Chapter Five - The Sweetest Honeymoon

After calling a couple friends of mine, and flushing a quarter pound of weed down the toilet, I was alone, but for the first time, at great peace. I knew God was sitting next to me for the first time in my life. I sat there on the floor of the efficiency I had on Avenue C, and read the book of Hebrews. I didn't understand much of it. But what I got from it, was that I am sinful, and will never measure up to what He wants from my life. Though I'm not sure I completely understood it at the time, that is when I accepted Christ. It took several years, and another huge fall in my life to have a better understanding of the bible, Christ, salvation, sin, heaven, hell, man, and I am still growing in that regard. But, on that day, June 21, 1997... I accepted Christ as the son of God, who died for my sins, so that I may live. I went to sleep.

The next couple of years, I grew up. I went back to school as a Jazz guitar major, started going to church, reconciled with my grandfather, went to Michigan to visit my mom (who is also a believer), and even began exercising. I'd run to Fouts field from my apartment, run up and down the bleachers and come home and read every morning. What a sweet time!!! I'd never been happier. When my friend Jameson first saw me after my conversion -- (he's the guy that would sit across from me and yell back and forth with me about Catholicism, faith, and the like), I didn't have to even tell him. He said to me, "You look different." I was... While he came back to school getting his master's in gym, we would meet up once a week in the coffee house and studied Revelation.

During this time, I also grew in my friendship with Shara... We basically had three initial meetings, the first of which I don't remember. She apparently came up to me after a 'ting' show at Jim's Diner and asked how to play a chord. My first memory of her was rehearsing the song 'friend' out side of the theater where we were playing a benefit show. And the third, we met driving down hickory, her in her white Oldsmobile (?) and me in my VW bug. She was with Steve Wilder, and they were on their way to go see 'Rob Roy'. I joined them. After that, I just remember us being friends. We clicked, and eventually started playing together. I got to play some shows in Denton with her, worked on her CD, and then she moved to Russia for a short time. When she and James (her husband) moved back, she asked if I wanted to move to New York City with them and start a band. Of course I said yes... Shara and I had the same vision when it came to music, yet came from such different backgrounds, that we were constantly introducing each other to new stuff.

Also during this time, Jameson began dating Shara's sister, Tamra. They would stand outside in the parking lot of Greg (my roommate and dear friend) and I's apartment after Dallas Cowboy watching parties for hours. They'd be out there from 6:30pm until nearly midnight! Just talking and laughing... They ended up marrying just before we moved to NYC.

These two years were the best in my life up until this point. I had never known such happiness. I never had laughed so much, laughing so hard that it hurt! I was at such peace. I was getting healthy. I was on top of the mountain and really didn't think life could ever get any better.

Who knew that I was about to start tumbling down and life was about to turn for the absolute worse??