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My TestimonyTranscript of FLOT Line Episode 801 aired on December 27, 2020Introduction to The FLOT Line--Episode 1Good morning and welcome to The FLOT Line, the new talk radio show in your area. I’mRick Hughes, the host. Thank you for tuning in. This is a show about God’s unique problemsolving devices and His Word. Yes, it’s a show about the Bible, but it will be different thananything you’ve heard. This will be thirty minutes of motivation, inspiration, education, all donewithout any type of manipulation. I’m here to give you accurate information that I trust will helpyou verify and identify God’s plan for your life. And hopefully, if you want to do this, you canorient and adjust to the plan. It all starts with the great news that Jesus Christ, the anointed Sonof God, redeemed you and me out of the slave market of sin. Our debt to God was paid. Youand I are now free from the penalty of death, free from the power of sin.This show is about giving you a divine viewpoint, a new way to think based on principlesfrom the Word of God. What I’d like to explain is how even though adversity is inevitable inyour life, stress is optional. The Bible promises, “No test has overtaken you that is not commonto man” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Adversity is what circumstances do to us and stress is what wedo to ourselves. The Bible says you never have to worry, never have to be afraid, never have tobe bitter or angry. See, the Christian life is different. You can live with a totally relaxed mentalattitude, stress-free in spite of circumstances, because God has given you ten unique problemsolving devices. I will verify all of these with Scripture. If you will learn them and use them, youcan develop a FLOT line in your soul, a main line of resistance, to keep the outside sources ofadversity from ever becoming internal stress in your soul.Before I go further, let me tell you a little about myself. I founded the Rick HughesEvangelistic Ministries to communicate clear and concise Biblical principles for hearers to chooseto use in their lives. I’ve hosted The FLOT Line radio show weekly since July 2005. For over fiftyyears I’ve presented the truth to thousands of students during Spiritual Emphasis Weeks andspoken at hundreds of schools and churches. I’ve authored several books and host a daily podcastof The FLOT Line with episodes available on Spotify, Apple, Google, Breaker and RadioPublic.This is how The FLOT Line got started. I was in Birmingham speaking at a radio station makinga commercial for the Bass Pro Shops. I love to bass fish. I could have been a professional anglerbut I didn't go that direction. The technician at the radio station said, “you’ve got a good voice forradio, you could have a radio show.” Well one thing led to another and we did start a radio showin the Birmingham market and it expanded to Jackson, Mississippi, and on across the Southeast.Now The FLOT Line airs on Sunday mornings in all fifty states and the podcast has listeners fromaround the world. Amazing, I never thought I'd be doing a radio show.I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. I never met my father. I really have no idea who myfather was. My mom raised me in a single-parent home in a federal housing project. Because ofthe crime and other problems in the housing project, she would send me off to live with differentguardians--people I didn’t know or care for. I would get on the bus and ride out to the guardian'shouse on Sunday night and stay there until Friday night when I’d come home to my mom for theweekend. Then Sunday night off to another guardian. When I was thirteen years old, I ran home.I told my mom I was not living with any more strangers, I was staying with her.1

I went to high school at a place called Woodlawn. I think they even made a movie about itcalled “Woodlawn.” You can look it up. Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Alabama, had2,500 students in grades nine through twelve. I entered as a freshman, not really an athlete althoughI had athletic ability. It was a coach at a swimming pool who would see me swimming and hangingout at the pool during the summer time that recruited me to come play football--and eventually, Idid. His name was Coach Johnny Howell. Coach Howell was really probably one of the closestthings to a mentor that I had. And so, it was through him that I started playing football forWoodlawn High School. Also, as I grew and got a little bigger, I got involved in track and fieldthrowing the shot put and the discus. The football arena was fun. The track arena was fun.However, in the football arena they have scholarships, you know, and you get offers to go to schooland play football. One of the schools that recruited me was the University of Florida, the FloridaGators, down in Gainesville, Florida. One of my friends and I went down there to visit. We got onan airplane, flew down, flew back, and I liked it. We both decided we would sign with theUniversity of Florida and become Florida Gators. But there was one problem and that was myacademics. I wasn't stupid, I was just dumb because I didn't apply myself. I’ve got plenty of brainsI just wasn't using them at the time. When we went to take the SAT test, my friend passed withflying colors but I got the letter back from Florida that said, “your academic scholarship is denieddue to your academic credibility.” Athletic scholarship denied due to your academic credibility. Iwent to my coach and I said, “What does this mean, coach? What’s going to happen?” He wasvery frustrated and he said, “I can tell you what's going to happen, big boy, you're going to die.”I'm thinking, die? “I feel great coach. You know I’m 6’2” 235 pounds, quick as lightning. Gonnadie? What do you mean die?” He said, “Son, there’s a war in Southeast Asia and people are dyingin Vietnam and you’re going to get recruited, you’re going to get drafted because you're not goingto college.” And he said, “If I was you, I’d get up to those teachers and do some apologizing andtry to get some help and get those grades up and take that test again and see if you can’t pass it.”Well, that didn't sound like too bad an alternative--die or try to get my grades up. I could seemyself, I’m a big guy, I could see myself trying to hide behind a piece of bamboo in Vietnam. Itwasn’t going to work. Somebody was going to shoot me. So, I went to my teachers and I said,“Look if you’ll help me, I'll apply myself. I’ll do better and I’ll get my grades up.” And you knowthe thing that's amazing is they all said, “We wanted to help you all along you were just too dumbto listen.” I mean, all I thought about was football and girls and goofing off and I didn't payattention. But when I started applying myself my grades came up, not to A level but definitely upto B and C. I was able to take that test again and this time I passed. And it was at this time thatanother college took an interest in me since I had not been committed or de-committed fromUniversity of Florida, that was the University of Alabama.I signed a four-year grant and aid scholarship to play football for the University of Alabamaunder the direction of coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, one of the meanest, toughest old football coachesyou could ever play for. I mean, he was tough as nails. I played along with Joe Namath, the famousBeaver Falls, Pennsylvania, quarterback that led the New York Jets to the Super BowlChampionship. I was a freshman with Kenny Stabler who led the Oakland Raiders to the SuperBowl Championship. They called him the “Snake.” We were all there in the athletic dorm togetherat University of Alabama in 1964 and 1965. Before I got to Alabama, in track season my senior2

year in high school, I was throwing the shot put and discus. I was able to do well with that and setstate records in both events; throwing the high school shot put almost sixty feet, which was thethird furthest throw in the nation that year for a high school student, and throwing the discus abouta hundred and seventy feet. This was all without any weight program. No weightlifting. We didn'thave weightlifting in those days. I had some other offers to go on a track scholarship to otherschools as well, but I stuck with football. In the fall 1964, I reported to the University of Alabamaas a freshman football player. Boy did I get my eyes opened up! You see, at my high school I wasthe toughest guy on the team. But when I got there, I found out they had the toughest guy fromover at this school and the toughest guy from that school. I had to prove myself all over againbecause now, as a freshman football player at Alabama, I was the low man on the totem pole. Iwish I could say I went on to be an All-American at Alabama because I did make All-Americanin high school. However, I quit. I left. After one year at the University of Alabama we got out forthe summer and one of the alumni got me a job. I was making some money. I never really had anymoney. My mom and I were just low-income sort of people living in that federal housing project.As I got some money, I got a car and started partying and goofing off and playing around. Andwhen it came time in August to report back for two-a-days I called up Coach Sam Bailey at theUniversity of Alabama and told him I wasn't coming back. He knew a lot of expletives, that’s cursewords, so he let me have it and told me they were counting on me to be a starting offensive tackle,that I needed to get my fanny back down there where I belonged. However, if you're arrogant, likeI was at that time and probably still can be today, you don’t see yourself as you really are, you seeyourself as you think you are. Arrogant people always justify why they're right and everybody elseis wrong. And in my arrogance, I wouldn't listen because I had an apartment, I had a car, I had ajob, I had some money, I had a girlfriend. What did I need school for? Is that not dumb or what?And so, I meandered off down what we call the My Way Highway. Maybe you've been onthat road before, the My Way Highway. And for about three years it went my way. But, you know,I was unhappy when I left school. I wasn't fulfilled. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be.And to tell you the truth, I wasn’t really willing to pay the price that needed to be paid to be thekind of athlete that they needed because I was just too lazy. After three years on the My WayHighway, I saw what a mistake I had made. My life boomeranged from misery and unhappinessto triple compound misery and unhappiness. I mean I had the car, I had the apartment, I had thedifferent girlfriends, I had the money, I had the job but inside there was this searchlight that wouldgo around in my soul. And this searchlight would show me all the stupid things I'd done. I knewinside that I was just such a loser and I didn't have any peace with God. I didn't even think aboutGod. I never went to church my whole life. Nobody in my family really went to church and so Ididn't go. Back to that summer, I guess three years out of college, I was at Panama City with somefriends goofing off. We would all go down there in the summer and hang out and go to a placecalled “The Hangout,” and that's where of course we would drink beer and chase girls and fighton the beach. After a while that got old and I got tired of it. I got in my little sports car, my littleMustang (390 cubic inch Mustang) and I came back to Birmingham, which is about a 250-miletrip from the Gulf Coast. My roommate wanted to know, “What are you doing home? Why didyou come back? What’s wrong?” And I said, “I don't know man, I'm just sick of it.” Nothing wasadding up. He said, “Tell you what we’ll do, let’s go to the river with the boat.” He had a little3

boat and we would put the beer in the boat and ice it down and go to the river and park it on thesandbar and watch the girls ski up and down the river. That was our objective on Sunday. However,Saturday was a different story. On Saturday I wandered into a shopping area and ran into a girl Iknew in high school named Jane, who had been a cheerleader. We saw each other and startedtalking. I was trying to flirt with her a little bit as I would have done with any beautiful girl. I askedif she would consider going out with me and she said, “Where would you like to go?” I said, “Wellhow about if we go to the drive-in?” The drive-in theater was big in those days because we’d parkon the back row and fog up the windows, make out. She wasn't for that at all. “No, we're not goingto the drive-in.” “Okay, well how about I pick you up, we go get something to eat, and maybe gocruising?” “No, not that.” “Okay, may I have your phone number?” So, I got her phone number.On Sunday, my roommate and I went to the river, got the boat loaded up with beer, andfloated out in the water but the boat sank and all the beer was lost. I had forgotten to put the plugin the back end of the boat and it sank. So, we had to come back home early on Sunday afternoon.Well, I was bored so I called Jane and I said, “Jane, it’s Rick and would you consider going outwith me tonight?” She said, “Yes, if you’ll go to church.” And I went, “What? Go where?” Church.Listen, don't laugh. Now I hear you laughing right now. Listen, when you get hard up for a date,you’ll take church. I said, “Okay I'll go to church.” I picked her up in my little Mustang and wentover to the church. She wanted to go down to the front row and I'm like, “No way! Unh-uh. Let’ssit in the back.” I didn't pay attention. I was looking around at all the weird people and thinking, ifI get out here, I’m not coming back. It was really strange because I’d never been there before andthe preacher, I guess he did a great job, he didn’t yell or scream or anything like that, and at theend he gave an invitation and asked people to come forward. Jane looked at me and grabbed myhand and she said, “Would you like to go forward and talk with the pastor?” And I said, “Nope.”And she said, “Well I’m going to go down there and pray for you.” So, Jane left me and peeled offand went down to the front of the church, took the pastor by the hand and they knelt at the altarand they prayed for me. I left. I went outside, cranked the car up and I thought if that womandoesn’t come on out, I am going to leave her here. Well, while I was out there idling the little hotMustang, this dude comes up to me, a fellow football player named Larry, and he said, “Aren't youBig Rick? Aren’t you Rick Hughes?” And I said, “Yeah, how do you know that?” He said, “I’mLarry and I play football at Alabama. I was a freshman in high school when you were a senior. Iuse to look up to you. I was surprised when I got to Alabama and you weren't there. Whathappened? Where did you go?” Well, I didn’t know what to tell him. I just beat around the bush.And then Larry told me something unbelievable. He said, “I met somebody that changed my lifeand you need to meet him.” I thought he was talking about a football coach or another friend orsomething. I said, “Well who is it?” And he said, “It’s Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and you reallyneed Him Rick.”While he said that I sat there stunned and about that time Jane came out of that church,jumped in the other side of the car, in the passenger side and said, “Come on, we’re going to go toa house party.” I drove over there and it wasn't what I thought it was. It was a Bible study. Mostof the kids were younger than me. Actually, I was twenty-two and most of them were seniors,eighteen, nineteen, seventeen. We sat down and a gentleman from South Africa named Winstongot up and began to speak and he would call on people to stand up and tell their testimony. One4

after another so many of those young people stood up and said they knew if they died, they wouldgo to heaven. Well, that was the one thing I knew, if I died, I was not going to heaven. I was sureof that. As I sat there that night and listened to these people, it began to dawn on me that maybe Ishould talk with Winston. I mean, I just never talked to people about stuff like that. I didn't evenown a Bible. But when it was over, I went up and introduced myself and shook his hand. I said,“Can I talk to you for a minute?” I didn't even know what I wanted to talk about. But we went inthe back and he produced a Bible and began to read scripture to me. He asked me that question,"If you died today would you go to heaven?” And I said, “I don't think so.” And he said, "Wouldyou like to go to heaven?” And I said, “Yes, everybody wants to go to heaven.” He asked me didI know how and I said, “Well, you know, straighten up and fly right, quit cussing, quit drinking,quit fighting and maybe God will let me come in.” And he just laughed and he said, “No, that's notthe way it is.” And he read a verse to me that said, “For by grace are you saved through faith, it’sa gift of God not of works lest someone would brag about it” (Ephesians 2:8). He said, “Rick, youcan be saved here today not by trying to be good but by being obedient.” Then he read where itsaid, “Whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). And heasked me did I believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and I said, “Well yeah, I meaneverybody believes that don’t they? Sure.” He said, “Well would you be willing to accept Him asyour Savior?” And I said, “Yes, I would.” We got on our knees in this house and he led me inprayer. I think they called it the sinners prayer. I don't remember the words exactly but I saidsomething to the effect, “Father, I know I’m a sinner. I believe Your Son died for me and I’mwilling to accept Him as my Savior.” I didn't feel anything. No flashing lights, no trumpets, noharps. I just prayed the same prayer he led me in. And when he got through, he said, “Did youmean that?” And I said, “Yeah, I meant it.” And he said, “Then where do you think Christ is now?”And I just involuntarily said, “I guess He's in me.” He said, “Yes, He is in you.” He showed methe verse where it says “I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. I give unto them eternallife, and they will never perish, neither shall any man ever pluck them out of My Father’s hand”(John 10:28). So, that was the day I accepted Christ as my Savior. Jane, the girl I went with, wasjust thrilled about this. A lot of people ask me: did you marry Jane? The answer is no, I marriedLydia from Baton Rouge. Anyhow Jane was instrumental in that night.It wasn't long after that that Larry, the football player at Alabama, had an invitation to gospeak in a little small Methodist Church in a place called Sandusky, Alabama. He asked me if Iwould ride with him and so we went together. He got up and spoke, and after he was through thepastor issued an invitation and no one really came forward. So, the pastor called on me and said,“Would you like to say anything, sir, before I close the service?” I don’t remember what I said butwhatever it was it appealed to those who were there because we had an altar full of people when Igot through. We didn’t know what to do. We just went around praying with each one of themindividually asking if they died would they go to heaven. And when we left that church Larrylooked at me and he said, “God's got His hand on you. Something is going on with you.” Laterthat week we were in a Bible study, about ten of us sitting around reading a Bible, and my versewas this, this was the verse I was supposed to read. “Pray for me, that utterance may be given tome to open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an5

ambassador in bonds” (Ephesians 6:20). And everybody just kind of looked at me and said, “Doyou know what you read?” “Yeah, I don’t know what it means but yeah, I know what I read.”I had to make a decision about college. I had an opportunity to go back to the Universityof Alabama and finish my football career with eligibility still left, but I decided to enroll inSoutheastern Bible College in Birmingham. It was through Southeastern Bible College that I beganto work with Youth for Christ International hosting Bible study clubs in various high schoolsacross Birmingham. It was through those Bible study clubs that I had my first opportunity to speakto a high school assembly, that was Banks High School in Birmingham in 1968. There must havebeen maybe eighteen hundred students in the gym, nine hundred on one side and nine hundred onthe other side and Big Rick in the middle down under the goalpost trying to talk. They listenedreverently and politely. My old high school coach was actually the principal of that school by thattime. When it was over, several students came up to me and told me they had committed their lifeto Christ while I was speaking. Things began to happen really fast after that. I was speaking at aschool in Mississippi, three men heard me there and said, “If we could get the permission of thegovernor would you go to every school in our state?” I said, “Yeah, sure.” And so, in 1971, 1972,and 1973, I spoke in around four hundred and thirty high schools across Mississippi. It was threeassemblies a day, fifteen assemblies a week, week in and week out. I don't really know how I didit. It took a lot of energy but I was young at the time so I was able to handle it. We had thousandsof students tell us they had accepted Christ. One thing led to another and eventually theseassemblies turned into spiritual emphasis weeks where instead of going for one short talk we wouldgo for three to five days. I

Word will change how you think and give you the means to handle life's challenges. Divine viewpoint will replace human viewpoint thinking. This renovation of your soul, learning to think with the mind of Christ, is key to living the Christian life. "Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:13)