Testimony of Robert Dye

Bobby Dye was my father. He never wrote his testimony to leave it behind for others to read. So this is my version as to what he would have to say.

Dad was born April 20, 1925 to Leonard and Anna Dye at the ranch. There was an old dugout dug into a bank on the hillside in the 1800’s. An addition or two to the front of the dugout had been added. He was born in that dugout. (His three older siblings were also born there.) He put in a new modular home about fifty feet away in 1972. If you look over where the dugout used to be the ground is a little lower there. Someone once asked him where he was born and he said “Right there in that low spot. I haven’t gotten very far in life have I?”  In his younger days he herded sheep for Willie Walker, helped trail cattle and horses to Belle Fourche in the fall of the year, and helped around the neighborhood doing odd jobs. Toward the end of WWII he was drafted into the Army. After he got out, he came back to the ranch where he married my mother on June 3, 1949. I had 3 older siblings (Dave, Anne, and Juanita Jo) and two younger ones (Ward and Jim).

We never really went to church while growing up at the ranch. Dad did not push it at all. He did not seem to have a spiritual interest. He had grown up with devout Baptist parents, but his mother had a very critical tongue. I think that she pushed Christianity too hard at him. My personal view is that she drove him away from the Lord, as both her two daughters were active in their churches.  He became the black sheep of the family or the prodigal son.

 I got saved in July of 1985. I started to attend church quite regularly along with my mother. One day along the highway, Dad and I were talking to Rodney Walker and they were giving me a bad time about going to church. Dad said something smart to me and I asked him if he died today would he go to Heaven or Hell. He never said anything, but I could tell by his reaction that I had given him something to think about.  Later in the fall (probably November) during hunting season, Dad had a friend named Paul Simpson and one of Paul’s friends here hunting. We spent a day hunting with them and Dad told Paul about me being a church regular and how I was going 2-3 times a week. So much that I had even quit drinking.  The next day Paul and his buddy took off and went up into the buttes to go hunting and Dad and I went down to Gene Walker’s to work cows. When we came home that night, we learned that Paul and his friend had got stuck and had spent hours trying to get unstuck. Paul was emotionally upset. He felt that he couldn’t have walked back out of there as the weather wasn’t very nice.  He was scared stiff. He actually got down on his knees and prayed that the Lord would help them get out. He felt that the hand of God was moving in his life that day to bring him to his knees and to seek Him. Some of what my dad had told him the day before about me had him thinking about God.

The next day was Sunday and Paul wanted to go to church with us. He was up at daylight and crowding everyone to hurry up and get ready to go. We went to Hope Baptist Church and at the end of the church service Pastor Bob Anderson gave an alter call as we were singing the song “Just as I Am.”  Paul was standing next to me with tears streaming down his cheeks. He was under some pretty good conviction.  I reached over and put my hand on his back and gave him a little push to step forward and receive Christ as his personal Savior. My father also stepped forward to answer the alter call. (We were sitting in the front row.) They both got saved that day.   

Dad lived for about a year to the day, and died in a car accident on November 1, 1986. During that year, he read his Bible every day and practiced his guitar in preparation of giving his testimony in front of the church.  That did not happen as “Jesus Beckoned him Home.”

 

When Jesus Beckons Me Home

 

   What will my answer be what can I say

     When Jesus beckons me home

       What can I do that will ever repay

      The wonderful love He has shown

 

Day follows night night follows day
Farther and farther I roam
What will my answer be what can I say
When Jesus beckons me home

Sometimes the clouds seem to cover his face
Sometimes the skies are so gray
Still by the stars and his wonderful grace
He'll roll the storm clouds away

Day follows night night follows day
Farther and farther I roam
What will my answer be what can I say
When Jesus beckons me home

I know that Jesus will never forsake
His love will find a way
He'll bridge the stream if his hand I will take
When he calls what can I say

Day follows night night follows day
Farther and farther I roam
What will my answer be what can I say
When Jesus beckons me home