Finally got it right

"The Magic Chord"

Steve Olsen at 15. A weekly event were the "Jesus People"meetings at a house on college road owned by a saintly retired woman named Helen Douglas. "Granny". Granny would go on to help found and maintain one of the cornerstone ministries in Alaska. First the "Lighthouse Tabernacle" from there the "Lighthouse Christan Center" to finally "The Door of Hope". All started by a frail old woman who every Friday would open the doors to her rickety old home to a bunch of rag tag ex-hippies,stoners,GI's and punks who had little future ,no ambition and little else to do on a weekend other than get high and get in trouble.

I've wondered thru out the years how Granny got talked into this. Frankly from a cultural perspective she had about as much in common with the lot as chalk has with cheese. Still the Friday night meetings were life changing for many that attended, including me. The "pebble in the pond" she provided when you think of it can be mind boggling. How many came thru her home and received Christ then went out and shared that love with others who in turn did the same?....and so on and so on? In my life I saw the fruits,once I became a believer I shared my faith with friends and family who did the same. In the case of my own family I saw the mercy of God alter our entire course. For the better. My sister Ellen and her husband Gary have been active in their home church for years, a church in which Gary is a deacon. Many went on to become active in missions and international ministries. Some just married and raised children in the faith who in their own right went on to service of God and humanity.

This was such an important time in my young life. It would alter and change the entire direction and focus of a life yet lived. Time and experience have brought an appreciation of the impact all this had on what would be my life later. Sort of like waking up one day and looking at the floor of the home you live in and realize how important it was to have a master brick layer lay the proper foundation.

The Friday nights were always a ''what will happen tonight" event. Sometimes rowdy,sometimes soft and reverent other times just plain pentecostal"off the hook".

Alaska in general and Fairbanks in particular can be defined by this one thing...pre-trans Alaska pipeline and post- trans Alaska pipeline. That event in Alaska changed this entire state both in the fortunes, futures, and fiances but in the communities of folks who came to ''work the line'' and never left. I lived thru both and saw first hand how Fairbanks went from a sleepy little town whose main industries were the University and the Military and the occasional gold miner. To a town over run by all sorts looking for big money and fast times.From less that 20,000 to well over 70,000 in less than a year after the line started. It was nuts. But honestly Alaska has always been a boom or bust kinda place.

This short period was the calm before the storm. It was at Granny's on a Friday night that I would have a turning point with the guitar....a moment of "crossing over" that looking back no one (including me) realized or were even aware of...except GOD....

The meetings were conducted by a couple of guys who played guitar and led us all in worship as well as taught the bible study afterward. The meeting usually went as such...praise and worship,prayer and prayer requests then preaching, an invention to receive Christ,then a little more prayer then fellowship and hanging out.Until Granny chased us off with love so she could go to bed.

One night towards the end of the night I picked the mains guys guitar. It was a fairly nice classical guitar with low action and nylon strings. These kind of guitars are traditionally easier on your fingers that a steel string acoustic. That night I sat in the back on Granny's back bedroom stairs in the waning dark and held this guitar in my hands. It felt really good. Odd as this may sound,as I held it I felt God's presence(an at that time I was just getting to tell what His Presence felt like) holding that guitar not only felt good it felt "Right". I reached back into my memory and found one guitar chord someone had showed me once. I couldn't tell you what it was (I know now) but I placed my fingers on the fret board. My fingers line up in correct form(now granted this was a really nice,well made guitar,set up properly. A well made properly set up guitar will make even a beginner sound like a pro) I run my right hand across the strings.....every single rings out clear as a bell.Somewhere deep in my soul I feel....a click,like a key turning a lock..a hand in a glove..a deep sense of "yes you finally got it right..."it felt good really really good..

....I Played my first perfect chord!!! perfectly in tune it sounded full and beautiful...slowly I start to strum out a rhythm...up and down...my foot tapping time to the beating of my heart..I begin to move my chord up and down the fret board..my strumming hand slapping time with my foot on the top of that guitar.....before I knew it ..I WAS JAMMING!!!!!. I almost ALMOST felt like Jesus was dancing along and shouting for JOY. It was like the horse that discovered it's purpose was to run with the wind and the eagle that leaps out of the nest for the first time and discovers it can SOAR thru the heavens! I found joy JOY and purpose!....and I was having the time of my life sitting alone on Granny's steps....when some one noticed...."Steve's rocking out back here".....even though it would be several years before I finally could buy my own guitar. After that every time Mark(the owner of said instrument) turned his back....I'd run off with his axe and JAM JAM JAM for JESUS..........from that single chord...that simple moment of connection.....came a life full

of adventure, excitement,tragedy and triumph....a life that has led me along the "Road Less Traveled" ......one simple chord....."despise not the days of small beginnings".....