I've had a guitar in my hands since I was three. We were inseparable. It was a source of joy and dreams, but not without frustration and disappointment. Nevertheless I thought it was my life's purpose. The guitar has been there in my loneliness and has been the center of most my friendships. But the combination of me and the guitar has always been incomplete, something has always been missing.
I've always counted on my guitar for income and recreation. We've done alot things together, recording bands, studio sessions, films, books, touring, concerts, weddings, parties and nightclubs, but we started to self-destruct. Everything that was good, precious and decent in my life, like my wife, my family and my desire to be the best I could be, was being destroyed.
Playing in bars for little money and starting the night off with a few drinks was taking it's toll on me and my family. It came to the point where I didn't think I could play "Good enough" without a couple of beers, which was never just "a couple".
With me holding the reins of my life I finally drove the stagecoach "Over the cliff" with my family and my guitar in it. Everyone and everything aboard was crushed. There at the bottom of the dark canyon laid a once proud man.
As I laid there in my brokeness, a man named Jesus Christ came to me and said, " I was worried about you, you strayed so far away, I knew you must be lost and hurt. Now I am so glad I have found you." I answered Him "Lord, why would You be glad to find me? I have made such a mess of the life You gave me and hurt everyone dear to me. I've never made time for You and I was never proud of You. Why would You want me?" He replied to me "Because I love you and still believe in you." Then He asked me, " Rich, would you like Me to take over the reins?" I responded, "Please, and.... Lord, please forgive me."
So He picked me up, dusted off my jeans, took me to His house, healed my broken leg and began to work miracles in my life. He gave the one I hurt so badly and loved so much, the divine ability to forgive. Now my life is resting in better hands because Jesus holds the reins of my life. My prayer is that I never become so confident that I try to take them back again.
At the end of one of my guitar books I wrote, "Take your education seriously because it is the only thing you can depend on." I was wrong. The saving grace of Jesus Christ is the only thing in this world and the next, that you can depend on.
He cared enough to find me. I'm taking His friendship very seriously. Now there is a completeness in my life like never before. THANK GOD.
