My Story- Part Two

  As I sit here typing and listening to Jonathan Helser on my wife’s ipod I can’t help but think about my life up to this point.  I am the prodigal son.  The best part of that story is this- no matter what I did when I turned my back on my daddy, He was there all along, watching the driveway waiting for the day that his son would come walking down the lane, spiritually bankrupt just hoping his daddy still loved him.  When I returned home He was there,arms open wide, tears of joy running down his face rejoicing because his little boy found his way home.

  You see, as I said in my last post we need to give God all the glory and praise  for the gifts and talents he gives us.  When I graduated high school I couldn’t wait to get out on my own and get back to the freedom I had tasted in the drum corps.  I got involved in a band called Tainted Halo (can’t get any more 80′s than that).  We were kind of into that Poison style of music without all the hairspray.  That lasted a little while until I and the singer realized that band was not going to get us anywhere.

  We left Tainted Halo and took the leap over to the darkside to join a band called Cauldron and I knew that was the music I was destined to play.  Heavy METAL!!!   What a leap it was from the halo to the cauldron.  Hairspray to hellraiser.  Anyway I moved to Florida so we could be in the middle of the death metal capital of the USA.  Central Florida was the home of some of the greatest metal bands: Atheist, Death, Obituary just to name a few.  It only took a couple of weeks before I knew I had to get out of there and I came back to Delaware to get back with my girlfriend at the time.  It was not long after that that my grandmother died and I was so glad that I could be there.

  That brings me to 1993.  My girlfriend and I had split up and I was off to the races again chasing fame behind the drumkit.  A friend of mine named Kelly Mcglaughlin called me and asked if I was interested in jamming with him some and I was quick to say yes.  He was  and still is a really good guitarist so I couldn’t wait to get back to playing again.  After a couple months and a couple of bass players we hooked up with a guy named Tom Kimbler and had created a couple of songs.  Kelly had a great concept for a band and he wanted to bring it to life with us so we became the first 3 members of a band called Pessimist.  I saw an add in a music paper from Baltimore MD that said a vocalist and guitarist were looking to form a band so I called them and set up a meeting.  They came to Delaware to check us out and they loved the music we had written and we also liked theirs.  The line-up was complete.  The singer was Rob Kline and the guitarist was Tony Mallory.

  I ended up moving to Baltimore to be closer to those guys so we could practice more.  I was able to stay in the basement of the Klines and quickly found out that Rob’s mom was a devout Christian. I know today that she must have prayed for me and I love her for that.  I also knew that God was right there and as much as it was a relief, I was also angry that He would not leave me alone.  Pessimist started playing out and started to get a small following.  My ego took over and I just knew that we were going to be famous which for me meant that I would be buried in beautiful women and have record contracts thrown at me.  Wrong kind of music for both of those fantasies to be fulfilled.  The women that showed up were actually the mothers of the girls who were our fans. Not cool.  Anyway, things started to go south for me after a couple years with Pessimist and I decided to leave the band and take a break for a while. Not even a year later , they were going on tour in Europe and are now one of the most popular bands in death metal although they are no longer together but I heard they were planning on getting back together again.  I really held a grudge against them for a while because they got famous without me but what a blessing that turned out to be.  See where the ego can get you?

  After about a year or so I got a call from a guy in D.C. asking if I were interested in playing in a band from Argentina called Boixous Nois.  Don’t ask me what it means but it sounded cool.  I auditioned and was brought into the band after one session with them.  This is where things got weird.  We wrote some music and started playing out and doing some traveling.  We played  shows in South Carolina, Pittsburg and then one night in New York City something really strange happened inside of me that I could not explain or make any sense of.  We were right in the middle of our set in CBGB niteclub when it felt like someone turned off a switch inside me.  I suddenly lost the desire to play drums.  I can’t explain in words how it felt to love playing drums and be done with it at the same time.  Two weeks later I left the band and about $2000 worth of drum equipment south of D.C.  I told them that they could keep the drums until I needed them.  I guess I never needed them because I never went back for them.

  I now know that had to be a God thing that happened in CBGB.  I was only in music for ME when I should have been doing it for God.  That was 11 years ago when God took drumming away from me and He did not give it back to me until I gave myself back to him last August.  Now when I play, it’s for Jesus not Rob.  The rush I was looking for all those years now hits me like waves in the ocean when I play.  To hear people singing songs with us just sets my heart on fire.  To see their hands lifted in worship to Jesus is a beautiful thing to see.  Hearing people say his name fills me with joy. I am so grateful to be playing again.  Ijust love to be behind a drum kit with my eyes closed getting lost in the thing we call worship.

 Like I said before, GOD GIVES US TALENTS, it’s up to us to use them for his glory.

  Dear Jesus, thank you for all the things you have given me.  There are too many to mention.  Thank you for the miracle you have performed in my life.  Forgive me when I mess up.

My Story- Part One

Playing For Jesus

I started playing drums at the age of 10.  Lessons started on just a snare drum learning the basic rudiments .  As I got older, I fell in love with rock music and had aspirations of being a famous rock star when I grew up.  I was always involved with marching bands and when I got to junior high school I quickly made my way to being captain of the drum line.  I was introduced to a drum kit when I was in the eighth grade and knew that was what I wanted to play.  When I was a junior in high school, I had the privelage of playing in The Crossmen drum and bugle corps.  That was where I really learned how to play!  I had no idea what I was getting into. 

  Before I tried out for the drum corps, I was being told by my band director that I was the best drummer he had seen at my school so of course I went up there with an inflated ego about myself.  I was quick to learn that I was out of my league and wanted to quit after the first night of try outs.  Thank God for a mother who encouraged me to keep going because I really learned to play that summer.  That was the first memory of God bringing me back to reality.  One thing I have learned in my life experience is that being a musician, like anything else, can be an ego driven lifestyle. I think that is something we as Christians and non-believers have to deal with.  If we let our ego get the best of us, we forget about the people around us.

  That summer on tour with the Crossmen gave me my first experience of being on my own in the world and I loved it. I was introduced to all  kinds of things the enemy uses to get us away from God. Alcohol,drugs,sex,stealing were some of the things I learned about  when I was on the road.  I even got my ear pierced which back then was a huge act of rebellion in a Christian home but man I was cool.  When we got backfrom tour,I was a changed kid wno thought he was a man.  I was cocky,and forgot that it was God who gave me the opportunity to do all that stuff.  That is one of the things that amazes me about God, that He sends gifts and opportunity our way and then steps back and waits to see what we do with them.  If there is one thing I could say to anyone it’s this- always remember God gives us talents and all he wants us to do is use them for his glory and not ours.  He will reward us when we do that.  When we use them for our own gratification, He just might take them away which is what I will write about in my next post.