Laughing to Death

Another time right before a show, we were eating with the youth pastor and his wife. We had done a show at his church the year before. When we were finished with that show, everyone quickly left the building. In fact, when it came time to leave, we were the only ones left in the church. We wondered if we should lock up as we left.

Here we were, with menus in hand, talking with the same guy who had brought us in the previous year. He asked if we thought that it was strange how everyone left us there the last time we were there. We fibbed and said, “No!”

He then proceeded to tell us that his mom died that night. We asked if she had been sick. He said that no, she was one of the ladies setting up chairs before it began. She got to laughing so hard during the show that she had a heart attack. She slipped out of the church and called “911.” Then, she died on the way to the hospital.

Obviously, the guy was still in shock, because he was telling this story like he was talking about the weather. Then, his wife must have realized by the looks on our faces that her husband had basically just told us that we’d killed his mom, so she tried to smooth it over.

She said that his mom was a great Christian, and in a way, she seemed ready to go be with the Lord. The dinner conversation that night had just taken a huge turn! We spent the rest of the meal trying to change the subject. Obviously, the couple was not upset with us at all, because they brought us back the next year!

That night, you better believe that I was checking people at the door. I was looking to see if everyone looked in good health. We thought about putting a disclosure on our contract. “Excessive laughter may occur. Beware!”

The Shirtless Conversion

One night, we were at the grand opening of a church. A guy was walking by and heard laughter and saw that the door was open, so he walked in and watched the show not knowing what was going on. He came in and watched the show.

Usually, when Brock invites people to follow Jesus toward the end of the show, he sends them to the back. This guy didn’t wait for the invitation nor did he go to the back. He simply began walking down the center aisle to the front. As he walked, he took off his shirt. It was an odd thing to see a guy halfway stripping in a church. All eyes were on this guy as he walked toward the front of the building.

He threw the shirt on the stage and hit his knees. You could see his shoulders shaking with sobs. Brock picked up the t-shirt to discover that it was an Emenim shirt with a bloody chainsaw on it. The guy was declaring to God and everyone in there that he was changing his life and giving it over to the Lord.

To this day, I still have that Eminem shirt hanging in my prayer closet. Because of that shirt, I am reminded to pray for Eminem. I am praying that the Lord will grab a hold of him and not let go.

In the same fashion, back in the Marilyn Manson days, a guy at one of our shows had on all of the make-up. During the invitation, he went into the bathroom and washed off all of his Marylyn Manson make-up declaring that he was making a big change. It was a physical display of his internal decision to follow Christ.

Witches in Attendance

Because Brock’s an illusionist, we have witches come to the show on occasion. One night, seven of them came. Four out of the seven gave their lives to Christ. One of them even turned over her necklace, which she had called her “life source” as a witch.

Another night, one of the church leaders came to us before the show began and told us that there was a girl in the audience who was a witch. She had only come to cause problems.

After doors opened, one of our team members came to us and said that something was not right. He could feel it in his spirit. We told him about the girl who was present. All of us prayed that she would not distract.

The venue was a gym and the place was packed, so we did not see or hear her. However, a leader kept an eye on her the whole time. She sat on the back row against the wall. During the show, she had what looked to be like voodoo dolls and was chanting curses on us. When Brock got to the message, a weird thing happened. She passed out against the wall! After the invitation, she woke back up.

We don’t know exactly what happened there, but our prayers were answered. In the time it mattered, she did not distract.

A Standing Protest at our Show

We had crazy things happening at our shows, too. While we were performing at a school assembly in North Carolina to promote our show that night, someone overheard a group of guys saying that they were going to come that night and “kill the preps.” They had made t-shirts saying things like “Keep Christians away from public schools” and “Leave and don’t come back.” That was directed at us.

We took their threat seriously and got extra security for the show. One of the ministers we would share the stage with that night said that at least if we died, we would go out telling the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The guys came that night wearing trench coats. They stood in the middle of the audience in a silent protest even as people were seated. No violence occurred thank the Lord.

After the show, Brock got to share with the protesters. Basically, they were atheists, so Brock told them about all of the miracles the Lord had done in our lives through prayer. Then, he said that he was going to pray to that same God for them. The ringleader quickly said, “No! I don’t want you to pray for me.”

A week later, one of the guys in that group emailed Brock saying that what he had said got to him. He had given his life to Jesus.

A few weeks after that, we found out that the leader of that group had been arrested. He had guns and ammunition and a hit list. The ones who were on the hit list were the students who prayed around the flagpole.

The way they found out about him was that one person in his group informed the authorities about his plan. I cannot help but wonder if it was the one guy in that group who had turned his life over to the Lord that night.

Do Not Be Afraid

I had another scare one time when we were parked in downtown Nashville in the big rig. Brock was having coffee with our friend, Michael from the worship band, Pocket Full of Rocks. I had gone back to the truck to hang out.

A little while later, Brock knocked on the back door. I knew that it was Brock because nobody but him would knock on the back door. People who were not familiar with the truck would knock on the door in the front by the steering wheel.

Just to be sure, I looked out the side window of the truck. I saw Michael standing across the street. So, I went to open the back door. As I was reaching to unlock it, the verse entered my mind, “Do not be afraid. For I will never leave you.”

I quickly retracted my hand from the door thinking, “Why did I just think of that verse out of the blue?” Instead of opening the door, I called Brock on the phone. No, he was not at the back door. He was still at the coffee shop with Michael. I looked out the window again, and "Michael" was not standing there. I am not sure who it was that was standing there before.

Trouble at the Flying J Truck Stop

We routinely stopped at a truck stop in Alabama one day. I had been sleeping in the back but awoke when the truck pulled to a stop. I slipped out the back door to go to the restroom. When I came out, I saw Brock pulling the truck out. I realized that he didn’t know I had gone inside the gas station, so I began to run toward him. He was going really quickly in the truck! By the time I reached the passenger door, I was in a full on sprint!

I banged on the door! Brock never stopped. He just threw open the door and pulled me quickly into the truck. Then, he peeled out of there (as much as a Freightliner can “peel out”).

I soon found out that some guy was trying to get inside of the truck. It started when the guy tried to get Brock away from the truck by telling him that his friend had won the lottery. He wanted Brock to come over and see the lottery ticket and something about a news channel being present.

Brock got a weird feeling so he began to leave. As he was driving off, the guy was running next to him on his side of the truck. So, he went faster. He didn’t know that I was running up on the other side of the truck at that same time.

We later found out that the state of Alabama didn’t even have a lottery. He was trying to carjack us!

Living on the Road

For the next few days I am going to tell stories from the time we lived on the road. For two years (2001-2002) we lived in our truck. It's actually called a totorhome. People use it to haul racecars. We used it to carry a magic show, and we lived in it. We had no other house or home. Here is the Freightliner:
Inside, we had a bed, couch, tv, kitchenette, and bathroom.

It was a fun time. After finishing a show, we would go back and sit in the truck and pull out the atlas. Then, we would decide where we wanted to go before our next show.

We traveled all over the country in that truck---Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon, California, Washington state, Washington D.C., New York City, Niagra Falls, Pensacola Beach, FL, etc.

This last one was our favorite place to go. During those two years that we strictly lived in our truck, we stayed at a campground in Pensacola, FL called Fort Pickens a lot. It was situated on the end of the island surrounded by the whitest beaches and beautiful emerald colored ocean. There were many a mornings when I would step off of the truck and directly onto the sand.

We stayed in campgrounds, truck stops, and Walmart parking lots all over the nation. We also stayed at our parents’ or friends’ houses for extended lengths of time. Life on the road is an unusual life with extreme experiences which you will soon see...