The testimony of Dan Hall

I grew up in the huge town of Mackinaw. My graduating class had like 40 people, if that tells you anything.  My dad was a preacher for all my teen-age years so I thought that I should keep the reputation of a typical preachers son.  Senior year in high school I was voted “most original”.  In other words, I was a freak.  Big baggy clothes, etc.  I wish I could tell you that I was a good guy and never did anything wrong, but that would be a lie.  The typical story, I started hanging out with the bad crowd and got into drugs.  My family life was always good.  I went to church every week.  My parents always supported me in whatever I was doing, but I could feel myself trying to fit in, which is kind of weird because I was always a leader in a way.  I wish I could have taken my originality and used it for something better, but I did not.  I always said that I did not care what people thought of me, but I think everyone cares about that a little bit.

When I was getting into drugs they pretty much took control of me.  I liked them so much that I decided to sell them.  One day, I had a big deal going down so I decided to take my dealer and a couple of friends.  My dealer thought it would be a good idea to bring his gun along with, why, I'm still to this day not sure.  We were all pretty buzzed and started driving to the guy's house we were supposed to deliver to.  The dude's house who we were going to got stopped by the cops the night before and was in pretty serious trouble, so to get out of it he decided that he would turn me in to the cops to get off.  So, I suppose you can guess the rest of the story.  We almost got a class x felony, which would have meant some prison time, but by the grace of God I got a class 3 dropped to a class 4 so jail time was minimal.  Since then I stopped doing drugs, got married to Jennifer in 1998 and now we have two children, Tyler and Tifani.  I have a very good business, a house of my own, and a good life.

We all have our stories about how our lives have been hard, but there is only one thing that can make this life here on earth easier and that is Jesus Christ.  Without Him I am nothing but with Him I can do anything.  Now, I'm not saying life will be perfect, but the simple fact of knowing that you have Someone to talk to Who is always there and loves you no matter what your past is or even though your not perfect, is so much easier.

I've only been playing guitar since about 2001 and I never really sang in front of anyone until I began leading worship on March 24, 2002, I was always too shy.  I began playing guitar as a way for me to worship and God had a plan.  He moved and I followed.  Thank you everybody who prayed for me and who continues to pray {because I still need them}.