Church Journal

One night at EFY—and I don’t remember if it was the first time I went to EFY or the second,--we were all in a big auditorium type room getting ready to hear John Bytheway. I had never heard him before. Actually, I had never even heard of him before. Can you imagine that? I’m sure my life had been extremely flat up to that point, not having heard John Bytheway speak.

I was in the front row. No idea how that happened, we must have been early, I guess. I was sitting there with my fancy little book. It was hard back, had a nice cover on it, and it was full of blank pages. A journal, really. It was a journal I lovingly referred to as “The Small Plates.” My small plates, the journal I took to church, and to places like really awesome EFY talks by really awesome speakers like John Bytheway. I had it ready to go, open to the next blank page.

Some older guy came up and sat on the edge of the stage right in front of me, and started talking to us. I really, really, really wish I had known at the time that it was John Bytheway, and I really, really, REALLY wish I had known what I know now, because if I had I would have had him put his John Hancock right there on the inside cover of my small plates. Because honestly—that would have been so cool. As it was, I had no idea, so I sat there like the socially awkward, strange teenager that I was. He took a look at my book and asked me what it was, and I told him it was my church journal. Just a book where I took my spiritual notes. Not really a big deal.

A minute or two later, the lights dimmed and we all got ready for the show. Ok, it was a talk, but with John Bytheway I think it’s safe to say it was a show. I mean, I don’t really even remember what he talked about that night, but I can guarantee there was a lot of laughter.

Fast forward 25 years or so. I’m in the car, on a road trip, listening to talks on tape with my family, and we’re listening to John Bytheway. All the sudden, he tells this story about how one time he was giving a talk, and he saw a girl with a book and asked her what it was, and she responded, “It’s my church journal.” He kind of used a valley girl teenager voice when he said that, which was silly, but my eyes got big and I remembered that night that I had never thought of since…well, that night. But there it was. Right there on his tape, he was talking about me! So funny!

Sometimes it’s these odd, unexpected things in life that just make it fun. My kids really get a kick out of knowing that it was me. The rest of the world may never know, but my kids love it.