Hank Lesesne

I was raised by loving parents in the church. I considered good works as THE way to please God and get to heaven. At age 15, I met a youth pastor who talked about a relationship with Christ. Then I went to a weekend conference for Missions (4/1958) and heard more about Jesus, and then heard a talk on GRACE (Eph 2:8-9). I saw my deep need for forgiveness and God's grace thru His son. I committed to follow Him in my life with joy, knowing I was now REALLY His child and would see Him someday--thrilled to know I could walk with Him through life. That was 62 years ago and instances of GRACE have occurred soooo many times, and I am so thankful. As an illustration: I played college football for 3 years at Vanderbilt on the worst team in Vandy history (3-7, 2-8, and 1-9). The coach quit. And during my senior year, I hurt my knee and finished the year with drainage and weekly cortisone injections. It required surgery in Feb, 1963. An older female anesthesiologist gave me a spinal and an IV of Valium, and she became the most beautiful person in world for 2 hours . . . I even asked her for a date. The next day, she came by to check on me, and asked me, "Hank, what are you going to do after your graduate?" I told her that I'd like to go to med school, but that I was having trouble getting in. She said, "Oh. I'm on the Admissions Committee. I will check." That same day, the new football coach came by and asked the same question. When I answered the same, he said, "Wow, I need you in our medical school for recruiting purposes" ('come to Vandy, maybe you can go on to med school'). I WAS IN MED SCHOOL THE NEXT WEEK. For someone who never made an A in college (a lot of Bs) and was told my MCATs weren't so good in science (I was a history major, English minor) and who took pre-meds as electives, to see if worthwhile). . . I call that 110% GRACE!!!