Memory Of A Song

     Have you ever heard a song and flashed back to a memory from when you were young?  I believe certain songs, when heard at the right moment, helps create a special memory that is forever stored in a file located way back in the corner of our brains.  I have several songs that when I hear them I am catapulted back in time to relive the moment in my thoughts. 



     It was the summer of 1992.  I finished up my freshman year of high school at Nouvel Catholic Central in Saginaw.  Unfortunally, I enjoyed many other things rather than school and my grades suffered because of that.  Since my grades were well below "f"antastic I had to take a few classes of summer school at Arthur Hill High School. 

     It wasn't so bad taking summer classes.  Some of my friends that aided in my dimishing grades were the same ones in my classes at "The Hill".  Personally, I think we all corrupted each other and we enjoyed it.   Before school and out on breaks we would gather in packs out in the parking lot to see who has cigarettes and some would be passed around.  Sometimes the security guard would even walk over and smoke with us.  He would never give out one of his cigarettes but he would offer his zippo for anyone who needed it. 

     One beautiful warm summer day we were tired of sitting in the classroom.  We passed notes with each other daring to just get up and walk out.  Finally, my friend Shannon and I decided to go for it.  Right in the middle of class we packed up our stuff and just blatantly walked out of class.  We went out to the parking lot for a cigarette and to decided what to do next.  Soon another friend, Erin, joined in with another girl from class.  FREEDOM!  We decided to call a friend of ours ,Scott who just graduated from another school, to come and pick us up.   We walk back to the school parking lot to wait. 

     Scott pulls into the parking lot in his pick-up.  He brought along his friend Joe.  Shannon shouts out, "SHOT-GUN!" and squeezes her way between them in the front.  Erin, the other girl, and myself climb up and over into the bed of the truck and make ourselves comfortable in the corners of the truck resting our arms on the side.  We took off.  The music was loud and we were young and carefree. 

     Scott turns down the radio and hollar's out that he has a new song for us to listen to.  He opens up the cassette case and pops a cassette into the player in the dash.  We start to hear the lyrics:

Blame it all on my roots

I showed up in boots

And ruined your black tie affair...

We all started to groan and scream, "NOOOO!  IT'S COUNTRY!  WHY ARE YOU LISTENING TO COUNTRY?!"  But Scott was persistent that we listened to it.   

     The song grew on us.  It wasn't long after that we were wanting to listen to Garth Brook's "Friends In Low Places" song.  By the time school dances came around we all had the song memorized and we would sing along, badly, with the lyrics. 

     This was my first exposure (besides Kenny Rodgers but everyone loves his classic songs) to country music.  His album "No Fences" was enjoyable.  To my suprise the album came out 2 years prior.  I still prefer other methods of music genre over country music but I can tolerate some country songs. 

    

    

An Awakening: A Christian Camp Experience

     Summer is in full swing and thousands of children will be attending a variety of camps before school will resume again in the fall.  This is a great time for children to feel independent from their parents and interact with their peers in a supervised scheduled surrounding.  It is a way to learn new skills and to push yourself to see what you can accomplish.  It is learning about teamwork while learning about something deeper inside of you. 

     It was the early summer of 1992.  I was 15 years old and staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a few weeks.  I was slowly starting my walk with Jesus.  Even though I knew who Jesus was I never really took His words into my heart.  Growing up and attending church the priest sounded like the teacher from the Charlie Brown shows, "Wah Wah Wah....Wahhhh Wahh Wah"  Nothing was sinking in.  Church was nothing to get uplifted about.  You went, sat for an hour, and you were good to go.  The crowd I hung around with never really talked about Jesus or church or anything religious.  Faith was something for old people, not for the young. 

     My view of my ideas changed when I went to a christian camp somewhere near Tulsa.  I don't remember the name of it but it was my first time ever attending a camp and I was looking forward to the experience.  And what an experience it was!  I don't remember every single detail of camp but the parts I do remember really moved me.  Each cabin was a team and we had to study a few chapters in a book in the Bible that night and the next day we would do an activity with another cabin of who knew what of that book in the Bible.  I think we had to study 1 Corinthians.  The other ladies in the cabin knew exactly where to go in the Bible as I fumbled with locating it.  I would peek over at the table of contents quietly so the other girls wouldn't know I didn't know where that book was at and quickly get the page number and turn to that page.  Reading the Bible seemed so foreign to me.  We never really opened the Bible.  I knew the main stories of Adam and Eve, Moses, Noah, Birth of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ but the inbetween readings were unknown to me.  The other girls would talk about what they read, quizzed each other and debated over how they interrupted the scripture.  I was impressed that they knew their Bible and they loved learned about it.

     We would gather in a large pavillion for vespers and chapel time.  The songs they sang were upbeat and fun to listen to.  It was the first time I heard the christian song, "Lord I Lift Your Name On High".  I remember looking around the crowd and seeing almost everyone do the hand motions with the song.  I quickly learned it and followed along. We also sang "Lean On Me" and I remember everyone standing on their chairs, arms around each other shoulders swaying back and forth to the music.  What a great time!  It was more than just the songs, much more.  These teens where there praising Jesus and loving it.  They had Jesus in their hearts and were not afraid to show it.  Their parents were not around to push these teens into praying and singing.  They were rejoicing in God's name on their own will.  Never had I ever seen anything like that before. 

     Each day we had a speaker preach to us.  I hate to use the word preach because he wasn't talking on void ears.  He grabbed the attention of all of us and talked to us on our level.  It wasn't the Charlie Brown teacher at all.  He taught us what the Bible is saying in ways we can understand.  One man talked to us on the importance of abstinence.  He explained it this way.  One man really liked a girl and he wanted to impress her so he bought her a ring.  After a few weeks a beautiful lady caught his attention and he bought the same ring for that lady and dated her.  Some time when by and a third lady took his interest.  He purchased the same exact ring for her.  Finally a fourth lady won his heart and affection.  He went to the same store to buy the same ring.  He took the ring home and took it out of the box.  He looked at the ring and as he gazed upon the ring it didn't have the same sparkle, the same pizzaz as it did once before.  He thought about all the girls he had given the same ring to and it just didn't feel right giving her that ring he had given away to all the others who weren't so special as she was.  Point of the story is to save yourself (the ring) for the one you want to be married to, to give them that one special gift from you to them. 

    Another speaker talked again on relationships and abstinence.  He used a candle as a visual.  When you first buy a candle it is unlit, whole, pure, just like you are.  When you light the candle (he lit it) it symbolizes a relationship and how far it advances.  You might get a kiss from your boyfriend or girlfriend.  But when that relationship ends (he blew out the candle) and a new one begins you cannot start pure and whole again.  You start from where the candle was once lit - and kissing is easy to do.  Then your candle burns a little bit more and the relationship gets more advance.  Then that relationship ends.  The flame is extinguished.  Another relationship starts back up.  You don't start up near the top with kissing.  You already move to where the flame was last put out and move quickly forward burning more and more of the candle out.  God wants us to keep our candles (us) pure and whole until we marry.  We shouldn't have our candles burn out before we meet the one we marry. 

     There were other activites we did such as obstacle courses against different teams to get points.  The points led to special privledges such as swimming or staying up late to attend a bon fire.  Nothing stuck in my head more than the way Jesus was the focus in everyone's lives.  It was a real eye opener for me.  God is more than sitting at church for an hour or saying a prayer before dinner.  He is indescribable.  He is there for all people, all ages, whether we want him to be there or not.  He is our creator.  I learned that I need not be ashamed to call myself a Christian.  I learned that God has given us this great book, The Bible, to read and to learn from.  God has been knocking at my heart and I finally opened the doors and let him inside.