Epigraph

       
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.”

Romans 8:28 (KJV)

My name is Jimbo Yocom. My wife, Jesslyn, and I have two children: Zion, who is 2, and Adonai, who will turn one this year. I am proud to serve Minden, Louisiana, which is the parish seat of North Louisiana. Minden is a town of 12,000 with a beautiful brick road that runs through our main street, lined by churches, historic buildings, and a community of people I am proud to be a part of.

I am so blessed by the life I am able to live today, but this is not where my story starts…

My story starts when I was about two years old. As a young child, my family noticed that I had to sit close to the TV, and I had to look at pictures by holding them up to my face.

Recognizing something was wrong, my family took me to an eye doctor. Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disease that affects the retina, making cells in the retina break down over time and causing vision loss. Because the disease is difficult to diagnose, for most of my childhood, doctors thought I had macular degeneration.

So up until 5^th grade, I sat at the front of the class, close to the blackboard to read it. And while I read slowly, I could still read. But over time, my eyesight continued to worsen until I couldn’t see the letters on the board even at the front of the class, and when playing toss during recess, I couldn’t see the ball to catch it.

When things started getting to this point, the school started to offer me accommodations. They tried to teach me Braille during recess and PE, but I was a stubborn kid. If you can believe it, I told one of my teachers, “I’d rather be illiterate than be in 5th grade and miss both recess and PE.”

Unfortunately, my undiagnosed case of RP didn’t get any better as time went on. After middle school, I had to be so close to the words in a book that my nose touched the pages while I tried to read them. Still, my eyesight continued to worsen. By the time I started high school, I had given up on school. If I was all but losing my ability to read before graduating, I certainly wasn’t going to go to college.

A Good Father… But A Complicated Life

My home life as a child wasn’t the best. When I was seven years old, my parents divorced. At this time, my mom and dad both struggled with drug addiction. As a result, my mom disappeared when I was in elementary school, leaving me and my sisters to live with our dad.

Even though single parenting took a toll on him, my father was a wonderful man. He always provided for us children, making sure we had food and a place to live. But drug addiction added issues on top of issues. As a result, my sisters and I were left to fend for ourselves most of the time.

Getting A Good Education

No one else in my family had ever graduated high school. My mom dropped out of high school, and my dad and all my sisters dropped out of school and got their GEDs. Stubborn as ever, I was determined to be the first in my family to graduate from high school.

I didn’t apply myself at all in high school, I didn’t see a reason to – there was no way for me to go to college if I couldn't see, and what kind of job would I pursue if I was unable to read? So, I graduated with only a C average, but I did graduate.

At that point in my life, my goals were entirely based in ministry. After high school I put my life into student ministry, preaching, public speaking, and motivational speeches. But by the time I was 24 years old, I started really thinking about how I wanted a wife and children someday. It dawned on me that I would need an education and skills to provide for them.

So, I decided I would try to get a media degree at Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC)… But there was a problem – the community college was about 25 minutes away from home. My poor eyesight not only prevented me from reading, but from driving too.

Fortunately, my sister and some friends were also studying at BPCC, so maybe I could get a ride with them. After asking around, I realized that this might actually be an option.

After a semester or two, I switched my major to business, to earn an associate’s degree… but something surprising happened. As I took courses and applied myself, I realized I could really do this college thing – I could even do more than a two-year degree.

Today, most community colleges provide all students with help to succeed. At that time, the only accommodations the community college provided me with was someone to read my course tests, which was a tremendous help.

So, after finishing my associate’s degree, I decided to transfer to Louisiana Tech University (Tech) to get my bachelor’s degree in business. Around this time, I started dating my future wife, Jesslyn. Throughout the years, she has always encouraged me, and she was a cornerstone of support as I went on to earn my business degree…

I figured out my own way through college during my time at Tech. The university provided someone to read my tests, so I could take them in a separate room and the proctor would write my answers for me.

Then, the game changed even more when I got an iPhone and could start recording the lectures. I would then re-listen to the lectures over and over, and write out words with definitions and facts on flashcards in BIG letters. In addition to reviewing the cards, the act of writing out flashcards helped me to retain a lot of what I was learning.

I started to realize: not only was I able to do my work in school, I was doing really well.

 The Path To Becoming A Good Lawyer

One day, during my senior year at Tech, I was talking to Jesslyn about how I thought I would make a really good lawyer. She turned to me and said, “Jimmy, do you know how many times I’ve heard you say that? Well, then. Why don’t you go to law school?”

The idea was foreign to me. Most of what lawyers do is read and write, but I couldn’t see to read. I began wondering if anyone else had been in this position before, so I searched online to see if I could find any blind lawyers, but what I found totally surprised me.

I found an entire subculture of visually impaired and blind lawyers. They even had a group, the American Association of Visually Impaired Attorneys (AAVIA). I started thinking… if other blind people could earn a law degree, why couldn’t I?

So Jesslyn helped me sign up to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), and in preparation to take the exam, I watched a YouTube video about it. My wife and I didn’t know what we were doing. We figured it out as we went.

Gideon’s Fleece and My LSAT Score

When taking the LSAT, I made a deal with God similar to what Gideon did with God in the book of Judges. God told Gideon he would be the hero to save his people. But Gideon couldn’t believe that he was capable of such a thing, so he tested God.

He threw his fleece on the ground saying to God that if there was dew only on his fleece in the morning, he would know God would save Israel through him. The next morning dew was only on his fleece, not on the surrounding ground.

However, Gideon still didn’t quite trust God. He again tested God the next day, asking that the fleece would be dry and all the surrounding ground wet with dew. The next morning dew was on all the ground but not on Gideon’s fleece.

My fleece test was to not just score well on the LSAT but to score well enough to get a full scholarship. Only then I would know it was God’s plan for me to go to law school.

The LSAT tested problem-solving and thinking outside the box, which I was always good at. When I took the test, I scored well – even well enough to receive a full scholarship to several law schools in Louisiana.

In the end, I chose to go to Mississippi College School of Law (MC Law) in Jackson, Mississippi. It was not only the closest law school to where I lived, but it was also the only law school outside of Louisiana that taught Louisiana law.

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