17
For some people it strikes you when you are young. You just know what you’re going to
be when you grow up. No question. For Heath Davis, it was at the age of 4 that he knew he
was going to be a Marine. “I was the kid that when Dukes of Hazard would come on Friday
nights, I would go watch PBS World War II documentaries,” Heath laughs. Sure enough, as
Heath approached high school graduation, he successfully enlisted, actually spending his 18th
birthday at boot camp in Paris Island, SC. “I wanted to serve my country. I always wanted to
help people, and I thought that was a good avenue for me. I wasn’t quite ready for college.
I was still a little immature, a little wild, so I went into the Marine Corps,” Heath says. As a
young man, Heath felt sure of his path. He was going to be an active Marine for at least 30
years. And it certainly seemed as though Heath was making his dreams a reality. “All these
milestones of my life were happening while I was in the military – I married my high school
sweetheart, we had our daughter, and I traveled the world. I went to 17 countries. I got to
experience some pretty amazing things,” says Heath. Heath was excelling. The Marine Corps
were paying Heath to attend NC State, and he was accepted into a program to become an
officer. “While I was doing that, I
tried to go to Officer Candidate
School, and I got hurt. I had some
leg injuries and had to have surgery
that radically changed my ability to
be a Marine,” says Heath. He was
told that he would be discharged.
Suddenly, Heath felt his hopes
and dreams collapse all at once.
“I didn’t know what I was going to
do. I had, like so many men, built
my identity around what I did,”
Heath explains.
In 2001, Heath and his family
returned to Haywood County
where he began teaching social
studies and science at Canton
Middle School. He was struggling
with depression. “I was in a 7th
grade social studies classroom when
September 11th happened. And I’m
thinking, ‘I’m sitting here teaching
7th graders, and every guy that I’ve
known, all my best friends, are about
to go off to war…and I’m having to sit here,’” Heath recalls. Although Heath felt like he had
walked far from his faith in the last few years, he decided to turn to scripture for guidance.
“It was in that season of depression that I found God. I found the Lord,” he says. Heath began
to feel in his gut that God wanted more out of him. “All had to be taken away so I would
say yes to His plan,” says Heath. “And the funny story is, when it finally hit me, I was in this
walk-in closet. We had this little apartment, and I would go in the closet to pray. It was the
quietest space, because we had my daughter. I was reading this scripture in Romans, and it
says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who share the good news of the gospel...how will
they hear unless a preacher is sent.” And I knew; I’m supposed to do this. I got up and my wife
was sitting on the front deck, and I said, “Hey babe, I gotta talk to you about something really
important. I think God is calling me to be a preacher.” She looks at me and says, “You better
get back in that closet! I didn’t marry no preacher!” Of course, God has a sense of humor,”
Heath laughs. Heath began his new journey then and there. Cont. page 18
“All had to be taken away so I would say yes to
his plan. I had to learn what it really meant to love
people and do this thing we call church.”