TESTIMONY OF JACK MEEKS

I am Jack Meeks, born in Adrian, Georgia, the fifth of six brothers.  At age 15, I broke my buddy out of jail and ran away to Georgia.  I trained as a welder in the Savannah shipyards, eventually becoming an ironworker.  I was always in trouble and ran with the wrong crowd, leading to 38 arrests on my record.  My first prison stint was nine months for speeding. In 1961 I joined NASCAR and raced my #83 car, the first car ever to clock 170 mph at Daytona Speedway.  The first two laps were a great thrill, passing every car on the track.  Then in turn four of lap three, my car flew through the air like an airplane.  My thrill lasted exactly two laps. Having financed the car by picking locks on pay phones, I was apprehended in 1962 and sentenced to 2-4 years in Pennsylvania.  While incarcerated, my 8 year old son Gary was diagnosed with brain cancer.  I was not allowed to go to him.  My son died begging for me.

After serving my time, I resumed iron working.  My company transferred us to Kenai, Alaska, and I started using drugs with my work buddies.  When my wife discovered my drug abuse, she left me and moved with the children back to Texas.  I later followed her, reunited with my old gang, and again landed in prison in 1972.  While serving my time in the Texas prison, my devout mother came to visit, unaware that I was again incarcerated.  She then wrote a letter telling me how much she loved me, but that I had broken her heart.  While signing the letter, she suffered a fatal heart attack.  My 25 year old daughter, Linda, attended mother’s funeral in Macon, Georgia.  Afterwards, she visited me and brought an orchid from mother’s casket.  Just four days later, the warden called me to his office and told me that he had just spoken with Linda’s doctor.  During minor surgery, the anesthesiologist failed to insert a tube, causing Linda to vomit hydrochloric acid and inhale in into both lungs.  As her lungs healed, they would cease to function and she would run out of oxygen and die.  The warden granted me a reprieve to be with Linda in the hospital.  Since she could no longer speak, she wrote to ask me to accept Jesus as my Savior or she would never see me again.  My daughter died holding my hand.  I was a broken man, no longer wanting to live.  When I returned to prison, I took a Bible with me and began to read it.  Even in the depths of my pain, God’s Word spoke to me.  On May 7, 1973, I gave my life to Jesus.  Since my release from prison in February 1974, I have participated in 28 foreign mission trips and visited over 700 prisons with The Bill Glass Weekend of Champions.

You may be imprisoned now, but you don’t have to be eternally imprisoned.  With God on your side, no walls can control your spirit.  You may still need to pay for your crimes here on earth, but through Jesus’ work on the cross, all your sins can be forgiven.  No sin is too great for redemption.  Repent and you can become a new creation in Christ. Simply believe that Jesus died for you, that He served your sentence.  Invite Him into your heart and you will be redeemed.

             May God bless each of you who read this.