“When I was ten years old the opportunity came for me to not go to church…so I stopped going. I always considered myself pretty intelligent so I went out searching for truth on my own. Five years ago I asked myself, ‘What’s wrong with the world?’.” He came to the simple conclusion that the problem is that everyone wants to do his or her own thing. “That’s when I realized that we ALL needed one set of rules! It was like a light bulb suddenly went on, because we already have the rules.” The 61-year-old man pointed at the Bible sitting on his lap and then said, “That’s when my transformation started occurring.”
Ernest Priest III was born November 1953 in Hermann Hospital in downtown Houston, the third of four children in his family. Then two months later his cousin, Sharon Sones, who later became Sharon Brown, was born January 1954 in the same hospital. Sharon explained, “My mom, Fannie Lu Sones, and his dad, Ernest Priest, Jr., are sister and brother. Our grandpa, Ernest George Priest, Sr., died in 1955. He was the one who built the garage apartment. Ernie’s family moved into half of it and my family moved into the other half. We were just babies then.” Later both families moved to a neighborhood in the south part of Houston, and were just four houses down from each other. Sharon added,“So we grew up playing together. I loved being with them, because I had no siblings at that time.” When they were ten years old, their grandmother, Alice Priest, was diagnosed with cancer. Sharon’s family moved into her one bedroom house to take care of her.
Ernie’s voice broke as he spoke of his childhood. “Sharon’s mom and dad did a lot for us kids. I never told them thank you for what they did. When they went on vacation they would take us with them.” Ernie then turned to Sharon and said, “I’m sorry I never told your mom and dad that.” She assured him that they knew. He then continued, “We spent a lot of time at Sharon’s house. Growing up, we never hugged each other or told each other ‘I love you.’ I would go to Sharon’s house and you could just feel that love! I was jealous.” They smiled and began sharing memories of time spent in the warm waters of the Gulf at Galveston as well as hours playing the piano together.
Unfortunately the cousins did not stay close after they graduated from Dobie High School. Ernie served in the U.S. Air Force from 1973 to 1978. That same year, Sharon married Larry Brown, and by the time Ernie had returned to Houston, Sharon’s first child, Derek, was born. Sharon became a born-again believer in 1964 and has been an active member of Sagemont Church since 1976. She and Larry, who has been a deacon for over fifteen years, serve in Sagemont’s Connection Center on Sundays and Wednesdays. Sharon explained, “Our lives just went different directions.” Ernie stayed in Houston and worked as an electrician for Sharon’s father at Sones Electric for many years. He also worked at other companies that installed fire alarm and sound systems, a job which gave him many job opportunities at Sagemont Church.
Their lives differed in more ways than just one cousin being a mother/wife and later grandmother while the other remained a bachelor and considered himself too intelligent for a simple explanation of a loving God. Sharon shared a typical example of life with the “old” Ernie, “About nine months ago Larry and I saw Ernie at Sam’s Club. I said, ‘Hey Ernie!’ but he ignored me. I said it louder, ‘Hey Ernie!’ and he ignored me again. I said a third time even louder, ‘Hey Ernie!’. The cashier who was talking to him said, ‘I think someone is trying to get your attention. That’s when Ernie finally acknowledged us. Later he told us that he was ignoring us because he was angry at Larry for whatever reason. They worked it out, but he had a terrible anger issue. Ernie nodded his head in agreement as she added, “He actually attended an anger management class here at Sagemont, but he left mad.” Ernie joined her as they shared a laugh.
Part of Ernie’s anger was directed at Sagemont’s 170-foot cross that was erected on February 7, 2009. The purpose of our large Cross was to send “a message to all who see it that Sagemont’s first priority is to point others to Christ through The Cross. Those who drive by have no choice but to notice it. ‘They can ignore it, reject it, or be blessed by it,’ Pastor Morgan said, ‘but they can’t miss it.’ (http://www.sagemontchurch.org/about/the-cross/) At the time, Ernie “rejected it” and was very vocal against The Cross, especially one day when he met with Dr. Skip Smith, Sagemont’s former Associate Pastor of Membership, who presided over Ernie’s father’s funeral in 2000. Fortunately Sharon showed up and interrupted the conversation. Ernie explained, “I don’t know how much it cost, but at the time I felt like the money could have been put to a better use. I now realize that The Cross has brought many people to know Jesus. I believe that if it had only brought one, then it was worth whatever it cost.”
January 2014, Ernie experienced a major heart attack. Until that time he completely depended upon himself for everything. “I had to learn at an early age that I had to take care of myself and that I couldn’t depend on anybody else. Consequently I have a hard time trusting people. This faith that we have in God is not something that came easy because of my trust issues. Five years ago I started saying there has got to be something that I can trust in and believe in, but I just couldn’t release completely depending on myself.”
Then Wednesday, May 13, 2015, Sharon received a text from Marsha, her cousin and Ernie’s youngest sister, that Ernie was in the Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital’s ER. Since church had been canceled because of severe weather, she and Larry went right then to see him. Ernie shared, “I had been off work for two weeks, because my work was very, very stressful and I felt that my integrity had been insulted. That stress caused me to get shingles and then two weeks later the stroke.” Ernie, who lives alone, had trouble dialing 911 because of the stroke. He could not figure out what a number nine was. It was very scary experience, but he eventually he was able to call for help to come.
He arrived back in his hospital room to find Sharon and Larry waiting for him. Ernie told them that as he lay helpless in the MRI machine he told God that if He got him through this he would do anything He wanted. Sharon looked at Ernie and I said, “Ernie, are you ready to ask Jesus into your heart?’ He said ‘Yes’. He then prayed the Sinner’s Prayer with me.”
Ernie shared about that decision that instantly changed the course of his life. “I prayed with Sharon because I realized that I couldn’t take care of myself and I needed help. I admitted for the first time that I was weak, that I can’t do it all on my own and that I needed God.” He leaned back in his chair as he continued, “Some of the teachings that I remember as a child when I went to church came back to me. For example I always liked John 3:16 even though I don’t fully understand it. Part of my search is that I will never have the full knowledge that I want. We are supposed to come unto God as children. I have finally come to the realization that there are things that we aren’t supposed to know because we are not God…He is.”
Three and a half weeks later, Ernie, who had been one of the The Cross’ staunchest adversaries, was baptized by Tony Robinson, Sagemont’s Assistant Student Minister, in the water beneath that cross. Ernie recalled, “When Tony baptized me, he told me, ‘Bend your knees and I am going to push you back.’ My balance has been affected since the stroke so when I was getting baptized I lost support in my leg. All through that Tony was saying to me, ‘I’ve got you! I’ve got you! I’ve got you!’ I didn’t panic or anything, because I was able to put my trust in him because of God.”
After years of praying for Ernie, Sharon felt tears ran down her face as she watched her recently saved cousin humble himself at the foot of The Cross for believer’s baptism. Sharon smiled when she shared, “I have seen a change in him already. He is totally different. I love being around my cousin now. I loved him before because he was my cousin.” Sharon turned to Ernie, placed her hand on his and said, “But now that you are a Believer you are a joy to be around.”
Ernie smiled at Sharon and then chuckled as he gave an example of his transformation with his past anger issues. “Recently, I was in Sam’s Club parking lot and went to turn into an empty parking spot, but somebody parked in the next space over and had their car door open. I waited for her for a little while. In the past I would have rolled my window down and said a few things to her like, “You are very rude. Ta Da Ta Da Ta Da.” This time I just went and found another parking spot. I still think about it today because I realize that was so easy. Why haven’t I done that before!”
Another change is the fact that Ernie has a great desire to be back at church, specifically Sagemont, a place he once scoffed Sharon about for spending so much time there. “Your environment influences you. In the past, I decided I didn’t like the environment because I didn’t want to be influenced…I wanted to find out on my own. But now that has all changed because this church is the place to find out. I plan on going to a lot of church services here.”
Fifty years of searching, questioning and doing everything in his own strength brought Ernie to the surprising realization that the answers he had been seeking were within his grasp all along. What was once a point of anger every time Ernie looked across his neighborhood to see the large white cross looming in the background now brings him great hope. Together the “transformed” cousins, now brother and sister in Christ Jesus, are closer than ever and will be united for all eternity as they follow the same set of “rules” by God’s amazing grace.