Songs From the Road

Beating The Daily Grind

So when you take off, do you head for snow or sand? When you think “get-a-way,” are you thinking mountains or rivers? The Brewer doesn’t care just as long as I can get out of here from time to time. I grew up in Joshua back when we called it Joshuway and like that old Mac Davis song; I thought happiness was Joshua Texas in my rear view mirror.

Yet 30 odd years later, I’m still here and firmly planted. Glad to be here too. With all that said, about ever six weeks I get what the dictionary refers to as “stress from confinement or isolation: an emotional condition, marked by irritability, distress caused by prolonged isolation or confined living quarters.” You and I would just say cabin fever. Sometimes I call it “lets get-the-heck-out-of-dodgeotomy.” It’s the big cure all for the daily grind.

A Change of Scenery

The biggest perk for doing mission’s work throughout the world is actually going all over the world. The greatest thing to me about taking the show on the road is the actual road.

Yeah, we visit trash dumps, leprosy colonies and prisons but we are a long way from the normal boring routine of home responsibilities. It’s adventurous, fun and actually very therapeutic for the Brewer to hit the road as often as possible.

People have always sang songs about the road. There is something romantic about going somewhere else.

The Almond Brothers sang Midnight Rider and Ramblin man. Lynard Skynard sang They call me the Breeze. The Beach Boys sang I get around. Blackfoot did It’s a highway song. John Fogerty played The Old man down the Road. AC/DC said they were on the Highway to Hell and they can have that road, the Brewer aint going that way.

Truth be told, the road is something worth singing about.

Just recently I had a great talk with a non-Christian about what I feel like the difference between Christianity and religion is all about. When he told me he hated religion, I told him I did too. He said, “but you’re a Christian Pastor.” And I went into trying to define the difference between being a Kingdom of God kind of person and being religious.

As Ricky said to Lucy, “Let me splain.”

The Kingdom of Heaven as Jesus explained it is more about intimacy with God during the journey than the actual destination. The most important commandment in the Bible is not saving the world but actually loving God and loving the people around you.

Religion is all about going to Heaven. Christianity is supposed to be about loving God right now. Religion is about how you function. Christianity is supposed to be about relationship. Religion is all about escaping the earth. Christianity is supposed to be all about making a big impact and influencing the earth. Religion is all about trying to take the earth to heaven. Christianity is supposed to be all about bringing heaven to this earth.

I say “supposed to be” because we Christians have a very sorry history of being religious nuts that want to dominate and turn people into something more controllable. God doesn’t want religious nuts; He wants spiritual fruit.

The “Fruit of the Spirit” is all about letting God’s love come out of you right now. When it comes down to it, true Christianity (in my view) is about knowing God through Christ right now and seeing people the way God sees people, right now. This is something you progress in. So while it may be a road less traveled, it’s a faith more about the journey than the destination. The road really is something worth singing about.

I hope your journey through 2008 is one full of laughter and song. Keep the Lord ahead of you and sooner or later you will hear constant steps behind you. That’s just Goodness and Mercy following you, as you keep moving forward.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever!" Psalms 23:6

Overcoming In The Day The Music Dies

On October 7th, 1995 Waylon Jennings returned to Clear Lake Iowa the same way he left 36 years before - by bus. More than 2,000 fans packed the Surf Ballroom to see a world famous performer, initially made famous by not being on the plane that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. It was something that Waylon had avoided doing for more than three decades.

It seems that planes and musicians don’t mix very well. The Freebird went down and killed most of the Lynard Skynard band. Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Otis Redding, Jim Croce, Ricky Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughn were all stars that fell from the sky. But the really big one that made the biggest impact was only a four-seater and one of those seats had belonged to Waylon Jennings.

The Big Bopper had the flu and he asked Waylon if he could have his place on the little plane because he couldn’t sleep on the bus. Waylon being the low man on the totem pole agreed and so they sent him off to buy some hotdogs. When he got back, Buddy Holly was sitting in a chair, leaned back against the wall and grinning from ear to ear.

‘So I hear your not going with us on the plane tonight?” he said as Waylon handed him a hotdog. “Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up. It's 40-below out there and you're gonna get awful cold.” So Waylon turned to him and said the last words he would ever say to his close friend,
“Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes.”

The next day Waylon found out the same way the rest of the world did. The tour group left him stranded in Wisconsin and he had no way to get home or even go to the funeral. He spent several days sitting in a diner looking out at the cold hard winter and wondering what he was going to do. It was a devastating loss that shook every fiber of who he was.

That’ll Be The Day

So In 1995, Jennings returned to the Surf Ballroom, an authentic country legend and performer. He walked out onto the stage in his old age and long hair, remembering his
youth and crew cut from 1959. The music was different and so was he. It was a big deal.
"The last time I was here I stood right over there," he said to the crowd on the night of his return, pointing to the left side of the stage. Jennings asked for the audience lights to be turned on, and the people cheered.

"I recognize this place and I recognize backstage. The last time I saw Buddy, he was leaning against the wall, thinking. Buddy did a lot of that.

"This is kind of a special night for me," Jennings said. "I lost some great friends that night. You should have known Buddy, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. They were great. That's all I'm going to say about that," he said, as he broke out into "Me and Bobby McGee."
That concert was more than a performance by a musician; it was about a man coming back to face one of the most tragic events of his life.

True Love Ways

What I really like about this story is that Waylon went back to the Surf Ballroom not as a victim, but as an overcomer. It hadn’t been easy but somehow he went from a struggling bass player that lost a career in one tragic night to a country music legend that every body wanted a piece of. He went back to that place but not as the person he used to be and that is the difference between his and a lot of other people’s stories.

I don’t know if Waylon was a Christian or not but these are the kinds of stories attached to victorious Christian people. I think God will eventually lead us back to those places where we were once defeated and have us stand there as the bad motor scooter he has made us to be. He makes us grow up There is a healing for Christians I think that only comes from our journey in Christ where God will have us make friends with those terrible things that used to haunt us.
Not because we have to but because we have become so confident in who we are as victorious people that we can go through those places without being victimized.

As it is written, “For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Romans 8:36 & 37

Contact: The Brewer welcomes your input at FFTB@OpenDoorMinistries.org or by phone at 817-297-6911. Check out our blog at http://freshfromthebrewer.blogspot.com/ Please visit us at: www.OpenDoorMinistry.com