While your bus screams out of control, screeching around each corner, you're losing passengers and you know if you don’t get control this will end in a fiery crash.
By 1990 Kaye and I had been doing the same things for about ten years, working, partying and talking about all the great things we were going to do like have our own business, never really doing anything, and we became discontented with our life. Kaye begins experiencing high anxiety, she thinks she’s losing her mind, she can’t sleep at night so she’s up watching TV until the wee hours of the morning. It’s getting worse and I can’t help her. Then one night she’s flipping channels and hears some guy named Kenneth Copeland. To this day she can’t remember exactly what he said but she knew she had to go to church. The next day she calls her older brother who is a Christian and had been praying for us. She tells him "I think I need to go to church", so he tells her about a church in Riverside called Harvest Christian Fellowship. "You’ll like it", he says. Later, I get home and Kaye tells me "I think I need to go to church". She explained what happened the night before while watching TV and how she called her brother and what he said. Then she looks at me very excited and says, "would you take me to church?" I reply, "CHURCH!", but I can’t think of a reason to say no so I tell her, "why not, maybe I’ll learn something".
The following Sunday comes and we go to church and meet her brother. We go in and find a seat, it’s a big place, there must be 2,000 people in here. The band and choir come out on stage and begin to play and sing. Then the whole place begins to sing. We don’t know the words, but were listening and something starts happening. I’m feeling all goose bumpy and the more they sing the stranger I feel. My heart is racing, I’m kind of tingly all over. I feel like laughing but I’m starting to cry. What’s going on? This is embarrassing! I’ve got to pull it together! I look over at Kaye and she’s experiencing the same thing, is anybody else? I’m looking around at 2,000 people and we,re the only two experiencing this, that I can see, and it appears that nobody even notices us. What the heck is going on? It was like I was being filled up but I can’t comprehend what’s taking place. Whatever is happening seems out of our control and it’s becoming more and more intense throughout the music. I want it to stop, but it feels good. Then the music ends and Kaye and I are still reeling from what just happened. The pastor comes out and begins speaking about the cure for anxiety and worry. Kaye and I look at each other, eyes and mouth wide open, thinking, "no way, do you here what he’s saying? Is this for real? Where's the cameras? This has to be a joke and all these people are in on it." But it’s not a joke, this is really happening, it’s as if we are the only two people in here, like a time warp we're moving at light speed and the 2,000 people around us are as if frozen in time and Kaye and I are the only two who hear and see what’s going on.
As he’s reading from the bible, the words are being spoken right into Kaye’s heart, filling her with peace and she knows this is the answer. I don’t know any other way to explain the unexplainable. Church ends, we walk outside and I realize I’m high. I tell Kaye, "I’m really high! How can this be? I didn’t take anything, I didn’t drink anything, but I’m high and everything is so bright and my head is so clear! I feel fantastic! What happened in there? I don’t get it, but I’ve got to know! We're coming back next week! I have to know what’s going on!" So we float on home, pretty much speechless. I know what happened was real, I just don’t understand.
A week goes by, it’s Sunday, Memorial weekend 1990. We have a party planned, but first we must go to church. Kaye and I take a seat, the band and choir come out on stage and begin to play and sing. Then the whole place begins to sing. We don’t know the words but we're listening and something starts happening. NO WAY,
I’m all goose bumps, my hair is standing on end, I’m hyper ventilating, and my heart's beating out of my chest. I’m laughing while I’m crying and so is Kaye. I can’t believe this is happening again! It goes on through the duration of the music and then the Pastor comes out and speaks. I don’t remember much of what he said, but what I do remember is when he raised his bible in the air and with absolute conviction he said, "this is God's Word to you and every bit of it is true! This word is a rock and you can stand on it! God's Word will carry you through your life and into the next! That’s His promise to you!" Those words pierced my heart and some how I knew what he was saying was true and I wanted to know "that God". Then he said, "who want’s to know God? His Word says whosoever believes in his heart and confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord will not perish, but have everlasting life", (or my paraphrase), "you will know the living God!" So we prayed to receive Jesus as Lord and instantly as if a ton of bricks was lifted from my shoulders, I felt free and I was free! I just met the living God, but how can this be? My mind can’t comprehend it although I know what I experienced at church. Oh, this could drive a person nuts so I will choose to believe.
We arrive back at home for our party and there’s people already there. My dad and his buddy and some of our friends. We can’t stop talking about what happened at church, I’m sure we were completely annoying, but who cares I’m not going to hell!!!
By 1990 Kaye and I had been doing the same things for about ten years, working, partying and talking about all the great things we were going to do like have our own business, never really doing anything, and we became discontented with our life. Kaye begins experiencing high anxiety, she thinks she’s losing her mind, she can’t sleep at night so she’s up watching TV until the wee hours of the morning. It’s getting worse and I can’t help her. Then one night she’s flipping channels and hears some guy named Kenneth Copeland. To this day she can’t remember exactly what he said but she knew she had to go to church. The next day she calls her older brother who is a Christian and had been praying for us. She tells him "I think I need to go to church", so he tells her about a church in Riverside called Harvest Christian Fellowship. "You’ll like it", he says. Later, I get home and Kaye tells me "I think I need to go to church". She explained what happened the night before while watching TV and how she called her brother and what he said. Then she looks at me very excited and says, "would you take me to church?" I reply, "CHURCH!", but I can’t think of a reason to say no so I tell her, "why not, maybe I’ll learn something".
The following Sunday comes and we go to church and meet her brother. We go in and find a seat, it’s a big place, there must be 2,000 people in here. The band and choir come out on stage and begin to play and sing. Then the whole place begins to sing. We don’t know the words, but were listening and something starts happening. I’m feeling all goose bumpy and the more they sing the stranger I feel. My heart is racing, I’m kind of tingly all over. I feel like laughing but I’m starting to cry. What’s going on? This is embarrassing! I’ve got to pull it together! I look over at Kaye and she’s experiencing the same thing, is anybody else? I’m looking around at 2,000 people and we,re the only two experiencing this, that I can see, and it appears that nobody even notices us. What the heck is going on? It was like I was being filled up but I can’t comprehend what’s taking place. Whatever is happening seems out of our control and it’s becoming more and more intense throughout the music. I want it to stop, but it feels good. Then the music ends and Kaye and I are still reeling from what just happened. The pastor comes out and begins speaking about the cure for anxiety and worry. Kaye and I look at each other, eyes and mouth wide open, thinking, "no way, do you here what he’s saying? Is this for real? Where's the cameras? This has to be a joke and all these people are in on it." But it’s not a joke, this is really happening, it’s as if we are the only two people in here, like a time warp we're moving at light speed and the 2,000 people around us are as if frozen in time and Kaye and I are the only two who hear and see what’s going on.
As he’s reading from the bible, the words are being spoken right into Kaye’s heart, filling her with peace and she knows this is the answer. I don’t know any other way to explain the unexplainable. Church ends, we walk outside and I realize I’m high. I tell Kaye, "I’m really high! How can this be? I didn’t take anything, I didn’t drink anything, but I’m high and everything is so bright and my head is so clear! I feel fantastic! What happened in there? I don’t get it, but I’ve got to know! We're coming back next week! I have to know what’s going on!" So we float on home, pretty much speechless. I know what happened was real, I just don’t understand.
A week goes by, it’s Sunday, Memorial weekend 1990. We have a party planned, but first we must go to church. Kaye and I take a seat, the band and choir come out on stage and begin to play and sing. Then the whole place begins to sing. We don’t know the words but we're listening and something starts happening. NO WAY,
I’m all goose bumps, my hair is standing on end, I’m hyper ventilating, and my heart's beating out of my chest. I’m laughing while I’m crying and so is Kaye. I can’t believe this is happening again! It goes on through the duration of the music and then the Pastor comes out and speaks. I don’t remember much of what he said, but what I do remember is when he raised his bible in the air and with absolute conviction he said, "this is God's Word to you and every bit of it is true! This word is a rock and you can stand on it! God's Word will carry you through your life and into the next! That’s His promise to you!" Those words pierced my heart and some how I knew what he was saying was true and I wanted to know "that God". Then he said, "who want’s to know God? His Word says whosoever believes in his heart and confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord will not perish, but have everlasting life", (or my paraphrase), "you will know the living God!" So we prayed to receive Jesus as Lord and instantly as if a ton of bricks was lifted from my shoulders, I felt free and I was free! I just met the living God, but how can this be? My mind can’t comprehend it although I know what I experienced at church. Oh, this could drive a person nuts so I will choose to believe.
We arrive back at home for our party and there’s people already there. My dad and his buddy and some of our friends. We can’t stop talking about what happened at church, I’m sure we were completely annoying, but who cares I’m not going to hell!!!
