replied; glad to be talking about something else.
Justin didn’t say much else as the remaining band members arrived and set up their instruments. He tuned and re-tuned his guitar, acting like he was adjusting his pedals so that everyone would leave him alone to his thoughts. “It is hypocritical,” he thought, “I’m going to quit the praise team after the Christmas service.”
After everything was set up and everyone was tuned, the band played through the new song twice to make sure they were ready. It was a popular song on rock radio, one that had been requested at previous shows. Justin had a great solo part in it, and he loved great solo parts. Once they were confident that they were ready, the band went back to the ‘green room’ where they waited for the show to start.
As they waited, the drummer asked Justin, “So is your number one fan coming tonight?”
“No,” Justin replied, “she has to work. But I’m gonna stop by her place afterward.”
The room erupted with “Ooooh…” and laughter.
“You better be careful,” the lead singer remarked, “my football coach always told us to stay away from dancers, redheads and anyone named ‘Tiffany’.”
More laughter.
“I don’t think Tiffany is mentioned in his church contract.” the drummer added.
“Man,” Justin shot back, “I told you I didn’t want to talk about that.”
“What contract?” the lead singer asked.
“Justin has to sign a contract to play at church saying he’ll stay away from dancers, redheads and girls named ‘Tiffany’,” the drummer replied. Suddenly the laughter stopped and all eyes were on Justin.
“Justin,” the lead singer started, “you know we don’t care if you go to church, man. If that’s what makes you happy, then go for it. We don’t care that Booger picks his nose…”
The bass player looked up, startled, and removed his finger from his right nostril, wiping it on the side of the couch he was sitting on. The band erupted with “Eeewww!” and “Dude, get a tissue!”
“Seriously man,” the singer continued, “whatever you do on your own time is your business, but don’t go getting all ‘preachy’ on us. We know about your extracurricular activities, you do the same stuff we do.”
“I know,” said Justin, “that’s why I’m quitting the praise band after the Christmas special. I’m already on the schedule for that so I think I should play, but after that I’m done.”
“FIVE MINUTES!” a voice outside the door bellowed.
“Saddle up boys,” the lead singer smiled. “It’s show time.”
The band took the stage in the dark. As Justin double-checked the tuning on his guitar one last time, he couldn’t see the crowd but he could hear them. Restless, whistles and cheers started low and got louder. Justin looked up at the lead singer and waited. The singer turned to Justin and nodded, then Justin strummed a chord on his guitar that rang out gritty.
“ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!” the singer howled, and the band kicked in.
As Justin played, he couldn’t help but notice how different playing in bars was to playing in church. Not just the songs, but the crowd response was night and day. He looked directly in front of him and saw three girls dancing with the beat and smiling at him. They would probably all make it to the green room after the show. A couple of rows back was a redneck flashing the devil horns hand sign and chanting “Yeah! Yeah!” On the other side of the stage were the head-bangers, rocking their heads in unison to the beat of the music.
They all adored him. The guys wanted to be him and the girls wanted to be with him.
In the church band, nobody in the audience ever looked at him. Justin had noticed one of the glaring differences between bars and churches is that the band was secondary in church. Some people closed their eyes, some people raised their hands and some people tapped the seat in front of them to the beat of the music. But when they sang along with the songs, the audience in church had a different look on their faces than the audience in a bar. In the bar, the smiles on their faces looked like expressions of pleasure. In church, the smiles on their faces looked like expressions of… what? Gratitude? Justin wasn’t sure, but he knew it was different.
Justin couldn’t help but think that if the praise band wasn’t there one Sunday and the sound guy just played pre-recorded music through the speakers, everything else would still go on as usual. If the band wasn’t at the bar one Saturday and they tried that, the crowd would rebel. Justin realized that he felt more appreciated in the bar setting. He was a rock star, and he liked that feeling.
After the show, the band retired to the green room. Soon the sound and light techs joined them, and ‘groupies’ started coming in. Groupies were almost always women who were attracted to the ‘bad boys’ in the bands. Occasionally a male friend of one of the band members would show up, but this was mostly a ‘band-members-only’ affair. As more people arrived, the air became thick with the smell of beer and cigarettes... and perfume. Ah, the perfume. That was Justin’s favorite smell; it reminded him of his biggest fan.
Speaking of his biggest fan, Justin got up to leave and told the drummer, “I’m going to see Tiffany, y’all don’t party too hard.” As he passed the couch between where he was sitting and the door, he noticed two of the girls that had been in front of him during the show - they were making out with the lead singer. “Weren’t there three of you?” he said, looking at them.
One of the girls smiled as she turned to Justin. “Lexi has church in the morning.” she said.
Laughter broke out in the room.
Justin smiled uncomfortably. He continued to the door where he went out to the stage and gathered his guitar and pedals. “I’d love to talk more, but I really gotta go...” he heard a girl’s voice saying. As he glanced over, he saw the girl talking to someone else. When she looked up and noticed him, she smiled and started walking over. “Hey! Justin!” she said as she waved.
“Hey,” he said smiling. “I’m guessing you know me, but you don’t look familiar. Have we met?”
“I’m Lexi,” she continued “from Renaissance Church.”
Justin’s eyes opened wider and he searched his memory for help. Nope, nothing.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you outside of church,” she said. “You did great! Are you playing tomorrow?”
“Um, no,” he grasped for some excuse that would be acceptable. “I’m not on for this week; I have some... things I still need to take care of tonight. I’m… going to be up pretty late and…”
“Yeah,” Lexi added, “I’ve got to get home or I won’t be worth anything tomorrow either. Well, it was good to see you.”
“Yeah,” Justin finished, “I’ll look for you next week.”
As Lexi walked out the door, Justin thought to himself, “Wow. How can you be so happy about leaving THIS to go THERE?”
Justin finished packing up, grabbed his gear and headed for the loading dock. He loaded his guitar and pedalboard in the trunk, then got in his car. When he turned on the car, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was playing on the radio. “How fitting” he thought, as he drove off for a date with his biggest fan.
VERSE 5
(The Story of Ted Kinney)
Ted Kinney was what most people thought of when they thought of a Christian leader. His wife was a stay-at-home mom who taught Sunday school on a regular basis. His daughters were well-behaved, and it was obvious to anyone who saw Ted with them that he adored them. And they, in turn, loved and respected him. Ted played guitar on the praise band, led a small group Bible study, and helped out with the church whenever they needed it (like with the Night of Outreach or a youth fundraiser).
Ted was in a good place at this point in his life; heaven knows he had been in bad places before. He wasn’t a Christian as a young man, although he had always held higher morals than most of th
e Christians he knew. Ted was brought up believing you only drink in moderation because drunkenness is looked down upon, not because it’s a sin. He was taught to treat people the way you want to be treated because it was the right thing to do, not because Jesus commanded it. And that’s what eventually caused him problems.
When Ted’s parents got divorced and he saw his mom drink herself into a stupor, he started to question what he had learned. When he saw his dad take advantage of business partners because he needed the money, Ted’s previous belief system started to crumble. Suddenly Ted was faced with a conundrum. What is truth? What is justice? What is morality?
Just like Solomon, Ted didn’t deny himself many pleasures in his quest to find himself. He wound up serving more than one night in jail following alcohol-induced debacles, one time spending 30 days in the hole as a repeat offender. Oddly enough, that’s where he was introduced to Jesus. He was just a few days into his sentence when he heard his name called by the guard.
“Kinney!” he called, “visitor!”
Ted wondered who could be visiting him here. His father had long since declined to bail him out, let alone visit. His mother was likely on a drunken binge somewhere, unaware of his whereabouts. As he shuffled down the hall to the visitor station in his stylish orange jumpsuit, he saw something that broke his heart. There sat Mary Lynn Dobson. Mary Lynn was a senior in high school when Ted was a