives, but Paul took action. “I just needed to get myself back, so we decided I’d go up there, and my wife would come up on weekends.
“I spent a year and a half up there, living a simple life in a cabin that doesn’t even have electricity. But that’s where I found God!”
Losing His Way
Paul was born and raised in southern Arkansas. “My mom was 15 and my daddy was 17 when I was born,” he explains. “They couldn’t take care of me very well, so when I was eight, my grandparents finally adopted me. They were good people. They took me to church on Sunday and really believed all that they knew.
“My grandmother meant the world to me, so when she died, it took a lot out of me. She was the one who always kept me on the straight and narrow,” he continues, “so after she passed away, I started straying. A year later, when I was 17, I joined the Marine Corps, and I never did come to God.”
Paul was married at 18 but says that marriage didn’t turn out well. His second wife refused to move after he got a job at a steel mill three-and-a-half hours away.
“Being away from her all week was hard on our marriage,” he says, “and it wasn’t long before we drifted apart. But all that’s over with now. Today I have a wonderful wife, and we both think constantly of each other, and how we can please.”
A Traumatic Event
So how did Paul find God, and what brought it about?
“I can hardly talk about it without getting emotional,” he begins. “I had some goats up at the cabin, and the momma goat was fixin’ to have some little ones when I left one day. When I got back, she was almost dead from trying to have the babies. I didn’t know what to do, so I rushed to the vet about 20 minutes away. When I got back I delivered the first baby, but it looked like it was dead, so I laid it down on the grass next to the mother. Then, a few minutes later, the next baby was coming and it was breech, so I rushed back to the vet, again! When I got back and finally got it turned around, but it seemed dead, as well. By now the momma goat was so worn out that I thought all three of them were gonna die.
“That broke my heart, but all of a sudden, the little ones started to come to, and before long they got up and started trying to walk!
“Something hit me right then, and it had nothing to do with the goats. I was convinced that this miracle was all about God! Overwhelmed, I laid down on the ground and cried for the longest time!”
Hungry for Truth
“After that powerful experience, I decided I needed to learn about God, so I began to study the Bible, and sometimes I would read for 14 hours a day!” Paul says.
“One of the things I noticed right away was that the Bible said we should keep the Sabbath day holy. I knew that, but I never knew that the Sabbath was on Saturday!
“I kept studying, and one day my son came up and stayed with me. He had become a Seventh-day Adventist, so he confirmed that Saturday really was the Sabbath.
“Then I asked a friend who owned a car dealership one day if he knew about the Sabbath, and he said, ‘Yes, I do. I’m a Seventh-day Adventist. Haven’t you noticed I don’t open for business on Saturday?’
“That blew my mind! But there was more!”
Paul explains that about a year ago he began working for a farmer in Arkansas doing maintenance and general farm work. But although he explained he didn’t want to work on Saturdays, he caved in and did several times, anyway.
“I felt so badly, though, that one day I flagged him over, and explained that I absolutely wouldn’t do it again, and that if he wanted to, he could fire me on the spot. But he said he’d think about it, and later he told me he wouldn’t ask me to work on Saturdays anymore.”
Paul’s faith and conviction continued to grow, and one day he discovered that the TV in the trailer he was staying in picked up five 3ABN channels from our Memphis station.
“I hadn’t started going to church yet because I wanted to learn from the Bible, and not from any man; but I really liked what I was hearing on 3ABN Proclaim!” he says.
“So I watched 3ABN Proclaim! 99 percent of the time, but once in a while I’d switch over to 3ABN Radio. Then, one day, I left 3ABN Radio on and went to work. And when I walked in that evening I heard a preacher tellin’ us how to quit chewing tobacco! ‘We have a Five-Day Stop Smoking program,’ he said, ‘or you can do it as a Christian should, and just let God do it for you!’
“Wow! I was 51 years old and I’d chewed tobacco since I was eight. My wife had begged and cried, and I’d tried to quit many times, but it had never worked. I even prayed to God for strength, but I had always tried to do it for my wife, or for me. I’d never wanted to do it for Him! Suddenly I realized, I’ve been asking God to help me do this, but haven’t used my faith! So I immediately threw my tobacco in the trash, looked up, and said, ‘God, I’m giving this to you, because I can’t defeat it! I’m done!’”
After a long pause, Paul continues, “I’ll get a hankering once in a while, especially after I eat. But I’m not fighting this. I’m done with it. God has done the impossible ever since I put my faith in Him. And He did it immediately—it didn’t take weeks or months!”
Baptism
Paul’s desire to worship with fellow believers kept growing, and one day he found the Dyersburg, Tennessee Seventh-day Adventist Church, just a few miles away!
“When I arrived I told them that I wanted to be baptized, but unfortunately, they were between pastors, so I kept waiting.
“Then I met Marianne Krueger, the daughter of 3ABN president, Jim Gilley, and last Sabbath she called him to explain my situation.”
Pastor Gilley invited Paul to come up that very day, and then asked Pastor Ron Halvorsen, Sr., who was holding our Anchors of Truth series that weekend, to baptize Paul that evening. “It was a beautiful and touching baptism,” Jim says, “and we were happy to welcome our new brother in Christ into the family. I’m delighted that this ministry helped solidify his decision to be baptized!”
C. A. Murray, general manager for 3ABN Proclaim! says, “We’re thrilled that Paul is a devoted viewer of 3ABN Proclaim! He’s part of a large group of people who mostly watch our preaching channel, and we’re so pleased that it’s reaching so many with the gospel!”
Eager to Serve
“God has helped me so much,” Paul says, “and today there’s nothing I own that has any value to me, other than God. And I don’t desire anything that I can’t walk away from.
“I tell people that I’d rather live in a ditch inside a cardboard box and spend eternity in Heaven, than be rich and only live 80 years on this earth. All I long to do is what Jesus wants me to.
“Everyone thought I was crazy when I walked away from my job, but God was driving me into those mountains.
“All that time to think got me close to God and away from the world—and that did it. If I hadn’t been up there by myself, I might never have found Him. So I believe God put me there, and each day I ask him, ‘Just tell me where You want me to be.’”
Visit the Dyersburg Seventh-day Adventist Church
Dyersburg, Tennessee. They’d love to meet you!