Friday, November 23, 2007

ARCHIE A. LYLE - A MIRACLE- PART TWO

Archie graduated from Baylor and enrolled in the seminary in Ft. Worth. While studying at the seminary, he was pastor of a church in a nearby town. At the beginning of that pastorate, the local newspaper ran a story about Archie and someone who read the story called him and told him of a man with the same name who lived in Jonesboro, AR. Archie wondered if this man could be his father and made the trip from Texas to Jonesboro to seek the answer. He found the man with the same name and asked him if he knew the lady who was his mother. Making a long story short, this man was his father. After meeting him, Archie never saw him again.

Doing well in his Texas pastorate, Archie had several churches talking to him about becoming their pastor. One such church was the church in Missouri where he found Jesus. While pastoring this church, they became the second leading church in baptisms in Missouri, so Archie was on his way. Lorene, his wife, was a strong teacher and a great supporter of missions. This was a good combination in the leading of the church.

After resigning his church, Archie was on his way to Peoria, IL with some other folks and was involved in a terrible accident. Archie, a passenger in the car in which he was riding, was the sole survivor. Three individuals were killed in that collision. I had just returned from Ridgecrest, NC after singing with One Accord. I drove to Springfield, IL where Archie was in critical condition in a hospital in the Illinois capital. His head was greatly swollen, with his hairline pulled back to the center of his head. Archie always had great hair. Slowly the swelling disappeared and Archie recovered. Because of the accident however, Archie's short-term memory was greatly affected. He can still remember the days at Baylor with no problem, but sometimes has trouble remembering where he is. A short while ago, he went to the grocery store and could not remember how to get home and ended up close to Kansas City. I gave him one of my cards to put in his wallet and told him to call me anytime he had a problem.

Archie continues to be a testimony for keeping on when circumstances scream to stop. His favorite sermon that he preaches is" Four Things God Doesn't Know:" 1. God doesn't know a sinner He doesn't Love; 2. God doesn't know a sin He doesn't hate; 3. God doesn't know a better plan of salvation; 4. God doesn't know a better time to be saved than right now. He can still preach that sermon and he still loves our Lord Jesus.

4 comments:

stacey O'Hara said...

Archie's story needs to be made into a book!
Thank you so much for sharing about Archie's life.
I can tell he is a wonderful man.

Stacey O'Hara

Anonymous said...

I loved reading this, even though I already knew the story. Stacey is right... a book AND a movie. Why don't you write it?

Brian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brian said...

Thank you for sharing. I can't imagine walking that path in life. As I read it, I found myself thinking that very few people knew the life story before you shared it. My life seems pretty basic after I read this.....

Simply Amazing!