Gritty Grace

David Rust was born on July 4th, 1924, in Shreveport. Brought up in north Louisiana during Depression, he joined the Army on his 18th birthday in 1942. He became a pilot and flew a combat tour in China, during 1944. His unit was the 23rd "Flying Tigers" Fighter Group. He graduated from Tulane University in 1949 and returned to Air Force active duty. Drawn into the Korean War, he was shot down on his 43rd mission and rescued by helicopter. His next assignment was to the 20th Fighter Bomber Wing, the first fighter unit to be equipped with A-bombs. This unit flew F-84 Thunderjets and formed the first line of defense in the Cold War. After a three-year tour in England with the 20th, he returned to the States and soon hired on with Schlumberger Limited as an oilfield engineer. He served a most successful 25-year career with them, becoming a writer and editor in the process. He retired at the end of 1981 to follow the Lord Jesus full time. The transforming events in his life were his surrender to Jesus in 1973, and his baptism in the Holy Spirit soon after. In 1984 he was led into ministry as a prison chaplain, where he remains at this writing. He married Eugenia Durham in 1950, and recently celebrated their 58th anniversary with joyful gratitude. They have two daughters, Beth and Julia, and three grandchildren, Peter, Katy, and Timothy. God has been very good. He counts himself as the most successful person he knows of, a testimony to the redeeming grace of God.