KINGSTON, Jamaica (BP)–In a few hours, Buddy Roban’s future changed from college student to prison inmate.
Then, just as quickly, God changed Roban’s future again — and his eternal destiny as well. Now he serves God with more enthusiasm than he ever served the devil.
It was 1977. Roban was visiting cousins in West Palm Beach, Fla. They asked if he wanted to help them unload a plane smuggling marijuana from Jamaica to Florida that night. It would be easy money, they promised.
Roban agreed, but someone saw the plane land and alerted the law. Roban and four others were arrested. Since their car also had guns in it and, it was said, cocaine, the five faced possible life sentences.
Fortunately, another of Roban’s cousins was active in Gold Coast Baptist Church. She told her pastor of his plight. The pastor visited the prisoners and also intervened with the judge in the case.
Roban was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. But he was allowed to remain free while his case was appealed. Two years later, his sentence was the only one of five overturned.
“I deserved to go to prison as much as I deserved to go to hell. That’s how guilty I was,” Roban says.
After he was saved, God gave Roban an intense desire to share the gospel with other people. He gives people tracts and puts them on cars. He shares his witness in prisons.
Roban also sells cold drinks at University of Florida football games to raise money for mission trips to Jamaica each year.
This summer, as in four previous summers, he traveled to Jamaica with a group of volunteers from Florida to do construction work and hold Vacation Bible Schools on the island.
“I praise God I’m here in Jamaica because I know in times gone by members of my family did damage to the people here [by trafficking drugs]. We can go back and fight Satan instead of serving him as we did once,” Roban said.
