I hope you’re enjoying the Christmas season! You know the ancient church celebrated Christmas from the beginning of Advent—all the way through the first week or so of the New Year. I’d have to bone up on my history to get the exact dates  but the point is—Christmas is not just a day—it’s a season, an extended time set aside each year to reflect upon and give thanks for the gift of Jesus Christ! I encourage and challenge you to make time this Christmas season to reflect and pray and express your gratitude to God for all that He has done for you in Christ. And I hope this devo will help you do that. It’s not necessarily a “Christmas” devo… but the message is certainly related. Enjoy!

Glen Kaiser’s story… Rob Deacon’s story… Your story?

I could go on for hours talking about how many different Christian Metal Bands impacted me musically and spiritually. I think for me the band that has had the most impact on me getting my life back on track is Rez. During the late 80’s I was really strong in my faith. The only music that I allowed myself to listen to was Christian music. My faves at the time were Bride, Bloodgood, Stryper, Vengeance Rising and Barren Cross.

Around 1990 I started to backslide. I remember talking to Roger Martinez about secular music at Kingdom Bound Festival in Buffalo, NY. While he was not condemning about it he asked me to recite any STYX lyrics and then give him 3 verses in the Bible about Salvation. I had no problem quoting STYX lyrics but could only come up with John 3:16.

During this time period I was getting turned off to Christianity because of some things I saw happening in the church. Unfortunately this incident turned me off even more, although Roger Martinez was in the right and I was not. From about 1990 til about 1997 my musical tastes shifted and ran the gamut from Pantera to NIN and Biohazzard.

Fast forward to 1998 my musical tastes were shifting again from “modern/alternative ” metal bands back to more traditional/progressive metal music. This was as a result of Geno’s Axecaliber show. I was and still am into bands such as Dream Theater, Symphony X and Narnia. I still was not following God at this point and my wife would attest to that fact.

One day I was driving in my car when out of the blue I decided to put on Rez’s double live CD. I wasn’t interested in any of the spiritual stuff I just wanted to rock out. I remembered every lyric and was singing along. I got to the ballad Paint A Picture. Before the song started Glen Kaiser proclaimed that “This song was his story and perhaps it was mine too.” The song describes how he had reached the bottom and how he came to know/rediscover the love of Christ. The last verse goes: “Paint a Picture of a broken heart, see that picture and you can start to understand the Love of the Savior and oh how he understands you. Paint a Picture of a blood covered Cross see that picture and you’ll know what it costs, the price God paid to prove his love for you.” Those words actually brought tears to my eyes as I was singing them and I realized that I needed to make things right with the Lord. I wasn’t quite sure what to do at that moment but when I came home I told my wife of what had happened. I told her that I thought I was spiritually bankrupt and needed to make some changes. I was not sure of how to do this but I think that my wife was praying for me. The change did not take place immediately as we needed to find a good church. That process took a long time, as we were not fully committed to finding a Church until 2001 when we discovered Lake Shore Community Church in Greece, NY. I really liked this church because the messages were simple and what our pastor (Vince DiPaola) was saying seemed to make sense. I still needed to get rid of alot of baggage from my life and God is still working on me. On March 7, 2003 (which also happens to be my birthday) I made the decision to be baptized. Pastor Vince had asked me to give my testimony to the Church just right before being dunked and I shared how God had taken me from a period of severe back sliding to now once again following God and I quoted the lyrics to Rez’s Paint A Picture and told how God had used that song to bring me back to him. This was really the first step of my renewed faith in Christ.

There were moments after this point when I have not been right, but God is not threw with me yet. You see it wasn’t that song alone or really the music of any band that got me to get right. It was God using the music of REZ to bring me to a point of realizing I was on the wrong path and needed to make changes. Because of God using the lyrics to that song I realized my need for him, and he led me to a wonderful Bible Believing Church that has also given me the skills to read the Bible and have a daily quiet time with the Lord every day. I am proud to say that even though I have a long way to go I am growing every day and the Lord has blessed me. God works in strange ways and he used my kind of music to get my attention and get me to surrender to him.

Keep it METAL (in Christ)
Rob Deacon

THE WORD: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).

THE CHALLENGE: Rob, thank you so much for sharing your story! How wonderful is the truth of the above passage (Rev. 3:20). Our Savior is so patient with us. His love for us is so steadfast and constant. I have no idea where you’ve been, or where you are right now in your walk with Christ, but I know this—if you will open the door today—He will come in!

Metal Blessings,
Pastor Brad Windlan

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