My name is Todd; but, some call me T-Dawg! What about me? I love life, I love my wife and kids, and I love Jesus! So, how did I get here? Well….
While my parents took us kids to church regularly growing up, I never really got into it. Don’t get me wrong, I was involved in church even as a teenager and enjoyed hanging out with the other kids and all, but the fun of it was more important to me then than the Truth behind it…..Oh if I had known then what I know now.
My dad bought me my first drum when I was eleven. It was a snare drum that I played in band in middle school. I loved it. I was hooked. I beat the tar out of that thing. I played drums in the school band until I was a freshman in high school. At fourteen I thought football and girls were way more cool than band, so I dumped band and the drums. I became larger than life, or so I thought. Looking back, an arrogant punk kid would have been a more accurate description of me. That arrogance convinced me I was invincible. I began to go to parties and began experimenting with various drugs and alcohol. You can see it starting to get bad here huh? Yep….
I was introduced to a girl named Cheryl at a pizza restaurant when I was sixteen. She had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen and I was in love from the start. She was a Christian girl with a strong sense of discernment and she didn’t want to have anything to do with me. She was the smart one because I was turning out to be quite a bad kid. With the help of some of her friends, I convinced her to go out with me. Somehow, we hit it off. We dated all the way through high school. My senior year my dad bought me my first full drum set. I think it was actually from Sears. Wow! I thought I was cool. I would sit for hours at a time playing along with the heavy metal blaring from my home stereo. I didn’t have any formal instruction from there on……what a mistake!
Cheryl and I ended up going to the same college and we married while still in school. The bad news is the partying that I started in high school never stopped. Yea, I know, this is a bummer to read, but just keep reading, it gets good at the end.
I dropped out of college to get a job to support my new wife. By the time I was twenty one, Cheryl and I started a business. At this point, alcoholism controlled me. We went through several businesses and moved often to get a “fresh start”. I never could kick it. I was violent, abusive and angry most of the time, yet the Lord blessed Cheryl and I with two beautiful children during this time. I checked myself into the first of two rehab trips and stayed sober for only a few weeks after getting out.
We moved to the Dallas, Texas area where we got another “fresh start”. I got a job, and we started attending church at my boss’s church in Plano, Texas. The Lord soon blessed us with our third child. My new job was going just great until the alcoholism and my attitude got me fired. I’d always been great at getting businesses up and running so, back into self employment I went. It was fantastic. We experienced what I thought were all kinds of blessings. What I didn’t realize at the time was that God was causing that success to prepare the circumstances He would use to break me.
Our business really exploded and we opened a branch in another part of the state. I spent three months away from my wife and children, during which I partied like there was no tomorrow. During the three months I was gone, Cheryl gained the strength she needed to be able to stand up to my abusiveness and alcoholism. As you might guess, I partied my new business straight into the ground, and had to come back home defeated. Cheryl and the kids left me and she filed for divorce just a couple of weeks after my return home. I was devastated.
I rented a commercial property a couple of days before Cheryl left. The landlord, Frankie, and I were talking one day and I asked, this complete stranger the following question: “If I am a Christian, then why does all of this bad stuff keep happening to me?”. Well, she had no idea what I was talking about, but, God had prepared her for this moment in time. She ran into her office and retrieved her Bible. When she returned she was laughing and said “I have your answer and now I have mine too!” I thought she was crazy. What did she mean by that? Well, she asked me some questions and then gave me my answer. She said: “Todd, its simple, you are not a Christian”. Now, I had been in church my entire life, so I was sure she was a lunatic. She told me that when I was ready to be real with God, that He would be ready for me, adding that until I was ready to be real I could just continue playing Christian.
A couple of days later, I decided to commit suicide. Right at the moment I was about to slice my wrist with a razor, the thought occurred to me to call Frankie. I argued with myself for a couple of hours, because after all, she was a lunatic right? I gave in and called her. I was at my rope’s end and she knew it. It was finally time, I was broken – completely. She told me to confess everything I had ever done to Jesus Christ, ask Him to forgive me, trust Him to forgive me, and surrender my life to Him. I did just that, and actually begged Jesus to save my life. He did!
God delivered me from the slavery of alcoholism, abuse and drug addiction. God is amazing. I experienced forgiveness and love like never before in my entire life. God’s love engulfed me and changed my heart for ever. God also changed Cheryl’s heart and moved her with compassion, love and forgiveness. Cheryl, this amazing godly woman, empowered by the Spirit of the God of forgiveness, saw fit to forgive me for all of the pain I had caused her. Cheryl and I were reunited in Christ, renewing our vows. Since that time, God has blessed our family with his love continuously!
Oh, and the crazy woman Frankie?....She wasn't crazy after all. She was a servant of the Living God. Do you remember when she came back out of her office with her Bible saying "I have your answer and now I have mine too!"? Yea, see it's the "I have mine too" part I thought was crazy. It turns out that God had put on her heart a couple of weeks before she met me to study Galatians 5:19-21. As a Christian, she didn't understand why God had put a passage like that on her heart to study. She later told me that she actually argued with God, saying she did not practice the "deeds of the flesh" and was confused by the burden He put on her heart to know this passage well. Frankie confessed to me that when she met me, and I asked her, this complete stranger, the question I did, she immediately got her answer from God. I was the reason why He wanted her to learn that passage. God used Frankie to communicate His truth to me.
In the past couple of years, our children have given their lives to Christ, and I have had the great honor of baptizing them. Cheryl and I worship and serve together as the Celebrate Recovery Ministry Leaders at Lifeway Church in Celina, Texas.
“Whatever, We’re Called!” was formed in the summer of 2006. I consider myself fortunately blessed by God to be a part of such an incredible ministry. Band members, Anthony, Josh, Kyle and Charlie are amongst my dearest friends and a pure joy to serve God with. Our passion to share the love of Christ through music and evangelism is what I live for.
Since that time when God saved me from the path of destruction I was on, I have not lived a perfect life; but, I can tell you that the love of Jesus Christ is amazing! Whenever I get off track, He is quick to gently woo me back to himself. God’s patience and power are indescribable, and I love Him for them. That’s my story. I owe everything to the King of Kings and the God of my life, Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord!
Wanna learn how you can be freed from the chains that enslave you? Send me an email. Let's talk.
Todd