ADAM ATKINSON - A WORK IN PROGRESS If you could sum up Adam Atkinson* in one word it would be fierce. Born and raised outside of Chicago, Adam’s father exited his life at the age of 4, soon after an incident that left Adam hospitalized with a stroke at three years old. His father had given him pure grain alcohol. But Adam would prove to be a survivor at his core. His mother did her best to raise Adam and his sister, but he was a handful. They watched Adam become a “big beefy dude” as he weight lifted his way toward adulthood. Unfortunately, the attraction for Adam and the street gangs was mutual. They liked his bold, brash, and big personality. He liked the money that came running drugs in the city. That was until the day he turned 17 years old and his mom made a big, bold announcement. “We’re leaving the city and moving to Alabama!” Adam was not excited about the birthday present. Moving from Chicagoland to a 40-acre plot of land in Grant, Alabama - population 800 - was less than appealing. It seems Adam’s mom knew a few things about survival as well. Soon after the move, she was introduced to a church and came into a relationship with God. Adam also made a profession of faith in Christ and was baptized soon after the move and, a year later, found himself among a graduating class of 12 students. As others went to work or college, Adam became a cage fighter and professional powerlifter. He landed a job with a private security firm where he found more opportunities to be fierce. Adam had dyslexia, so he rarely, if ever, read the Bible, and as a result, his relationship with Christ faded. Adam found a new career in over-the-road trucking. For nearly eight years, he traveled the lower 48 states, being gone from his Alabama home for 6 to 8 weeks at a time. His success on the road balanced the failure at home. Spending more time in the cab of a semi than you do at home is not a great recipe for relationships. There were several attempts at having a marriage and family, but they just didn’t work out. Then he found and married Rebecca in 2014. She was just as fierce as Adam. Over-the-road trucking was taking a toll on his health, and Rebecca suggested he look for a job doing local trucking. A friend recommended Wilson Lumber Company, and the team hired Adam right away.
Adam’s loud, obnoxious, “pit bull” ways - characteristics learned on the streets of Chicago and practiced on the highways of America - stood out at Wilsons. There was a different vibe there. Then there was Chaplain Bill Chapman. Adam’s intimidating size and attitude caused folks to steer clear of him typically. Not Bill. The day they met, Bill walked up to Adam, shook his hand, introduced himself, and asked a question that - looking back - literally changed his life. “Adam, do you know if you’re going to heaven or hell when you die?” Bill asked him. Adam’s answer was classic. “Bill, I’m going to hell in a handbasket.” With instincts beyond himself, Bill answered, “I don’t believe you.” At that moment, Adam thought that he had someone in Bill he could trust. Over the next few weeks, Bill asked that same question but received different answers. When he answered, “I just don’t know,” Bill asked him if he could share how he could know. Adam consented, and Bill shared the Gospel with him and gave him an Easy-to-Read Bible. Bill challenged him to study, starting with the book of James. There wasn’t this tremendous immediate transformation, but over the year and a half that Adam has known Bill, there has been a change. Adam is learning to be quick to listen and slow to speak, working on controlling those powerful emotions he developed over the years as a survival instinct. “The voice of God in Adam’s life is becoming more and more evident. He is happier and more positive than when we first met,” Bill says as he reflects on his relationship with Adam. “He is being guided and sometimes doesn’t even realize it.” Wilson Lumber just recently promoted Adam to manage the dispatching operation at Wilson’s Truss facility. He’s learning more about managing people, understanding how God helps him do that well, and he is grateful for the opportunity to be stretched in this way. “I’m a work in progress,” Adam says. Aren’t we all?
*The life-changing work of Corporate Chaplains of America is done in complete absolute confidentiality. Adam Atkinson and Wilson Lumber Company agreed to share this story with CCA partners. © 2020