Who is this guy?
Depends on who he's with.
He is father, husband, grandfather, son, friend, pastor, counselor and a hack guitarist.
He is also a former sinner of great magnitude.
About the only thing he was good at was messing up. As his father use to tell him, "Boy..you could mess up a steel ball bearing with a rubber hammer." He wanted to do good. He wanted to accomplish something in his life......do something with his life. But it just never seem to happen. But isn't life like that? Things don't just happen. There is always a hand behind the scene, moving the players and arranging the stage for the next scene. Now don't think I have fallen over into a pre-election belief that we don't have a choice in our life. I believe we do. But I also believe that the hand of God puts us in situations that help us to move toward choosing Him. Can't prove it. Just believe it. There have been too many strange "goings on" in my life to think it all falls on karma or the planets lining up, or the luck of the draw or roll of the dice.
Oh, by the way...the person above? It is me. Michael Bynum.
I never seemed to live up to people's expectations during my growing up years. My Mother had one set of expectations. My Dad? I'm not sure, but I believe that he only had one expectation as far as I go. That he never had to bail me out of jail or see my name on the front page of the paper followed by the words "Serial Killer". Just kidding. My Dad wanted me to go to work at Republic Steel. Job security (of course the plant closed and no longer exists) and stability in employment that was all a man could ask for. I can't complain, it served my Dad well as he took care of his family.
Expectations? God had his own for my life. My grandfather had been a Baptist Pastor, so my Mother was a strong believer in Christ. I was taken to church. I was sent to church, I was sometimes dragged to church. I went, not always willingly, but I went. At the age of 13 during a summer revival, God spoke to me and I knew that He was calling me to be a Pastor. I remember vividly having this running battle in my heart and mind. The words would not go away "You are a pastor......You are a pastor." I thought them to be strange. It wasn't "You're going to be a pastor," but rather "You are a pastor." Of course each time these words invaded my heart and my brain, I put up a defense. "Not me! You've got the wrong boy. I can't even diagram a sentence correctly. I am not a mechanic. I am only 13." My defense failed against the onslaught of the thoughts in my heart and mind. My mouth said, "No, I'm not!" But my heart kept saying, "Yes, you are."
The story would have a happy ending if I could say that I surrendered right there in that revival and went on to have many wonderful years being a pastor. But I didn't surrender. I ran. I ran through my teenage years, only to be chased by God. Funny part was that I didn't run from church. In fact I got more involved, I guess in an effort to appease God. "Hey God! Look it! I know I'm not a pastor, but look at all the cool stuff I CAN do!". I was such a goober. Little did I know that everything I was doing was only preparing me to step into the role as pastor.
Teenage years gave way to the "20's" and marriage. Here is where the story goes all "Twilight Zone." Being newlyweds, my wife and I (who was also raised in church) decided that since we were bona fide married people, we would take a break from church. That break lasted seven years and pretty near killed us. I think the moral of the story is, "you don't take a break away from God and remain in the same place. You slide down morally and spiritually. In other words, we were uncovered as sinners in a way that did not reflect our upbringing. It was a bad time in our lives and in our marriage. But God was patient.
In 1979, Vicki and I gave up the running. Like Lassie coming home, we came back to God. Now there's a happy ending. Not yet. You know, when you run around and away from God, you tend to make some really dumb decisions. Well, I had planted a huge crop of dumb. In 1979, we started to have to reap the harvest of all the "dumb" I had planted.
Our finances were totally out of whack. (What would it look like if they had been "In whack"?). Our marriage still needed working on. We were parents and we didn't know how to raise kids. So we enrolled in GOD SCHOOL. We took everything to him. Our bills, our marriage, our children, our jobs...everything. We told God, "Hey! We need some help and you are the only one we know who can help us. Now God, we're not asking you to magically clean up the mess, but to teach us how to live. How to make good decisions." You know what? He took us up on it, and here the beautiful part. It only took 14 years!
So here I sit. In my home. At my computer, typing out this story. All around me is physical, tangible evidence of the goodness of this God who called me back in 1964. Please don't miss what I'm sharing with you. This story isn't about me or God's call on my life. It's about God. It's about the faithfulness of God to keep his word and see it through even when we aren't faithful. It's about a God who has a plan to redeem and restore this old world and those who live upon it. It's about God.
Once again....as Larry Norman so aptly put it...."Why don't you check into Jesus...He's got the answers."
God on you....
mb
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