By Bobby Davis
Eric Durant grew up in Queens, New York, where his father worked as a systems engineer with IBM and his mother worked as a secretary in the JFK Airport post office.
“I can’t say their marriage was a very happy one,” he says, “and we didn’t see much of my dad, even when he wasn’t working. So until his passing, my father figure was my paternal grandfather, who was a very good man, full of love, and generosity.”
But however much love he received from his mother and grandfather, Eric still faced the reality of growing up on the streets of New York City. “I guess violence just seemed normal to me,” he says. “On my way to school I was on my own. Predatory mobs, guns, robberies, yellow tape, and crime scenes—I was exposed to all these, and a lot more I wish I could forget. So I joined a gang to survive, but unlike many of the boys, I wouldn’t carry a weapon. I was small, fast, and unusually strong, so my gang members nicknamed me Taz—short for theTasmanian devil cartoon character. The brutality of the streets nurtured an almost unquenchable anger; an anger that just grew worse with each confrontation. Fenced in by wolves, weakness and fear was not something you showed, so I hid it well and deep, and there it stayed.
“For 18 years I rarely wandered beyond the stony borders of the city, but I remember the first time I saw the stars. It was on a Boy Scout trip toVirginia, and I was in awe! When I’m old enough I’ll leave the city, aim for the stars, and never look back, I thought.”
Godly Influence
Although his parents were both raised Catholics, Eric’s mother raised her children as Baptists. “She read the Bible and prayed for us all the time,” he says. “She taught us about God, and gave each of us a Bible. But while I enjoyed church, it just didn’t make sense to me. Why were we going to church on one day, while the Jews in the Bible worshipped on Saturday? And why did some people say you go to Heaven when you die, while others say you’re asleep in the ground? I believed in God, but I was never sure which denomination to follow.”
Despite his mom’s best efforts, Eric was in his teens before he read his first book—a biography of Robert L. Scott, Jr., America’s famous fighter ace from WWII. “As I read God Is My Co-Pilot, I thought, He’s like me, a fighter trapped in a war zone! Suddenly, I could escape my hostile world through books and explore science, the adventures of heroes, and the dreams of theologians.
My relationship with my gang quickly faded, and my love of books led me to the Bible. The words it contained sealed my path forever! My Bible would eventually travel with me around the globe—through danger zones and pastures, right up to my baptism. Someone else other than my mom cared for me and He lived in our hearts and dwelt among the stars.
“Later in life my mom told me she prayed for my safety every day. She knew more than I thought. I wasn’t hiding anything she didn’t already suspect. It is miraculous how God protected me through those years, completely unscathed. ”
Eric moved to Florida and worked for the U.S. Postal Service. Then one day, a very tall man approached him in the parking lot and handed him a pamphlet, saying, “You need this.”
“It was a pamphlet about the Sabbath, the Antichrist, and the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14,” Eric recalls, “but I didn’t think much of it, so I threw it in a junk drawer, where it sat for two years. About the third time I almost threw it out, I thought, I should read this first—and my world changed forever! This was the truth I’d been searching for. It answered key questions, but created many more, so I dug deeper into my Bible until it became real. Gone was the hip-hop music and the parties. I was on a mission to find more answers, and as I searched, my anger began to subside.”
Miraculous Landing
Returning to New York, Eric worked at his mother’s post office, but a few years later he was restless. “I felt I needed something more challenging,” he says, “so my father agreed to give me money for college. However, I had other ideas, so I moved to the West Coast and used the money to enroll in flight school, instead!”
One experience in flight school stands out in Eric’s mind. Halfway through a long solo flight from California to Arizona and back, he realized he had been blown 30–40 miles off course by strong winds over the Mojave Desert. Correcting his course, he noticed he was running dangerously low on fuel. Then suddenly, he saw a huge anvil cloud hanging over the airport. It had been a beautiful day when he’d left California, so he hadn’t checked the weather before flying back. Now his fuel gauge was on the red line.The tower reported moderate to severe wind sheer and light rain, and passenger jets were aborting their landings. But Eric had no choice. Tightening his seat belt, he began his approach and suddenly he hit turbulence! “Only my seatbelt kept me from being thrown into the back seat of my small Cessna as the wind tried to flip my little airplane on its back,” he recalls. “Desperately, I cried to God for help—and a mere second later the air was dead calm! I touched down without a burble between my prayer and the runway!
“My whole flight class came out to watch me land, and my instructor walked out and scolded me after I turned off the engine. ‘You should have diverted to another airport!’ he barked. ‘Why did you fly in from the east instead of north? Were you lost?’
“I never told him who really landed my airplane, but I knew! I was convicted yet again that God was with me. He’d heard my prayer.”
After flying commercially for four years, Eric took a job in testing and development for the military at Vandenberg AFB, in California. Later, he joined a flight test group onboard a B-52H bomber at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana.
“We developed and tested all manner of flight systems and flew sorties around the globe,” he says, “but while I enjoyed the sciences and engineering, my growing faith prompted my heart in another direction.
“I still hadn’t found a Sabbath-keeping church,” he recalls, “but one day, as I searched through the channels, I found a fuzzy 3ABN station out of Shreveport. I couldn’t make out a picture, but the audio came through loud and clear. They were talking about the Sabbath!”
For the next two years, Eric listened night after night. “I heard truth flooding from my static-filled TV, and it all resonated with me,”
he says. “I was captured by the message—the same message I’d read on that pamphlet ten years earlier. No one spoke like this! These speakers had the answers I’d been seeking.
“Finally, one day I heard ‘Seventh-day Adventists,’ and I knew this was the church I must attend. It had the biblical truth I needed. It answered the questions I’d had all my life.”
New Purpose
Smoke was pouring out of a neighbor’s apartment one day as Eric came home. Shouting after the landlord, they ran upstairs and kicked in the door. The man was passed out on the couch, so Eric crouched under the smoke and dragged him to safety while his landlord put out the kitchen fire with an extinguisher.
“The military wanted to give me an award, but I turned them down,” Eric says. “I just did what anyone would do, but I felt wonderful. Later, I thought, We’re placed in this world to help one another. And what better way is there to help, than to lead them to Jesus? It was time to go to church, and there was only one choice!
“The Philadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church welcomed me with open arms and southern hospitality. For the first time in my life the message and the gospel seemed right, but despite all this, a great war began raging inside me. Strange nightmares frightened me so much I’d climb out of bed and onto my knees to pray. The devil doesn’t want me to get baptized! I realized. I need to do it now!”
Approaching his pastor, Eric shared about his struggle, and his need to be baptized. “It was just after the 9/11 attack, America was at war, and I might be deployed overseas any day,” he explains. “So I was baptized the following Sabbath, and my heart was sealed forever! Gone was the military warrior, the combat airman, the weapons systems developer. The remaining anger, the cursing, and the drinking quickly faded away, never to return.”
Love and Ambition
Eric was honorably discharged from the military two months later and moved to Colorado to take a position as a spacecraft systems engineer.
“That’s where I met and married my best friend Marilyn,” he says, “but soon both of us were under attack. First we were robbed of everything of value, except each other; a week later, a truck ran into us at a stop light. Marilyn lost her job, and the puppy I bought her was run over by a car in a freak accident; but our faith held strong.
“On our honeymoon cruise I couldn’t shake my concerns about my career path, and I well remember praying on our ship’s balcony. God, I asked, is my career becoming a diversion? Is this right for me? I need a sign, Lord!
“I have no doubt that the Lord sent that pale-colored dove that flew in from the deep blue sky moments later. It lingered just a few feet from where I’d knelt, and then vanished into the distance. I can’t tell you how special that moment was. It wasn’t what I’d expected, but was certainly what I’d needed. God was still there!”
Several years later Eric was transferred to Washington State, and his wife Marilyn was baptized there after a Lyle Albrecht series. It was a happy day for the couple. They were now united in their faith, as well.
Not long afterward, Eric had a dream that puzzled them both. “In my dream, the dove from my honeymoon cruise flew in from the sun and landed on a rock that looked like a round loaf of bread,” he remembers. “But it just sat there, looking at me and waiting.
“Marilyn and I couldn’t make sense of it then, but looking back, I realize that the Holy Spirit was waiting for me to do something. I hadn’t engaged with God’s plan for my life yet.”
Their next move was to Washington, D.C., where Eric says corporate success became an alluring distraction. But something kept nagging at him.
“I began missing what I’d had back in Louisiana. My religious zeal was gone.The joys of witnessing, Bible studies, and fellowship with Christians were lost in the turmoil of long hours, government service, and corporate and personal gain. I was living in a dog-eat-dog environment where everyone advertised their advanced degrees and impeccable credentials, but no one said anything about faith, the gospel, or the Lord. It reminded me of my life on the streets of New York, except we received six-figure salaries and stock options.
“Finally, I realized that rising up the ladder without a consistent relationship with the Lord is not success, but genuine failure. My spiritual interest was heightened, and my self-serving ambition started to bleed away. I could no longer remain where predatory ambition was rewarded and politicking reigned. I was a Christian, and it just wasn’t compatible.”
Under pressure for his beliefs and Sabbath keeping, Eric turned to his Bible one day as he prayed for help. “The pages parted to Psalm 124,” he says, “and the words touched me deeply. Then, just a few days later I received a job offer and a promotion, while my persecutors fell victim to leadership reductions and demotions. The Psalms seemed prophetic, and the Lord was still there!”
Lowest Hour and Greatest Victory
Returning to the West Coast, Eric and Marilyn sought a closer relationship with the Lord. “The corporate hustle was gone, and career ambitions paled in comparison to my faith as we settled in,” he says. “I continued to do well for the next few years, and, by the grace God, I was being mentored for further advancement. But a phone call started a ride to the lowest points imaginable.
“First, we discovered that Marilyn’s mom had died unexpectedly in her sleep in her small home in Pueblo, Colorado. Then, two months later, I took the next flight out to be with my mom after hearing she wasn’t fully awakening from surgery. Minutes after I held her hand, her heart stopped beating, and just over a week later, my dad died from cancer.
“It was almost more than we could bear, but we clung to the Lord. Job’s trials resonated with us, and his great test of faith drew us closer to our Savior.”
The trials continued. Windows mysteriously shattered, relatives suffered car accidents, Eric’s sister suffered complications during surgery, and her children began seeing their deceased grandmother appearing in their rooms.
“To this day we pray that God will protect my sister and her family,” Eric says.
I’m Ready
“I began feeling a very strong impression that kept whispering, It’s time. This impression clung to me for well over a week, so I began whispering back, I’m ready.
“I felt as if a great door had permanently closed behind me, but the next door hadn’t opened yet. Finally, I prayed, ‘What do You want, Lord? Make it clear and I’ll follow!’ and the next morning I received an e-mail about a position with 3ABN in Illinois!
“Over the next few weeks I prayed twice more, asking God if this was truly His will—and each time, 3ABN called me within the hour about the position!
“I had a clear answer, but I still struggled. Then I thought of the story of the rich young man of whom Christ asked, ‘Give all you have to the poor and come follow Me.’
“God had left me with just two choices, and a month and a half later I left my company, we got rid of most of what we owned, and joined the staff at 3ABN!”
Lessons of Salvation and Joy
Eric says he recently read a biography and was left with the inescapable impression that the trials Abraham Lincoln faced as a young adult served as training and preparation for the day he was called upon to lead a lamb-like nation from a divisive war, and a people from slavery.
“I’ve come to terms with the notion that the trials we face are allowed by God as preparation, so He can use our aquired strengths to lead others from the slavery of sin to freedom through Christ Jesus,” he says. “I’ve learned that the greatest joys come from giving, and the satisfaction of serving the Lord in any capacity far surpasses all the increases of life. It is a golden peace that is shaped to fill that infinite void in our heart—a void that can’t be gratified by anything else, though we might desperately try!
“I learned rather late that material gains, awards, and accolades amount to nothing without a genuine surrender and service to Christ Jesus. A life of service to my Lord lays before me—pages to be written. I pray that He will guide all of us continually and lead us to a permanent surrender.
“God is not our co-pilot, He is our Captain, steering us to our eternal home!”
Editor’s note: Today Eric serves the Lord at 3ABN as a broadcast engineer, while Marilyn serves as our assistant Call Center manager. We love and appreciate them both so much, and their humble service to the Lord inspires us all!
Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church
