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Experiencing God was the last thing on Travis's mind during his rebellious and violent teen years. Although he sometimes attended church as a youngster, Travis recalls "it didn't take." Instead, he succumbed to peer pressure, which eventually got him into big trouble.

At 18 and on the verge of going to prison, he was rescued by Elizabeth "Lib" Hatcher, then the manager of the Charlotte, North Carolina, nightclub where he often performed. Lib, who is now Travis's wife and manager, saw his musical talent and convinced a judge to give the reckless young man one last chance.

"Son, I'm gonna let you go one more time," the judge told Travis. "But if you ever appear before me again, you'd better bring along a toothbrush, 'cause you're gonna stay awhile."

Travis, a high-school dropout who had been using drugs and drinking daily since age 14, took the warning to heart.

Today, he credits Lib and an inexplicable interest in the Bible for turning him around. Ironically, the first stages of the singer's stardom emerged just as he was starting to consider God.

Without anyone's urging, Travis began reading the Bible and listening to televangelists—a practice that he currently continues. "When I started reading the Bible in my mid-20s, I was still using drugs," he admits. "It was just something I started doing at night, and I really don't have an answer as to why."

He remembers "sleeping like a baby" after each time he read the Scriptures.

"It brought a peace of mind to me that I had never known," he says. "I think from a little past 10 years old to well into my 20s, I just never really knew much peace of mind. There was always some turmoil—most of it was self-inflicted—but there was always something like that, and I was just amazed by what just reading [the Bible] did for me."

However, it would be another ten years before his faith in God became real. During the height of Travis's career, Lib started attending church, and Travis decided to join her. She had been baptized as a child but had wandered from her faith. Shortly after, though, the couple publicly confessed Christ and was baptized at Ashland City Church of Christ in Nashville.

"I made a choice that I was getting on the right road and I was going to stay there," says the former alcoholic and felon. (In 1999, he received a pardon for his juvenile offenses from then-North Carolina Governor James Hunt, who cited Travis's positive contributions to society as an adult.) Today, the singer still gets emotional when he talks about experiencing God's forgiveness.

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