A real born again redneck

Tonight we said farewell to our guests, Andy's family. At first I simply was polite to my bible-thumping Arkie "brother-in-law" but he grew on me over the past week. He was a Marine during Nam and fell off of his Baptist wagon and became a drunk and a drug addict for 20 years. Then, 25 years ago he reached rock-bottom after nearly beating a man to death in a drunken rage. His friend introduced him to AA. He "saw the light" and began to read the bible. He was born again and eventually got into "ministering" to other drunks and drug addicts and that is now his life's work.

Yes, I disagreed with him about politics but I never fought with him over it. I soon realized that he is not an educated man and has many misconceptions (and it would take years to enlighten him) but he is a good, sweet, kind, big-hearted man.

Just as we parted he said to me: "You know I'm not nearly as left-wing as you think and many things you said have made me think. I wish I had more time to talk with you. It's just that the Republicans seem to have become so cruel and unkind. I can't reconcile the Christ who saved me with that kind of thinking."