While taking a break from reading The Walking Dead graphic novels, I’ve started reading Good Call: Reflections on Faith, Family, and
Fowl by Jase Robertson. As for Good
Call, I picked it up because I am fan of Duck Dynasty and Jase is one of my favorite characters on the
show. I thought it would be interesting
to read about the life he had prior to the show and get an insight to who he
might be. I am still reading the book so
I won’t get into telling you about it. I
will say that I highly recommend it so far as I’m only 100 pages from the
end. One thing everyone talks about when
discussing Duck Dynasty is their
Christian beliefs. The show does not try
to hide it, which is something my wife and I enjoy about the show. What I didn’t realize is how much their faith
is a part of their lives until reading Good
Call.
While reading about Jase’s story of becoming a Christian I
naturally started to reflect on my own story.
In the book Jase discusses how he would share the Gospel with everyone
and anyone. It’s amazing to read about
some of the wild situations he found himself in and how it eventually led him
to bringing another person to the Lord.
I grew up going to church and Sunday school every week as a kid. Actually until the day I left for
college. Staying home from church was not
an option. About the only way was if we
were sick or a few times the day after prom.
I remember in high school thinking how cool it was to hear how some of
my friends came to Christ and accepted him as their savior. They always had this one moment where it just
changed and they knew it was right. I remember
being jealous of their stories. Growing
up in church I felt like I always knew who Jesus was, I never really thought he
was not a part of my life. As an adult I
can look back and realize how lucky I was to grow up that way. This isn’t to say there were times when I
strayed, but I’ve always found my way back.
I also know now that everyone’s story is different, but each person’s
story is special. Even now with my
daughter, we are looking for churches where she can have similar experiences
that I had as a youth in the church.
In high school and college I sang in a Christian touring choir
called Maranatha. Every summer we would
go on a 9 day tour around the East Coast.
In my 8 years in the choir I visited every state East of the Mississippi
except Wisconsin. We sang every night in
a different town. We would then stay the
night at host family homes. We had
opportunities to share the good news through song in our concerts, through
conversation with the host families, and with each other during the day or with
the member we were staying with that night.
There would be nights that we would sing to almost empty
sanctuaries. We would go through the
whole concert in dress no matter what.
Our director, Chris Ryder, would say, “it doesn’t matter if anyone is in
the sanctuary, as long as one person hears the Word we were doing our job.” As a teenager that seemed ridiculous.
However one night we were performing our drama program. During the program we would have Jesus walk
in carrying a cross. The guards would
simulate hammering nails into his hands and feet. At the same time someone would be hitting a
mic stand base with a hammer. The whole
scene was very powerful. I can still
remember the feeling I had the first time I heard the piercing sound of the
hammer hitting metal. It was
overwhelming and the choir did not know it was going to happen. One night a friend of mine was playing one of
the guards. He had the responsibility of
“hammering” the nails, raising the cross, and then eventually carrying the
person playing Jesus out of the room. At
the end of the concert I was in charge of the tear down crew that this person
was on. I walked by him and told him he needed to help
out. I didn’t realize that something was
clearly bothering him. We were in
Charleston, WV that evening and stayed on the campus of WV State. That same guy was rooming with me that
night. I later asked him what was up
after the concert.
He told me that when he joined the choir he didn’t really
view himself as a Christian. He just
enjoyed singing and this was an opportunity to do more of it. We discussed our Faith’s and talked through
what he was going through. That night he
decided to give himself to the Lord. It
was awesome. I haven’t talked to the guy
since I left the choir, but both of our lives were forever changed that
night. It was the first time I really
felt like I had an effect on anyone. It
was also the first time I truly felt the power of the Spirit. It was also the first time that the statement
that Chris had been saying to us for so many years really made sense. The songs we were singing we not always just
for the people in the congregation, they were there for us as well.
Since that night a lot has happened in my life. I did rebel from going to church for a long
time. I was not a morning person and
Sundays I was either too tired or too hung over to go. I always wanted church on my terms. I wanted an evening service, maybe a midweek
service. In college I loved going to
InterVarsity, but had it been on Sunday mornings or a Friday or Saturday night
I would have missed out. When I lived on
my own it took 5 or so years before I finally found a church family I felt
comfortable enough to join. One morning
I just woke up and said I’m going to church.
Then I kept going. Then I stopped
drinking to the point I didn’t want to wake up the next morning so I wouldn’t
miss church.
It revived my spirit and relationship with Jesus. I have two people that may or may not know
they are responsible for me coming back to church the second week. Sandy Boone and Ron Orr, all they did was say
hello. Then they came back and asked how
my week was the next week. Surprisingly
I did end up having that moment, it was that Sunday morning when I woke up and
said, “I need to go to church.” It was when
I decided to stop trying to walk on my own.
Now as I finish writing this, I’m not sure why two of my
last blogs seem to be “church” related. But
it’s what I’ve been moved to write about.
It is a vulnerable feeling and I’m not sure how I feel about it
yet. But if someone reads this and it
plants a seed then I guess it’s worth it.
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