A Reminder From My Heavenly Father

      I am so glad that I have the assurance that I have a heavenly Father that is always looking out for my best in life. I look back over the last 16 months and I have seen multiple occasions where God has made His presence known a midst some really tough circumstances. One that comes to mind happened shortly after I and my ex-wife separated last year. I received an unexpected Facebook message from Bob and Nancy Curry. I hadn’t seen or spoken to the Curry’s in almost 30 years and I honestly forgot they were Facebook friends. I had met and gotten to know Bob and Nancy when I was a 16 year old sophomore at Carmel high School. Bob and his wife were the youth pastors of a new church plant at the time called “Northview Christian Life” church. I was a relatively un-churched teenager going to their youth group.

 My life changed pretty dramatically after attending that youth group for 6 months. I was asked by Bob and Nancy to see a “Christian” musician that was performing at Market Square Arena in downtown Indianapolis. The musicians name was Keith Green. Keith was a Christian musician who played piano and sang—and honestly the thought (at that time) of going to a “Christian” concert appealed to me about as much as having red-hot spikes driven into my eye sockets. I went there expecting to see some “old guy” playing piano and singing “onward Christian soldier” or some other type of church music. Instead, what I saw was a young, radical guy that looked more like a hippie than a church guy. Keith had long curly hair with a full beard and he exhibited so much passion for serving and worshiping Christ that it almost emanated from him on stage. The first thing I noticed at the concert was that Bob, Nancy and I didn’t have to pay for entry. At every other concert I had previously attended (Foreigner, Billy Squire, AC/DC, etc.) you had to buy a ticket—while this concert was free. I then thought to myself as I looked at all the merchandise being sold (i.e. Tee shirts, Record Albums, etc.) that the angle/gimmick had to be that this Keith Green guy held free concerts but them made his money selling record albums. By the way, for those of my younger readers, a “record album” was a REALLY big CD. Well, while at the concert the Holy Spirit was speaking heavily to my heart. I found out that like myself—Keith Green also came from a Jewish background. About half way through the concert I found myself starting to soften to the message of Jesus that Keith (and first Bob) had been talking about. It was then that Keith did something that completely stunned me. He stopped playing and said, “If anyone wants a record album, raise your hand.” He went on to say that he wasn’t there to sell stuff but to share the good news of Jesus and he was passing out albums for whatever you could afford (even free). I started to silently weep in my seat (trying hard to NOT let my girlfriend at the time see this obvious weakness on my part). When Keith went on to ask if anyone wanted to ask Jesus into their heart to be their Lord and Savior—I almost leaped out of my seat. On the drive home that night, Bob spoke to me about my experience and encouraged me in pursuing that new relationship with my Savior. 30 years later, while going through some pretty traumatic stuff, I’m once again contacted by my youth pastor, Bob. Although I hadn’t directly revealed the turmoil that was going on in my life—it was apparent to Bob and Nancy that something was wrong and they decided to reach out to me. Although I attend an AWESOME church, at that time I had so much free time on my hands that I was really starting to feel alone and isolated. I was feeling like my whole life was falling apart. Bob and I started talking at that time and he and his wife invited me over that next Sunday afternoon for a family Bible study at their home in Fishers. I went to the Bible study that next Sunday and reconnected with this couple that had been so influential to me as a teenager. While at the Curry’s house, Nancy went to put on some contemporary music and accidentally loaded the “wrong” CD. What started playing was a Keith Green song “Oh Lord You’re beautiful”. The thought hit me as I sat in their living room that afternoon, that here I was with my old youth pastors listening again to Keith Green together just like when I accepted Jesus into my heart back in 1982. I almost felt like I went back in time to when I was a 16 year old new believer in Christ. And I felt, almost like God was speaking to me in that moment and saying, “I never forgot you or left you. I’m here for you, Brian.” And I started weeping as again I felt the overwhelming presence of my Savior speaking softly to my broken heart.

Psalm 68:6   “God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.”