Everyone of us is searching for something. In many ways, I’ve been searching for that something since childhood. A love of music and dreams of fame occupied those longings as a young child but in high school that search led to experimenting with drugs and started me down a path of self-destruction. Realizing it was a path to nowhere I joined the military and music took a back seat. The military gave me a temporary sense of purpose but didn’t satisfy that longing and upon returning home partying and drugs again took center stage in my life. Music was back in the picture too but singing and playing drums in cover bands and trying to find my fit in the music scene by introducing methamphetamines into my world only served to put my life in a downward spiral. Within a year and half, I found myself behind bars, serving 5 years of an 8-year prison sentence.

In that darkness, God pursued me through a program called Celebrate Recovery. After years in prison and continuing to use drugs, I rededicated my life to Jesus. When I was released in 2011, I started working to rebuild my life and marriage. Since then, life has had its share of detours and roadblocks but God in his goodness has pursued me and given me an opportunity to use my love of music to serve Him.

I had lost everything, but God hadn’t lost sight of me. If I can come from losing everything to a place of grace and redemption, I know God can do that for anyone.

A friend recently asked me why I continue to love and serve God as opposed to going back to that old lifestyle. The answer is simple…this is better. God’s goodness, forgiveness, and grace was the something I had searched for. The walls around my heart and the chains of addiction were broken by His love. If I can use music to point those lost and searching to Jesus – to that something “better” – than my journey was worth it.

There are a thousand different ways to share the hope of Jesus. I choose a microphone, a stage, and a some good ol’ Christian Country Southern Rock, or as we like to call it #OutlawGospel!