A powerful lesson spelled the end of touring for me. I got a call letting me know that Molly Hatchet wanted me to join them to play slide guitar. Our bands had the same agent at the time and I turned them down, because I thought our band had more potential. Six months later, my band, Iron Horse, had dissolved. Six more months and Hatchet had their first mega-hit record. I had a very sour taste in my mouth and a lot of bitterness toward the bandmates that had let me down (in my eyes). I saw this as a cruel twist of “fate”.

Deciding to quit the music business was not easy. I had excelled in the Triple-A leagues of music, but had wallowed there long enough. I know now, that the major league of rock music was not what God had planned for me. I suspect He was protecting me from some dark twists; Hatchet’s tough guy image was not a put-on. Still, those years of composing, arranging and performing had served to prepare me for something else.

Way back in my school days the subjects that I loved and excelled at without even trying were the sciences. So, when my professional playing was done, a series of weird twists landed me in college at age 30 and soon studying to be a doctor.

Fast forward to life as an emergency doctor beginning in 1989 -- adrenaline junkie. I continued to live a life of pleasure seeking and choosing not to question it until personal mistakes finally caught up with me. I had additionally established a successful recording studio business with my high school best friend as a sideline. Just when I had concluded that life was no longer worth living, a bunch of “newborns”, as my partner called them, came in to record their first album. (Rick Burgess and Walt Bannon from that group performed on the soundtrack of “The Bus Stop Atheist”). These “newborns” were what I came to understand later as “born-agains”. Their music creeped out of my headphones and straight into my brain. Every one of their songs had seemingly been written just to convict me. One of the members’ husbands, Daryl, starting coming to my home twice a week to answer my never ending list of questions. He was relentless. After about 9 months of kicking and screaming, God’s message made the connection from my head to my heart and I have never looked back. I was undone on the day Christ revealed himself to me personally. Science did not have all the answers after all.