So picture this: Summer of 1997 I had just turned 16 and got my driver's license and signed up to tour around the State of Kentucky with a bunch of kids from churches all over the area as part of the Kentucky State Youth Choir.
I had no prior experience with this singing group, I mainly signed up because my friends told me to.
I also jumped off a cliff right after everyone else did too! (wink)
I could not be prepared for how my life would change that summer and the impact that our two young married leaders would have on my life.
Matt and Heather Bays were in their mid-twenties and agreed to lead our youth choir.
I was instantly amused when I received a cassette tape in the mail with Matt singing both Alto and Soprano parts -on key in his own male singing voice in order to help us to learn our parts to the music.
I would drive around in my car listening to this young man singing in a woman voice..needless to say I was the coolest girl in school.
What I loved most about Matt and Heather was that they treated us like grown ups. They spoke to us like we were their friends and not some dumb teenagers that didn't have a clue.
It might have been the first time any adult had ever done that for me.
They gave us all nick names, played games with us, sang songs, and helped us to nosey around host home's closets to find hidden treasures.
In 1998, Matt and Heather took another job and moved away. Long before social media, I wondered if we would ever see them again...
(This a picture of our choir on the "tour bus" back in 1997)
Fast forward to 2007, nearly 10 years since those choir days, I searched for Matt and Heather on Facebook and found them! I could not wait to connect with them and was shocked to find out that they were living only a few miles from me in the next town over!
The thing that I love about Matt is that even though YEARS have gone by, he still treats me like a friend and acts as though time has not passed at all! He has a gift in making people feel comfortable and loved....even liked! Now that I work in church leadership, coaching other leaders that influence the Next Generation, I realize that the seed that Matt and Heather planted in my heart as a teenager was not for nothing! God used them to lead me and build me into who I am today!
Today, I finished a book Matt wrote about his life called "Finding God in the Ruins" and asked me to read it prior to it's release. (Next Month) I am not sure I knew what to expect as Matt was always a Super Hero to me...and for the record, he still is!
I didn't know anything about his childhood or about what he had been dealing with though his life. He wore a "happy life mask" very well and I would have never guessed what he has suffered through and continues to overcome.
There are parts of this book when I felt heartbroken and angry and in the next breath found myself belly laughing. Matt is a great story teller... you feel like you are right there with him through every story he shares.
(I even sent him a text that said "I hate you for making belly laugh in a book about your sad childhood.)
Matt is a "noticer of people." He doesn't miss details and they way he describes people and places is one of my favorite parts of this book.
**There are some great 1980s pop culture references woven through the entire book. I LOVE THE 80's! Who doesn't!? BONUS!
With that said, I once heard that God is not concerned with a life that is picture perfect, instead God is more concerned with our stories of restoration and redemption.
This book is a story of restoration and redemption...and a hopeful journey to keep growing.
Without giving Matt's story away, I will say that what I have taken from his words and his story is that we can never know what someone is going through.
We all wear masks and try to navigate this life as if we were in control of it. We hide our stories in hopes that we protect loved ones and ourselves. If we lie about who we are... it is possible that we could even convince ourselves that we are who we pretend be.
I suspect there are things that we all do that. I do!
I mask my story with humor and wear it like a big warm fluffy coat. I have always felt like if people thought I was funny..then it wouldn't matter what my story is.
Maybe our stories don't match but we all have pain and heartache. We look around and feel like we are knee deep in the aftermath of our world falling apart around us. We try to survey the damage and hurry to clean up the mess so that nobody else can see it! We stuff way down deep in hopes that it will just go away...But the truth is God wants to use our stories-even the hard ones to tell.
God shows up in unexpected ways...for Matt, for me, and for you....in our pain-and together we will find him.
We will find God in the ruins.
To Pre Order Finding God in the Ruins click HERE
