I am writing this on my computer at home and am going to paste it in here. I hope it works. I had the coolest experience this Sunday and I wanted to write about it at length, but the way things have been going with trying to get in here and write, I thought I would have better luck doing it like this.

As many of you know, I am involved with the worship team at my church. Well, this last Sunday our worship team put on a seminar at a church in a different town. That church had asked us to do this because they are interested in how we incorporate contemporary instruments into a worship program. They are a smaller church and only use keyboards and acoustic guitar for their music. We have a much larger group consisting of keyboards, drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar (me!), bass guitar, viola, and several vocalists. So they wanted us to give them advice on how to do what we do and then demonstrate what we do. So we did a two hour seminar and broke for dinner (which they provided…it was really good) and then got ready to do a worship service for them. It was what happened after dinner, and before the service, that I wanted to tell you about.

Our drummer has THE cutest 11 year old son, whom he brought along; much to my joy. I have been infatuated with this boy (I will call him “J”) for as long as I have been going to my church and been a part of the music group. He is such a neat kid. He is into music and in particular, the drum kit, especially when his dad is playing. He loves to sit right next to him while he plays and when he gets off the kit, “J” climbs in and jams when he thinks no one is paying any attention. I have tried to kind of get to know him better by complimenting him on his playing, but he is so self conscious about it that he just gets real quiet and sometimes he will mumble something like, “I don’t really know what I’m doing.” I’ve tried to tell him that even so, he is playing well, which is no lie. He really does play pretty good. He just gets quiet usually. But he is such a nice boy and has a wonderful personality besides being beautiful physically, that I have kept trying to get to know him literally for years now. So I was delighted when I saw he came along with his dad.

The boy surprised me during our seminar because instead of playing with the toy cars he had brought with to fight off boredom, he grabbed a tambourine and came up on stage to try playing with us. He pulled it off so well we just introduced him as part of our group. That in itself was cool enough, (and I personally felt SO proud of him!) but then what happened before we did the regular worship service was outstanding. I noticed he was sitting next to his dad and was talking to him. So I took a seat right behind them and saw what they were talking about. “J” had gotten a few of his toy cars and was talking with his dad and our Pastor about one of them. It was a nice model of a ’67 Dodge Charger. Now I used to own a ’72 Charger, so I decided to take my cue and jump into the conversation. I said, “Hey, I used to have a Charger a lot like that one.” He turned around and gave me the coolest, big-eyed look and said with honest wonder, “Really?” Then came the avalanche of questions. ‘What year was it? What color was it? Did the front end look like this one or was it different? What size engine did it have?’ Then came the stuff like, “I’m going to get a ’67 like this one but it’s going to be red with black seats and on and on and on…” He was so doggone cute too. He had this Kool-Aid colored red stain around his mouth because we had all just eaten dinner and like a typical boy he kind of forgot to wash up afterwards.

Oh man, talk about dying and going straight to heaven; do not pass go, do not collect $200.00! That’s exactly where I was, in church and in heaven. Finally I was having a long conversation with the boy I have admired for so long. Cute Kool-Aid stain and all! We were talking about something we both liked. And all this time I thought his major interest would have to be music. Oh he does love music, but like any typical 11 year old boy, he just LUVS cars. Especially older, Mopar muscle cars. And it just so happens that this is something I know a little bit about. I did own an old Charger once. So we talked for I don’t know how long (not long enough) about cars. He started looking at me like I was somebody he could consider cool; it was almost like a kind of infatuation. We had a ball but then it was time to play for the worship service. So we all went up on stage (“J” too) and played. Man, I was so worked up I wound up playing guitar like I have never played before. Several times our music director looked over at me and gave me this huge smile. One time he actually said after a particular song, “Chris that was great! I’ve never heard you play anything like that before.” He hadn’t either; no one had. Little did anyone know that besides being moved by the music and the Spirit, I was also higher than a kite from having spent a while talking to the boy I’ve admired for so long. And “J” was standing just a few feet away from me playing the tambourine like he was born with it in his hand. It was just too much, man. What an evening!

Now I know “J” will never be a YF like my “L” was. He and his father have a wonderful relationship and he doesn’t need someone like me to be that involved with him. Not as involved as I was with “L”. But that’s ok, I don’t mind. I’m just happy to at last be someone he likes and knows he can talk to. We might not ever have another long conversation like that again, either….or maybe we will, who knows? It just felt so good to talk to an 11 year old boy like that again. Of course a hug would have been even nicer, but I guess I shouldn’t push things. But….who knows? Ah yes, I am infatuated and could easily fall in love, but I do have my wits about me. Well, as much as is humanly possible. One thing I’ve noticed is that I don’t have any sexual thoughts about the boy. It’s like I just can’t do that with someone I know personally, even though he’s so cute you could find his picture under that word in the dictionary….I’m not kidding!

I don’t know why that is, but you know, I’m glad for it. I really don’t want to think about him in any way that is sexual. I want to have him in my heart as someone I love with a love that I believe God would approve of. He is a beautiful boy and I want to always feel that I can be someone he can look up to. It’s the same way I felt about my YF “L”. It’s a good thing, too. But hugs are still nice and ok. Hugs will always be ok. I doubt I will ever have the extreme fortune of getting a hug from “J”, but…..who knows?

Anyway, that’s what I wanted to write about. I hope things will get better with the forum so I can come in here more often and be able to write normally. But until then, I will try this way for a while. God Bless!

With Christ’s Love,
Chris