CRAZY BUT TRUE STORIES
I thought you might enjoy some crazy but true stories that will put a smile on your face, and a chuckle in your soul. All of these actually happened to me. They are all 100% true.
I was flying back home from speaking at a conference. I had just boarded the plane and sat down in my seat. This particular day I was wearing my faded, black leather motorcycle jacket, my black, tattered, studded MEK jeans, and my black, leather boots. As I am sitting in my seat two flight attendants walk up the aisle, one male, one female, stopping right by my seat. They were awkwardly staring at me, it was pretty strange. Looking up, I said, “Is everything ok? Can I help you?” The guy says, “We just know you’re a famous musician. We’re both trying to figure out who you are.” I thought to myself, “Ahh, this will be fun.” I said, “Ok, go ahead, guess.” The guy says, “I think you’re Sting!” I chuckled and said, “Sting has hardly any hair.” They thought a little longer, then both blurted out together, “You’re Billy Idol!” Seriously, they were convinced I was Billy Idol. So I proceeded to tell them who I was and what I did for a living. Needless to say, they were quite surprised!
I was staying at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago for a series of meetings with other pastors. Again, wearing my black leather motorcycle jacket, my tattered jeans, and boots, I was walking down the hallway of the lobby. The U2 song, Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, began playing on the hotel speakers. U2 just happened to be in Chicago doing a concert at this time. As I am walking, singing along to this song, one of the employees is walking toward me, he begins staring at me and blurts out, “You’re him!” I looked at him and said, “Who!?” He said, “You’re that guy from U2!” Seriously, it really happened. I had to tell him, “I’m sorry man, I’m not Bono, I’m not from U2.”
I was speaking at one of my first conferences. It was in Wisconsin. I was really excited about the opportunity to preach to these wonderful people. I walked up on the stage, opened in prayer and began my message. Suddenly, down from the ceiling rafters, a bat comes diving at my head. I mean, I hate bats, they really give me the creeps flying down at me, in their bizarre, wiggly batmotion! I am ducking, and zagging, I’m sure I looked like an idiot. But at last the bat left, and by God’s grace I soldiered on. Oh the trials I’ve endured serving the Lord.
Several months ago, I went to my favorite store, Aldi, to do a bit of grocery shopping. I had collected all the things I needed and walked up to their new, self-checkout lanes, which I love. I am unloading the items from my cart one by one, scanning them, then putting them in my bag. I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a black woman, with a kind of turban scarf on her head staring at me. I smiled briefly, and kept scanning my items. I’d just finished scanning my card to pay, and turned to go, but this woman is standing right in front of me. She had walked over and stood right next to me. She said, “Sir, I just had to come over and tell you, you look real good for a white man!” Seriously, it really happened. When I got home and told my wife, needless to say, she found it quite humorous. I was just glad that finally, after 67 years, someone recognized – I look real good for a white man!
I was on my first trip out of the country to speak at a conference in Honduras. I was thrilled at this opportunity. The conference was going very well. I was really enjoying the latino culture, and all these new things to see and experience. An older man named Muncho, who was attending the conference, asked if he could take me from San Pedro Sula to the beach at Tele to see it for myself. It was very kind of him to ask. I said, “Sure, I’d love to go with you.” There were a few others along as well, traveling in his 80’s style Toyota van, the kind where if you are sitting in the front seat you are almost sitting on top of the engine, and very close to the slanted front windshield. That was where I was sitting. The view was wonderful. We are driving along these narrow, paved two lane roads, people walking along both sides of the highway, Muncho going as fast as he can. Suddenly, he decides the drivers in front of him are not going fast enough and he just swerves to drive down the middle of the road, driving on the dotted lines, expecting oncoming traffic to just get out of the way, kind of like the Red Sea parting. I was stunned. I was freaking out inside! This wasn’t just a quick, pass a car type thing, he did this for sometime, and often. I really thought I was going to die that day, as he drove this way off and on during the entire two hour drive there and back. I knew then, no one can say I didn’t risk my life serving the Lord!
Many, many years ago, I was asked to sing at a friend’s wedding. She had played the violin on my first studio album and attended my church. My very good friend Dennis Clark was accompanying me on the piano. As we were running through the song that evening, she asked us to pray that God would greatly use her wedding to point others to Christ. She then proceeded to tell us that one of the people coming was a practicing witch. Would we please pray God would impact her life? This was an evening wedding out in the country at one of those old stone, country churches. As the time was approaching for the wedding ceremony to begin a huge storm appeared out of nowhere. The sky became very dark and ominous, lightning, thunder, ferocious wind and rain, suddenly all the electricity went out. The guests had already been seated and it was very dark in the sanctuary. There were a few candles for the wedding itself that were lit, but still quite dim. I brought one near the piano so we could see. They decided to proceed with the wedding with no electricity. My friend Dennis and I performed our song, and the wedding continued by candlelight. The electricity never did come back on. As Dennis and I sat at the reception together, the new bride, Kristi, came rushing up to us exclaiming she had something to tell us. She said, “You remember I told you about that lady I invited to my wedding, who practices witchcraft? Well she came, and saw you sing and perform the song together. After the wedding she came up to me and excitedly asked me,’Kristi, who are those two men who did that song?’ I said, ‘They are two leaders from my church, why do you ask?’ She said, ‘Because there was so much power and light emanating from their bodies as they sang, I’ve never seen anything like it!'” It was a whole new way to let our light shine before men! A reminder to all of us, as Paul writes, “I pray you may grasp how incredibly great His power is in us who believe!”
I hope these crazy but true stories put a smile on your face, and brightened your day a little bit. Never forget God has a wonderful sense of humor.
Helping you become a Strong Disciple,
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Mark Darling
