The Preacher's Kid
Growing up in Lubbock, Texas I was never really exposed to the dangers of city life. My father was a pastor of a small church and I pretty much led a sheltered life. My biggest problem at the time was whether or not I had a zit on my face and whether or not any of the girls I was interested in noticed it!I felt that I pretty much had things in control and that I was in charge of my own destiny. Music was the single most important thing in my life. Beyond music, I didn't care.
I had been saved as a 7 year old but I had put my spiritual life on the back burner and made no attempt to get to know my Savior. I was your typical know-it-all (some would say that I still am!) and as I grew older and entered high school things of a spiritual nature were further and further from my mind. Because of the type of people I chose to hang with and the way I decided to act you would never have known I was a Christian. I was more concerned with the way my friends perceived me and in having my own way than I was in having a walk with the Lord. My spirit had fallen asleep and would soon have gone comatose.
God chose to wake me up in a dramatic way on a Friday night in 1977. I was riding in a car with a group of friends on our way to an " after the football game" party, doing things we should not have been doing. I knew better, but my desire for acceptance overrode common sense. A west Texas dust storm was howling outside the car and visibility was almost zero. Traveling at 80 mph, the driver (not me, I was in the back seat) lost control of the car, careening into a ditch. The car was thrown into the air, flipping over mid-air to land upside down in a cotton field on a road in the middle of nowhere. Normally I wear a seatbelt at all times, but that night I had not put it on. When we examined the wreckage of the car, the roof had been crushed down to the seat in the exact spot I was sitting in. If I had been belted in, I would have been killed.
Not being totally stupid, I chose not to ignore this event. I realized how close I had come to dying that night and made a decision to alter the course of my life. I got involved with my church and the youth group and managed to survive into adulthood. (a miracle in itself!)
While God had successfully altered my path, I still did not really have a personal, intimate relationship with him until much later.
As an adult, I found it difficult to focus on spiritual things, with the distraction of family, earning a living and other minor things like that. Music was still of great importance to me, even more so that my relationship with God. I could never seem to reconcile the style of music I enjoyed (ROCK!) with my spiritual walk. I had been told the entire time I was growing up that my music was "evil" and I should not be listening to it. Again, I rebelled.
GOD ROCKS!
God sent a man into my life, Wayne Hinkle, whose passion for rock-n-roll was exceeded only by his passion for Jesus. He invited me to go to a "Christian" concert with him that he had tickets to. At first I resisted and refused to go. But as you will find out if you ever meet Wayne, the dude is relentless! He finally coerced me into attending the concert. (he even paid for my ticket).
I went to this concert with a MAJOR attitude. I fully expected to hear some mamby-pamby sterile music that would bore me to death. I asked Wayne who we would be seeing and he informed me that Mylon LeFevre was to perform and speak. Being an avid Atlanta Rhythm Section fan (Mylon used to sing lead for them) my curiosity was piqued. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
We arrived at the auditorium early and found our seats. The PA and lighting system did not seem lame so I felt a little better, but still expected to be bored out of my skull. The lights finally dimmed and the band was introduced:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Mylon Lefevre and Broken Heart!"
The concert began, and I WAS STUNNED! Mylon ROCKED the house!! No compromise, gut-wrenching rock-n-roll. I could not believe my ears. There was no way this was a "Christian" concert! However, as I listened, the message in the songs began to pierce my heart in a way that no pastor had ever before been able to do. During a break in the music, Mylon began to speak about having a relationship with God. About getting to know God. The Holy Spirit moved over me as Mylon spoke and just broke me. It finally clicked and everything that I had been taught and had read about God and Jesus, just made sense! I feel like I really met God on a personal level for the first time that night. God has continued to work on me, chipping away at the things in my life that interfere with my daily walk with Him. God demands to be the number one priority in my life and as I grow closer to Him, it is also my desire that He be totally in control of everything that I do!
After The Music Stops -
My music and my life are now dedicated to God. I praise God for ministries like Mylon & Broken Heart that spoke my language of music but also spoke of God. This powerful combination finally broke through to my spirit where none other had gone before.
If you are reading this and wonder why a seemingly rational man would be so head-over-heels in love with Jesus, let me fill you in: He changed my life, and he will change yours too!
If you want to experience that same power in your life, all you have to do is pray and ask God to save you. Ask Him to forgive you for your sins, and accept the fact that Jesus came to earth and died for you. Believe the fact that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. If you pray this prayer, God will save you, and you will experience a life changing relationship with God.
The gift of salvation cannot be purchased. It is freely given by a God who loves you and wants to save you. Don't fall into the same trap I did and let others keep you from accepting Jesus as your Savior and having a personal, intimate relationship with Him.
Until you experience a relationship with Jesus, you haven't experienced GOD!