My Testimony
How I became a Born-Again, Bass Playing,
Jesus Worshipping Christian!
When I was in a Catholic School called St. Columbkills in South Central Los Angeles, I remember our 5th grade teacher was named Mrs. Toothshark.
When it was time for our bible lesson a nun would come in and teach us. One day while she was teaching us the bible she said Jesus Loves me.
I was blown away. Jesus loves even little me? Wow. My heart went out to Jesus and I loved Him as He loves me.
But, alas, no follow-up in the catholic school, so no spiritual growth, but the seed was planted!
Yes, Indeed.
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When it was time for our bible lesson a nun would come in and teach us. One day while she was teaching us the bible she said Jesus Loves me.
I was blown away. Jesus loves even little me? Wow. My heart went out to Jesus and I loved Him as He loves me.
But, alas, no follow-up in the catholic school, so no spiritual growth, but the seed was planted!
Yes, Indeed.
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500 Miles 1970
JOB CORPS
I had been arrested several times as a juvenile and once when I was arrested when I was 17 years old the judge gave me a sentence, either juvenile camp or Job Corps. So I chose Job Corps, in Clearfield, Utah, just outside of Ogden. While at Job Corps we, a few of us, namely Gilbert and Carlos and myself, (Not their real names) joined the radical group called the Brown Berets in Salt Lake City, Utah. We found out about a Chicano Moratorium that was to take place in Denver, Colorado and we wanted to go. But we were all housed in the Job Corps Complex in Clearfield, Utah. We had to "escape" in order to go. THE GREAT ESCAPE So one night we devised an escape plan for the 3 of us. Gilbert, who was not part of Job Corps, was to get a car, and Carlos and I were to escape and join him behind the Job Corps Theater and drive off to Salt Lake City. But word got out and 3 soon grew to 15 persons that wanted to escape. The night came for our "Great Escape". Under cover of darkness we used wire cutters to cut the fence behind the Job Corps Theater. While we had look outs for the nightly patrol, we all got out one by one and hid in a field of tall grass. Across the field Gilbert was waiting with a small compact car. How did he know 3 was now 15? From the field of tall grass we could see his car. We ran to the car one by one. I ran first and told Gilbert that there were 15 of us! He looked at me and said, "What???" By this time the others were getting in the car and there was nothing gilbert could do. Once there everybody had to squeeze in real tight, including one little feller in the trunk! So off we went. We took the 15 South to Salt Lake City. The highway patrol stopped us. There were too many in the front seat. They said we could only have up to 3 in the front seat. They didn't care how many in the back seat. But they also said absolutely no one in the trunk! A few others did not have IDs and some had warrants. So our load was made lighter. When we arrived into Salt Lake City there was a noise, so Gilbert drove to a gas station to check out the noise. Once we got there the rear axle broke from all the weight! Gilbert, Carlos and myself went our own way and the we bade farewell to the others who were going to another location, probably for a party. SALT LAKE CITY We stood in Salt Lake City with some Peace Corps workers for about one month. Then came time to leave for the week long Chicano Moratorium Conference where Corky Gonzales and a few other radicals were to speak, that was to be held in Denver, Colorado. We would hitch hike because we had no transportation. We left 3 days ahead of the Conference. We didn't have any money for backpacks or stuff so, as it was winter and snowing, we put on 2 t-shirts, 2 regular button down shirts, Job Corp Jacket and a poncho. A Mexican Zarape Poncho. We all three had on Mexican Zarape Ponchos over our Job Corps Jackets! Completely oblivious to the extreme racism that existed in Utah in the 70's! We said good bye to our girlfriends, not knowing we would ever see them again. OUR FIRST RIDE Our plan was to take State Highway 40 to State Highway 70 into Denver, Colorado. However, we didn't know it at the time there was a heavy snowstorm and the highway patrol had closed off highway 40 in Utah. Our first ride was a van that took us from Salt lake City up to the Mountains. The driver offered us some beer. I was reading a Superman Comic in the back of the van. We took the 80 East to the 215 South to the 171 East to the 190 (Big Cottonwood Canyon Road). He dropped us off there. We walked a long way on that highway. As we hitch-hiked several vehicles came close to hitting us on purpose. They would drive on the shoulder we were walking on. We had to dive into the bushes several times to avoid being hit. I guess they didn't like hitch-hikers in them there part of the woods! Another incident happened as a wolf appeared ahead of us on the shoulder. Gilbert said it was just a large dog, looked part German Shepherd and Husky. But Carlos and I believe it was a wolf. We crossed the highway to walk on the other side, carrying large sticks with us in case the dog or wolf decided to come at us. It didn't so we continued walking and hitch-hiking. Another thing that kept happening to us: Cars would see us hitch-hiking using our thumbs and they would take aim at us. Forcing us to take a dive into the bushes on the side of the road! The tire tracks left behind showed that if we didn't move we would have been ran over! And this happened several times. We figured it was our Mexican Zarapes like waving a red flag at a bull. BUT, it was so cold there was no way we were going to remove them. We just had to be very careful and quick. HEBER Then from there we finally took highway 40 South towards Heber City, Utah. As we walked past the city we notice we were on the main cruising strip. All 4 blocks of it. We saw the same cars cruising around and around the same city blocks. What a contrast from the cruising on Whittier Bl. It would take one hour to go from Eastern Ave. to Atlantic Bl. on Whittier Bl. Here they would go round in circles about every 10-15 minutes. Onward we walked, even as some of the guys would drive by us slower and make snide comments. We ignored them and kept walking. We did stopped in a coffee shop and with our $1 dollar and sixty-five cents we bought 2 cups of coffee and one doughnut. I didn't drink coffee so I had water. We finally left Heber and was now on Highway 40. It had started to snow but our heavy duty clothing and our walking was keeping us warm. We had walked about 30 miles outside of Heber. The highway seem pretty empty, but after all, this was the outskirts of Utah. A car was approaching so we held our thumbs up once again to hitch-hike. It was snowing. The car past us by. We couldn't see very good due to the snow which was starting to fall heavier. The car slowed and pulled over. We hoped they would not pull away in a cruel joke as many had done before. As we came closer we saw something on top of the roof of the car. It looked like 2 red lights with something chrome in the middle. THE HIGHWAY PATROL The lone patrolman told us to get inside. He said hitch-hiking on the highways was a misdemeanor. We would have to spend the night in the city jail. So off we went to the city jail. Which city? Heber, of course. 30 miles back. He didn't handcuffed us and treated us alright. Well, it was a triple treat in our favor. It was really beginning to snow and we would have been very cold walking in the night. So we now had a warm place to spend the night. We were the only ones in that nice warm jail. We also had a place to sleep and they fed us breakfast in the morning. Another thing. The highway Patrol told us the highway to go directly to Denver was closed due to the heavy snow fall. We would have never made it that way! We would have froze in that cold solitude. Whew! OUT OF THERE The next day after breakfast we started walking out of Heber. We decided to go north bound on State Highway 40 to Interstate 80 East through Wyoming, all the way to Interstate 225 South into Denver, Colorado. We had walked outside of Heber and onto the next rest area. We saw a man looking at a map over the hood of his car. We walked over and said if we can help. He probably thought we were going to rob him or something. 3 thug-looking "Hispanics" in Utah??? Remember, Utah was a very racist state, and we had run into a lot of racist people. They tried to run us down! I was not racist and I could not, even while a youth, understand this thing "against" certain people of different colored skin. My dad was racist. I was not. I had this friend once when we were in Junior High who was black. He was my best friend. Once I brought him into my house, to my room, so we could play. After, when he left, my father told me that I should not ever let him into our house again. I said why not? He said because he was black. I was waiting for him to say something like, "Black and.....". But he didn't. Just because he was black. That was all!? I thought about it. What was wrong with being black. I thought about it seriously but could not find a logical reasoning behind the fact of skin color. Hmm, my dad must be prejudice, I thought. Man, I don't ever want to be like that, That is a trait I did not want to share with my dad. Once him and another friend of mine and I went to a hotel in downtown Los Angeles looking for another friend. It was a racist hotel against blacks but we didn't know that. We ask at the front desk what room our other friend was in. They told us upsatirs in room 202, so off we all three ran upstairs. Once inside our friend look at us and said, "Did they say anything against your friend here?" What would they say we asked. He said the hotel did not permit blacks upstairs, only to wait in the lobby. There had never been a black person upstairs in the history of that hotel. Dang, we were glad to break that record! Racism was alive and well in Utah also, in the 70's. He said he was just checking out the route he was going to take to get to New Orleans. We saw he had marked on his map with a highlighter the route from Utah to New Orleans. It showed that he was going to pass through Denver, Colorado. He was going east on the 189, 30, 191, 287, 80, 30, then South on the 87 to Denver! Our destination. What a coincidence! He thought about it for awhile and then said yes, he could give us a ride all the way from Heber, Utah to Denver, Colorado. But, he said, we could not sleep with him in the hotel at night, we were welcomed to sleep in the car. So after a whole day driving, later that night we slept in the car while the man slept in the hotel. Mountain, Desert and Snow, oh my! The next day we left to continue our journey. It was a beautiful day. Clear. Sun shinning. It was about mid day when the incident occurred. We were driving in the desert with nothing but flat land all around us. No cities. No other cars. No one around for miles. We said it looked like a forsaken desert. We were travelling about 80 MPH. We soon came to a mountain. The highway went up and up and eventually through the mountain. It was dark inside but we soon came out on the other side. We were high up and the highway starting going down again. We could see far ahead of us into the horizon. No other cars but our car. Nothing to our right or left but small bushes here and there and patches of melting snow from the snow storm two nights ago. We were still making about 80 MPH when the highway once again turned flat. The highway was built up from the road. To leave the highway would send your car into the soft shoulder sand and into a roll as the shoulder was sloping downward. We were traveling along when someone said, "Hey there's a car!" "Cool", someone said. Wow, we didn't feel so isolated. There was actually another human being in these parts. We could see the car far off in the horizon. At first it was tiny, like a fly on the windshield. But was we got closer and closer we could see that this tiny fly was coming at us in our lane! Well, what do we do? If we got in the left lane, if he was asleep and realized he was in the wrong lane as we got closer he might, by instinct, turn back into his lane and we would hit head on. Should we leave the highway? We would turn over in that soft sand. We were getting closer and closer and something had to be done. If we stood in our lane and it continued in our lane, head on! What are we going to do. As both cars got closer and closer we were running out of options. We should stop and make a right turn into the sand, at lease we won't crash or roll over. But the driver didn't want to do that. As we got nearer the conversation stoppped and we all held our breath. What would the driver do? Swerve right and risk a roll over or swerve left and risk a head on??? Or stay in our lane hoping that it would swerve away back into it's lane??? At the very last minute, or rather, last second, our driver swerved to the left on the opposite lane and we past each other at 80 MPH avoiding a 160 MPH head on collision. The other car zipped right past us at a continual high rate of speed. I could see the male driver, holding on with both arms straight on the steering wheel, wide awake and never slowing down at all. And continuing in that lane behind us as he disappeared into the mountain. We all took a deep breathe of air and thanked the driver for his decision, knowing that God had intervened. I couldn't help but think about the next car that man was going to meet. As we entered Colorado we didn't know that police from all over the state were made aware of the massive meeting taking place at Denver. As we neared Denver we got pulled over by a motorcycle police. When we mentioned our destination he said he would show us where the location was. He wanted us to follow him. So we had our own police escort into the location. March 25 - 29, 1970, 2nd National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference held in Denver, Colorado, Host, Corky Gonzales, 3,000 people attended. ...more to come...3-3-13... Entering Colorado Corky Gonzales The Shooting The Journey Home Albuquerque, New Mexico - Knock Out East Los Angeles - Home at Last! |
California Jam Testimony
Mr Vicor and Mr Miranda
For the past 2 months prior to the California Jam we had been having bible studies at my friend William's house with 2 of his co-workers, 2 elderly gentlemen by the name of Mr. Miranda and Mr. Vicor who were filled with the Holy Spirit and were not afraid of preaching and teaching 2 drugged induced and drunk teenagers. I remember the first Tuesday I had a "question" that the Jehovah Witnesses, who had been visiting my home for the past 4 weeks, could not answer. First Tuesday - Feb. 12, 1974 Pot Smoking, Beer Drinking and Closed Windows! Smoked Pot before they came but we were drinking beer and smoking cigarettes while they were giving us bible studies. We kept the windows closed, they probably went home buzzed a little, or the Lord supernaturally kept them sober. He can do that, you know. We offered them some beer but they refused. Oh well. It was this first meeting that Mr. Miranda answered a question that the Jehovah's Witnesses, who had tried for 4 Saturdays and had not answer, could not answer. But Mr. Miranda could and he did. He simply said, "Well, Eddie, that's right here in the bible..." and proceeded to open the bible to the Old testament and read and show me the answer. I thought, wow, dude, he answered that question so fast and effortlessly, man, this dude knows his bible, but those JW's didn't know their bible. The following Saturday, when the JW's came to my home I said, "Stop coming around, you guys don't know your bible, BYE!" And I slammed the door shut on them and never saw them again. Second Tuesday - Feb 19, 1974 Pot Smoking, Beer Drinking and Opened Windows! The Holy Spirit started convicting us. On this Tuesday, we thought the smoke was a little heavy, so we decided to open the windows. We let them breathe a little easier, maybe they were really praying for us. Third Tuesday - Feb 26, 1974 Smoked Pot, Drank Beer BEFORE they came. Open Windows. More conviction by the Holy Spirit This Tuesday, before they came, we sprayed the room with room freshener. We were a little thoughtful of them. Fourth Tuesday - March 5, 1974 Holy Spirit continues to convict even before they came over. God was working! Decided to smoke pot and drink beer early in the day way before bible study. It was getting interesting and we wanted to hear and understand everything they were saying about Jesus Christ, God and the Bible. We no longer smoked cigarettes while they taught us the bible. Fifth Tuesday - March 12, 1974 * Holy Tuesdays * How God works! We decided that Tuesdays were now officially a HOLY day for us. We smoked pot and drank everyday, so since this was a holy day, we thought we should, and we could, refrain from drinking or smoking pot on that day. But we still smoked cigarettes. So, no more pot smoking and beer drinking on Tuesdays. I'm sure Mr. Miranda and Mr. Vicor were thanking and praising the Lord for that. Well, no more pot smoking on Tuesdays until AFTER bible studies. 6-8 Tuesdays - March 19, 1974 - April 2, 1974 We little angels Now we offered them sodas or coffee and cakes and desserts. We turned out to be really good host to them. AND, we didn't smoke pot before or after bible study, we even talked about what they had taught us afterwards. Tuesdays were now Holy Days for us. We would not get high on Tuesdays! We learned a lot about the bible from them. I learn a lot about the so called "Rapture" and the last days. So...when The Eagles were playing and the sky divers were coming down and...well, wait for the testimony, I'll explain. Although we learned a lot we still didn't commit our lives to the Lord at this point. They never asked us if we wanted to receive Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour. And now, The California Jam... On February 17th, 1974 an ad appeared in southern California newspapers announcing California Jam, a twelve hour rock concert to be held at the Ontario Motor Speedway located fifty miles by freeway from Los Angeles. Several weeks before the event the anticipated audience was expected to exceed 100,000 people. A stage large enough to support the many tons of equipment and personnel of eight major rock groups had to be built from 500 sections of scaffolding, and covered with 23,000 square feet of plywood. To support a 54,000 watt sound system capable of covering a square mile, four sound towers were erected to a total height of fifteen (15?) stories. To move all the stage equipment around, sections of the stage were built over 600 feet of railroad track. A million watts of power were generated to light up everything from the stage to the parking lot. Six-thousand feet of temporary fence, a million and a half gallons of water, first aid centers, 1500 employees, artists, stagehands, ticket takers, security people, hot dog sellers all coming together to have everything ready for the morning of April 6th. LSD Vendors I went with a friend of mine named Mario. We went in his car. We brought pot with us and some wine. At the entrance Mario bought 2 tabs of White Lightning (LSD laced with methamphetamine - aka SPEED) from the local pusher, who was yelling, "LSD, LSD, WHITE LIGHTNING" like any vendor would call out "Hot Dogs, Come and get your Hot dogs". As we were walking in we saw a man run and jump on a bunch of people. We thought he was probably flipping out on LSD. I hope it wasn't the kind we bought! We walked inside the concert area and found ourselves in an awesome spot for a concert. Right up front by the right tower speaker assembly and in front of the stage, nice view. So we sat down, "dropped" our tabs of acid, smoke some pot and drank some wine and listened to Rare Earth starting off the warm sunshiny day. Acts that performed at the festival in order of appearance:
After a while we saw a naked man climbing the right tower speaker and screaming and yelling. We thought he was flipping out on LSD. 4 security guards had to climb up there and bring him down. I hope we didn't take the LSD he took! I put my lunch bag down, and I took off my heavy jacket I had on. I also took off my tennis shoes to get a bit more comfortable. Mario lay down and took a nap. I was standing (there was no shade) and hearing the music. Rip Current Now what happened next will be hard to explain if you've never been on an LSD trip, but I will try. Since I was on LSD and hallucinating sometimes things didn't appear what they were in real life. As I was just standing there, people were walking by single file on my right side, people coming into the concert looking for a place to sit down. There was a "natural" aisle to my right where people were meandering like a river. In my mind I felt like it was a river current passing by me. When all of a sudden I was "sucked" into this current. I found myself walking in a single file following people that were following other people. Something like a train during a dance. And I just went with the flow forgetting all about Mario, my lunch and...my tennis shoes. I still had my socks on! By the time I was able to get out of this current of people I was standing by the right tower speaker about 50 yards away from where Mario was. But since there were so many people I couldn't find him. I couldn't "see" straight. There was a lot of hallucinations going on in my mind and in my vision, so it was hard to stare and look for something. Visions, things, neon colors, colorful images, some slow melting or slow smearing would fly by my sight and I would get wonderfully distracted. By that time Earth, Wind and Fire, were playing. They finished thier session and The Eagels came on the stage . The Rapture THEN, the Rapture Happened... While The Eagles were playing they announced that there were sky divers falling down on us and would open up their chutes over us. I saw the whole crowd looking up and cheering. I didn't know why. I could not understand the announcer. The sky divers had colored smoked coming out of their ankles. There were 7 sky divers with different colored smoke. You can see the video here: Eagles Instrumental / Greg Burrows Rock & Roll Skydivers / 1974 Well, while under the influence of LSD I could not understand the announcer and I could not make any sense of it all. But having a knowledge of the "Rapture" and hallucinating as much as I was I didn't see sky divers. I saw the "Heavens" opening up on us and falling down on all of us. I thought the Rapture had happened! I thought I had made it to heaven! I was elated. I raised my arms up to heaven. I started yelling and cheering also. I thought, Man, that is great, so cool! Sinners Prayer But then, I stopped and froze. I thought maybe I was not seeing what I thought I was seeing. And maybe I was "flipping" out on LSD like those other guys! I became afraid. Very afraid. Afraid as only one can be afraid while high on LSD. My feelings were amplified about 10 times than normal. My heart was pumping, I was sweating like a horse! I quickly put my arms down and started praying. I remember my prayer: "Lord, get me off of this trip. And if you do, I'll see what I can do for you afterwords. In Jesus Name, Amen". I meant that I would seek and find a church where I would serve Him the rest of my life, and I would see in what manner I can serve him, maybe as a pastor or something, and I meant it! ( I've been serving the Lord in the music ministry since my conversion on June 3, 1974 when I committed my life, my soul, my everything to Him.) Right after that prayer, all my hallucinations subsided, went away. I couldn't believe it. I was still "speeding" from the speed in the LSD, but at least I was not seeing things. Maybe wavy land only, like I was walking on water. Red Cross I looked across this large sea of people in it and saw a white tent with a red cross on it. Ah ha! I thought that maybe I should walk over to that white tent way over there, the one with the red cross on it so just in case I was going to...NO, don't think negative thoughts. Just walk over there. So I made my way over to that white red cross tent. Just in case, you know? As I walked in the direction of that tent I had to take a leak. I had to wait in a very long line but finally relived myself. I pass by the hot dog bar b q so I bought a hot dog in case I was hungry. I hadn't had breakfast or lunch. I really didn't know if I was hungry or not due to the speed, but I ate anyways, just in case. I continued walking, and I remember the ground moving like wavy water, like I was walking on water. I thought of Jesus. I finally made it to the Red Cross Tent and decided to see if I could see a message from Mario posted on the bulletin board. I looked at the bulletin board and all the letters were floating and moving around. I could not read it. But I was much more calmed down and decided to just stick around the Red Cross area and be cool, you know? Just in case. After awhile I found some friends from where I lived and they agreed to give me a ride home after the concert, since I lost Mario. I sat down there and didn't move. The Bottles Incident At some point when Deep Purple were playing someone threw a plastic gallon bottle up in the air. (Glass bottles were not permitted inside the concert area). Well, someone threw it back, then another, then another. Before you know it, everybody was picking up their plastic bottles and throwing them in the air. It was showering on us. People had beer and wine and water and urine in those plastic bottles. And whatever were in those bottles was raining down on us. Everybody thought it was a grand time. But people were getting seriously hurt by some of those bottles and bloodied by some of the sharp edges on some of the more heavier platic bottles. It was getting serious, everbody got involved. In my mind I imagine "demons" flying about and having a great time. I picked up something to cover my head. People were getting hurt when the bottles landed on their heads. Finally they made an announcement to stop throwing the bottles or the concert would be over. And that was the end of the bottle incident. Walking on Broken Glass and Rocks - Jesus Walking on Water After the concert we walked to the parking lot. I still had my socks on. There were small little rocks and broken glass all outside and I was hurting my feet. I remembered the story of Jesus walking on the water. I couldn't walk as fast as the others and I was getting left behind. It was a large crowd and I didn't know where they parked the car. I would get lost and miss my ride home! 50 miles to walk, bummer. But then one of my friends, large, big buddy, saw my predicament and came over and said, "Hop on", so I hopped on his back and he carried me to the car! The acid wore off after one day and a half. A few weeks later - Alex Martin witnessing to me I used to borrow my friend's amplifier to play my bass. He had become a christian just 2 months prior and was excited about Jesus. He told me how to receive Christ as my personal Lord and Savior by simple faith. Then on June 3rd, 1974 11:30 p.m. at 3271 E. Olympic Bl apt 348 in my upstairs bedroom, I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour and gave my life completely to Him! I had had some difficulty going to sleep because of all the drugs I had used. But that night, I slept like a little baby and woke up refreshed! I started studying the bible 3-4 hours everyday that summer of June 1974. I started in 1974 attending First Fundamental Bible Church in East Los Angeles pastored by Alex Montoya, a great pastor. He went through the bible verse by verse, not topical. I learned a lot from him. I also use to go to the christian concerts at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. I brought people there that accepted Christ. I started in the music ministry at First Fundamental Bible Church, East L.A., First Fundamental Bible Church, Monterey Park,First Fundamental Bible Church, La Puente. I have attended various Calvary Chapels through-out my 42 years as a christian musician. I've played on several of the worship teams, playing bass, guitar and or keyboards. I've also played for Christ Church of the Valley (CCV), LIFE Christian Fellowship, Chino, and Parkside Christian Church, Chino. Currently on Hiatus. . Hey,, if you have any opinions, questions or just want to start a conversation e-mail me at [email protected] - God bless you! |
If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Personal Lord and Savior and you want to know Him, say this prayer,
"Dear God, I know I am a sinner and I now believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and was buried and rose on the 3rd day, I now ask you Lord Jesus to come into my heart, my life and become my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you for the free gift of Eternal Life. Thank you for your Mercy and Grace. In Jesus Name, Amen!"
If you prayed that prayer and meant it, find yourself a bible teaching church and start reading your bible. The time is near, don't wait!
If you have any questions, or need help in finding a GOOD church, or for follow-up, don't hesitate, E-mail me! God bless you.
"Dear God, I know I am a sinner and I now believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and was buried and rose on the 3rd day, I now ask you Lord Jesus to come into my heart, my life and become my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you for the free gift of Eternal Life. Thank you for your Mercy and Grace. In Jesus Name, Amen!"
If you prayed that prayer and meant it, find yourself a bible teaching church and start reading your bible. The time is near, don't wait!
If you have any questions, or need help in finding a GOOD church, or for follow-up, don't hesitate, E-mail me! God bless you.
Copyright Eddie Calderon 2011 - 2016
E-mail [email protected].
e-mail me with any questions, opinions or just to start a musical or biblical conversation.
E-mail [email protected].
e-mail me with any questions, opinions or just to start a musical or biblical conversation.