Now and Then....very scary!

Who knows better than me that all kinds of bizarre things are discussed on this blog?
Here's something new to discuss.
Peter Frampton.

No he isn't here or anything but I saw something the other night briefly on TV....maybe it was PBS, who knows but whatever it was...it was about him and what he's doing.

Yeah so did you see his photos I posted? Whew. That got me thinking....."MAN he looks really old!!!" Which made me take a tiny memory trip.

Venture with me back to 1976.....alright I hate to date myself here but I must for the sake of "journalism."

My BFF "Jackie" and I LOVED Peter Frampton.....at this point.....we are Sophomores and about to be Juniors in High School. We had been friends since elementary school and then....we both were going to Thomas Jefferson High School and we were out to make this the greatest year of our life.

We liked all kinds of bands and groups back then but FRAMPTON was hot right about that time and he was VERY cute....we loved his hair!! Plus we liked his music and did I mention....we thought he was VERY cute??

Now....some background.

My friend Jackie had been raised pretty much in a Christian home ALL her life. However, myself...I was being raised by wolves. Well sort of and we were heathens and we didn't go to church basically. So I didn't have a clue. I was absolutly lost as a goose and didn't even know it.
Jackie on the other hand had some church history, in fact.....her ENTIRE family like BOTH sides were major Pentecostals and some of them were "powerhouse Christians" too....as I would find out about 5 years later.

Me and my friend Jackie were a bit wild as most teenagers like to be at that age.
We really did get into all kinds of trouble. We wanted to be "popular" so we were in all the cool crowds. We mixed with all sorts of personality types of people which was interesting. We were "Pom Pom" girls at our High School and we did that together.
We even worked at the same place together too a little "drive in" fast food place called of course "Arnolds."
We were pretty inseparable during those years.
Thank GOD for his "protection" because she and I both know that "HE" was looking over us for those years while we were "out there."

Especially like the time we had a very bad car accident on the way to school one morning and long story short....Jackie and both were injured and SHOULD have been very seriously hurt...but we weren't. She had a broken rib, I had whiplash and a back injury and I actually couldn't walk for a couple of days...and so lucky for us ....we got to use that as our excuse to back us out of running "Track" which we had signed up for right before our accident. I think we had been to like 1 practice and it nearly killed us. Thank goodness for that new excuse of the "wreck" because we hated track. We were not even cut out to do it but we had signed up because all the "jocks" were doing it. Dumb idea!

One time I went to church with her family.....I was probably 15 at the time and again..her parents went to an old timey Pentecostal church. I remember the Pastor did an alter call that service for people and of course....after that kind of message.....who wouldn't raise their hand??? I sure didn't want to go to hell.

I was not used to that kind of church or Pastor that was for sure. The whole thing was scary to me but my friend Jackie said we could just "kneel and pray in our pews" so we did that because we didn't want to go UP to the alter area.

At some point.....the Pastor came over to pray for us...I hid my head under my arm and I started cracking up because he was saying some crazy things according to my heathen mind. I made it seem like I was crying but actually I was laughing SO hard because he was saying....."Breath on her Jesus" and I had NEVER had someone ask for Jesus to breath on me or anyone else for that matter. That was some of the funniest stuff I had ever heard at my ripe age. Whew......finally....that was over and I stayed "Saved" all of probably 24 hours because I had no way to stay intact basically......no church, no teaching, no fellowship. Etc. etc.

So me and Jackie kept to our same lifestyles...two crazy teenage girls living life to the fullest.

That summer of 1976....we found out that Peter Frampton was coming to town!!!! YEAH!!
Well, not our town because we lived in a smaller town but all big groups came to Omaha and it's right across the Missouri River bridge. I mean you cross the river and your in a huge town and we always went to Omaha for everything....concerts....shopping...going out to eat at nice restaurants.... hanging out....whatever....so we were GOING that's all we knew.

We already had his albums and this was just going to be great. I had started going to concerts the year before and we had gone to a lot of them.
Ummm......WHERE WERE MY PARENTS?????? WHAT could they have been thinking??? Duh!!!

Well.....that summer was great and we went to that concert and to many others.....this Frampton one was just a "landmark" event in our eyes.

That was many years ago and Peter Frampton went on to sell more copies of "Frampton Comes Alive" than any other album that has EVER been sold. Guess he's set for life huh?

Peter Frampton he's older....and living in Cincinnati. They say his city loves him because he "give back" to the town, he does book readings at the public library and such. I heard that somewhere. I can't find much more about him but he seems like a nice guy and all. Not the long haired cool younger man we all went to see. Of course we aren't the 16 year olds we used to be either. I can't even imagine all this now because fact is...my own daughter is now 16. Ouch.

I still keep in touch with my friend Jackie, although I haven't seen her "in person" in years. We mainly communicate now through e-mail. My how times have changed.

She's now got kids and so do I and we DO NOT LET our kids go to concerts and out to do the things we did. HA! HA!! We aren't dumb.

I always tell my kids when they whine to me about me not allowing them to go do something that I am not feeling so great about, that......"you can't con a con!!"

Like I mentioned a few years later......my life changed radically, and I DO mean radically in a big way.

I've never regretted making the decision that I made nearly 5 years later on a hot, summer night on the 12th of July....to give up my own life and to follow Jesus.
My husband and I made that decision at the same time too, hand in hand beside our bed in our bedroom in our little home.

My BFF Jackie came along pretty close behind us too. So that felt good knowing she was in the "fold" as well.
Now we all went to a to a different church than the one she had attended as a child with her parents. I have to say that this church was very loving and kind and was a great place for us all to be in.

Those were some of the BEST years of my life as a Christian in a local body.
Plus my friend Jackie was related in some way or another to EVERYONE there nearly....ha!! Even our Pastor!

It's been a journey for the past 20+ years for all three of us....we are all older now. We've been in this race for awhile now. Jackie and her husband, and Don and I.

It's not always been easy, we've all had our share of ups and downs.... but I can say this...even on the worst of days....it has SO been worth it and it will SO be worth it in the end!
"Do you feel like I do?"