I grew up in Luling, LA (a suburb of New Orleans). I have two younger sisters. Angie is 21 and is getting married in June. She's at L.A. Tech getting a degree in Primary Education. Dana is 18 and is working on becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant. It's interesting that we've all chosen career paths that help people to get better, learn, and grow. I don't get to see them much, but I'm hoping that as we get older I can hang out with them more.
My parents divorced when I was 7. I didn't have the greatest childhood, but from adversity comes strength. My parents did the best they could and I love them for it. It's only now that I'm starting to see the humanity and depravity that lives inside of all of us. My parents are great people that made some really bad decisions for a while. As I look inside myself, I can see the same qualities. It's very easy to fall into path where you never thought you be, just by making a few bad decisions. Look at the life of David the King. He went from lust, to adultery, to murder. I think selfishness plays a part, but such is humanity in its fallen state.
I was one of those smart kids through school: the ones with all the 'potential' but are too lazy (or bored) to do anything with it. God has decided to repay the favor by giving me tons of students that are VERY similar to me. Touche' God. Around my freshmen year of high school, two awesome things happened. I found God and I found music. I had known both of these before (I had grown up Catholic and played sax in band for quite some time), but they both became more real to me and became a driving force and catalyst for the next stage in my life.
Growing up Catholic, I knew a lot about God but never knew God or that He was possible to be known. I have heard that Catholicism is different in different parts of the country, but in New Orleans it is a cultural thing. You are Catholic, because your mom was catholic. You go to church because it's what you are supposed to do. All in all, the Catholicism that I experienced growing up was very little about God and very much about cultural ties, heritage, and blind ignorant faith. [I'm sure I'll post more on this later, but faith and reason go hand in hand. It does no good to simply say "I just believe" in the face of overwhelming support for something else. I am speaking of Catholicism, but this is true of all Christianity. Jesus is The Truth, right? Augustine said that "All Truth is God's Truth". Therefore, seek Truth and there you will find God. Don't be afraid to look for the answers and ask the tough questions. Blind, ignorant faith does not help you or the cause of Christianity. But I digress...] I left the Catholic church when I was 14. Around this time you are supposed to go through Confirmation, that is a ritual where you confirm that you believe everything that Catholicism stands for. My mom was not happy about me leaving the church, but could understand that I could not openly acknowledge something I did not believe. I did not believe it because I had recently started attending a Bible Church with my best friend Justin Pohlmann. Through him and his family I saw that faith could be real. That there was something to this God that I had heard so much about. I decided to follow Jesus after a retreat where Adrian Dupre, the speaker, gave a very convincing sermon/drama about exactly what Jesus did on the cross and who He did it for. At last I realized that Jesus died for ME. It was personal, and I pledged my life to follow the Man who had given His life for me.
Shortly thereafter, I decided that if I was going to follow Jesus than I needed to truly serve Him. This meant, for me, surrendering to a life of ministry. I wasn't really sure what my calling was, but Justin's mom jokingly (at least I think it was jokingly...hmm) suggested that we should go to Christian clown college. Except we didn't take it as a joke. There really is such a thing. I was ready to spend my life 'Juggling for Jesus'. Luckily, as I mentioned earlier, I also got into music around this same time.
I picked up the guitar when I was 14. My Dad bought me one from one of his drunken friends. I remember looking at it in awe, and when I got it inside and cleaned it out, inside of the soundhole I found cigarette butts, bear cans, mardi gras beads, even a stuffed animal! As crazy as it was, this was the start of my ministry. I joined a band with Justin, his brother Andrew, and another friend, Ryan Kessler shortly thereafter. We called ourselves Tried by Fire, after a verse in 1 Corinthians. Looking back, I thought that I was really hardcore. I wore JNCOs (which I still have) long after they weren't cool, had an embarrassing amount of 'flame' shirts (We were called tried by FIRE, weren't we?), and had multicolored spiked up hair...and we can't forget the bright yellow Jesus shoes (which I still have). I got made fun of a lot, but I figured that that was the price you pay for being cool. In hindsight, I looked really dumb and deserved to get made fun of. You live you learn, right?
I played with a few other bands and eventually decided that I should probably look into youth and music ministry. I had a passion for God, a passion for students, and a passion for music. I looked all around the nation for great Christian colleges: Baylor, Colorado Christian, Moody. But God had other plans for me. I wound up in a small Bible college in the town of Birmingham, AL. This was definitely not where I wanted to be, but it was exactly where I needed to be.
To be continued...
-shane
