Re: [Worship] Introduction & prayer request

["Mark Coward" <mcoward@midsouth.rr.com>]

Hallelujah! God is so good! I want to thank everyone who has responded to me
with words of encouragement and advice. If I haven't responded to you
personally, I thank you here. I am including here a portion of Ron's email
to me, as I wish to show how God has spoken into my life. And He has done it
in such a way as I would never have imagined!

> MARK (AS HE PUTS HIS ARMS AROUND YOU AS A LOVING
> FATHER)
> I HAVE NOT TURNED MY BACK ON YOU AND I WILL NOT DESERT
> YOU IN YOUR TIME OF NEED.  DRAW NIGH UNTO ME AND I
> WILL DRAW NIGH UNTO YOU.  I HAVE BLESSED YOU AND WILL
> CONTINUE TO BLESS YOU AS LONG AS YOU PUT YOUR TRUST IN
> ME AND NOT MAN.  GO NOT TO THE LEFT OR THE RIGHT BUT
> STAND STILL AND SEE MY SALVATION.  I HAVE PREPARED A
> DOOR BEFORE YOU. I WILL OPEN IT AND YOU WILL KNOW THAT
> I HAVE DONE THIS AND NOT MAN.
>
> Mark,
> Let me know what God is going to do for you.  I will
> be praying for you.
>
> Ron
>

   Now when I read these words yesterday, I felt that this truly was a word
from God and it greatly ministered to me. I hope that Ron won't mind me
sharing this publicly. Now, I don't know about you, but after reading this
in light of my situation which I shared in my first post, I would think of
this meaning God doing something like leading me to a church or ministry
position etc. Yesterday afternoon, by the time I arrived home from work I
knew that my decision was already made to leave the fellowship here. While I
still feel some sadness I now have a great peace about this. I had been in
contact with my previous pastor in Tupelo MS, and both I and my wife had
felt that perhaps God wanted us to rejoin the fellowship there. I truly felt
that God spoke to us about this, because I felt it but hadn't mentioned it
to her. When she brought it up, I was very surprised because I didn't think
she would consider it. I called this pastor last night and he believes that
God wants us to be a part of the fellowship there. Now, we are not certain
yet if this is what God wants as there are other issues to making this move.
I will keep you posted and provide more details later.

   Well, later last night I got a phone call, and at first I didn't
recognize the voice. Actually, he sounded like he'd been drinking. He told
me who he was, his name is Michael and he used to take guitar lessons from
me when we lived in Pontotoc MS. I haven't heard from him in 6 years or so,
since I quit teaching private lessons and then moved away. My first thought
was, "oh no, this kid is in some kind of trouble, somehow he tracked my
number down and God, I'm not able to deal with this right now!" However, as
he spoke I remembered that he was somewhat of a bashful country boy, and I
understood that he wasn't drunk he was just emotional. He proceeded to tell
me that he had been thinking often of me in the years since we've parted.
Let me lay a little background here, I'm sorry for the long post but I think
this is something worth sharing. When Michael began taking guitar lessons
from me, he was probably 14 years old or so. He was a member of a local
Baptist church, although not a outspoken christian. At this time, I was a
member of a non-denominational church, serving on the worship team and also
had formed a christian rock band. I didn't know at the time, but Michael had
trouble understanding or agreeing with "non-denominational" because of his
upbringing. I perfectly understand this, as I was raised in baptist churches
also. Let me say, I have nothing against baptist or any other denomination,
I have many friends and family who are baptist and I have seen God do great
things in and through them and the baptist church in general.

   Michael was my best student, he was very shy and bashful but he worked
hard and developed his talent. Like most guys his age, he was enthralled
with the rock guitar styles of Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, etc.
Now, as a christian I had a concern and a decision to make here. Should I
refuse to teach someone how to play this kind of music, because of my
beliefs? I had gotten rid of an extensive CD and LP (remember thoses?)
collection of this very same type of music because I believed that's what
God wanted me to do. I really struggled with this, and I decided that I
should agree to teach them whatever songs they wanted to learn but I would
make my beliefs about the music plain. I'm a low-key, easy going kind of guy
and I like to joke around. I told the same thing to Michael and the other
students, that as a christian I felt this music was a negative influence but
I would teach them the songs. Michael, and most of the others would say
stuff like "I just like the music, I don't listen to the words." I always
felt that Michael was a very honest person, and he was very talented and
dedicated. He would bring a CD or tape, some of the songs he wanted to learn
I already knew because of my background in secular bands. Other songs I
would learn on the spot, and tab the riffs and leads for him in a notebook,
which I asked all my students to provide. Occasionally he would ask me about
my beliefs, sometimes we talked about songs and song lyrics. He came to hear
my short-lived christian rock band play a couple times, and I gave him a
copy of the tape we had recorded (http://www.garage.dyndns.org/remnant has a
few mp3's you are welcome to download)

   I sat in awe last night, as Michael began telling me how he knew that God
had used me to influence his life. "You never condemned me" he shared, "I
want you to know that by your example and lifestyle God has used you." He
said that he still had his guitar notebook, and that along with the tabs he
had written notes to himself, "Mark said this, that etc." not things I said
about playing guitar, but about life. After graduating high school, he was
partying around and doing the stupid things a lot of us have done. He
seriously commited his life to Christ while in college. He said that he has
always thought of me, that many times when he was doing stuff he know was
wrong he would think "what would Mark think if he saw me doing this.." He
said that he had to write a college paper about the most influential person
in his life, and he wrote about me. He said that he had wanted to contact me
for a long time, and had recently heard from someone where I was living and
he felt led to call me last night.

    Please understand, I am not trying to build up my ego here. Michael was
so sincere about how God has worked in his life. I had no idea that God
would use our relationship like this. I wasn't even sure I was doing the
right thing in teaching that kind of music, and at the time didn't feel like
I was much of an example. The most awesome part of this story is, after
Michael graduated college he now has a position at South Pontotoc high
school, his school - teaching bible class! Praise God that there are still
schools where this is allowed. You may remember Pontotoc county being in the
news recently from the tornado tragedy, also some years back there was the
much publicised trial about prayer in school. And this isn't a "bible
history" class, he teaches the Word of God to classes from grades 6 -12!
This was my school too, and this impacts me tremendously. Because when I was
there, I was a rebel and most of the teachers and students thought I was
radical at best or completely evil at worst. I was using drugs daily and
listening to hard rock music. One of my more famous pranks was scrawling
"helter skelter" with a red magic marker in the girl's dressing room.

   It is humbling to see how God can work, to repair and heal our mistakes.
Michael is also leading a youth worship ministry in his church, and this shy
young kid that I remember has become an outspoken man of God who loves the
Lord. Ron, I believe that this is the door that God has opened to me - to
show me what He has been preparing for years! Not a door of opportunity that
I would walk through, but a door opening simply to reveal his wonderful
sovereign mercy and love, beyond question this is His doing and not man's.
It's been at least 6 years since I had seen or heard from Michael, and God
orchestrated this so perfectly that he should call me at the moment I
needed, to show me something so wonderful that I could never have imagined
it!

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