Indeed, as I pursue a closer walk with Jesus, I look to today and tomorrow. As a work in progress, the aspiration for Christ-like conformity will never be fully achieved as long as I walk this earth. But, with every new morning comes the hope that I will be conformed to be ever more like the Lord, as yesterday's sin and worldly filth is washed away as far as the east is from the west. In that, I don't cling to what once was or what could have been. There are no events from those "glory days" of times past that I stack on my mind's shelf of memories to be admired like trophies or glittering gewgaws. The glory days are yet to come; they being when Christ's church is finally in His holy presence.

While I have no desire to revisit the mystical Jim Yackel's Land of Once Was and Could Have Been, the Holy Spirit has been taking me down the stretch of Erie Canal towpath that serves as Memory Lane in recent days. This stroll is not for the sake of reminiscing, but more to map out the journey that I have taken to where I am at the moment of this writing. The longer we walk, the more that we see if we are willing to keep our heads up, eyes open, and our soul's sonic ears listening as the Lord speaks to us...

The Spirit and I have walked through the 1990's this week; more specifically 1993 through early 1999. Those were the Groovetown Fire Department and Petition years. Additionally, I was married in 1995 but divorced this year. This particular period of time ends about when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.

Groovetown Fire Department won a Battle of the Bands held at a nightclub in Baldwinsville, New York, that I can no longer recall the name of. This particular watering hole is now out of business, so I may never have the ability to find the name -- but that is not of great importance. The Grand Prize awarded to the winning band was free studio time at Wilsound Studio in Baldwinsville, which enabled us to record the GFD's lone CD and cassette album, which was released in the spring of 1994. Expectations were high for the album and the critical reviews were favorable, but I believe that more copies of the CD's and cassettes may have been stolen than actually sold. I remember fondly the giddy anticipation of the album release and the high expectations of success. Likewise, I have fond memories of my band mates Andy Digby and Win Rodormer. In 1995, Groovetown Fire Department's flame burned out as the three parts of the Fire Triangle - heat, fuel, and oxygen - became depleted as life was pulling me, Andy, and Win in different, more separatist directions. Despite the forces pulling us, Andy and I then formed an acoustic trio called The Great Circle with Carl Castagna of Baldwinsville. The Circle went around to a few venues and then it too was broken. Carl was a laid-back, amiable guy I likewise have fond memories of, and I pray that all is well for him.

After the demise of The Great Circle, I labored on as an acoustic soloist, playing coffee houses on the Syracuse University hill and an establishment in Fayetteville, New York, called "Roasters Corner Cafe'." I was a once-weekly fixture at Roasters for well over a year. "Petition" was released as a cassette-only album in 1996, being trashed in the press but selling considerably more copies than the GFD album. Petition was produced to sound "unplugged" and bare-bones, and the elitist reviewers didn't care for it. The songs sang of politically conservative themes to a great degree, and that may have gotten under the skin of the generally liberal music reviewers. On that album was a pro-gun rights and anti-big government song called "Don't Take My Guns Away" that was very popular with my followers at that time. I use the term "was" because the Petition album is out of print and there are no more copies available that I am aware of. This writer doesn't even have one -- much to his chagrin.

I grew weary of the music scene and retired from it in early 1999; accepting Christ not long after shoving the guitars aside. In 2005, the Holy Spirit spoke strongly and said "you will make music again and do it for me." The song "God Is Love" was written and I began putting together the work that now appears on the Agape' CD. I was making music again but this time with evangelizing for the Lord as the driving force behind it.

Folks, the point of this piece is to attempt to illustrate that the Lord has shown me that there was a reason that I followed the path that I did; and that reason was to be led to Him. Today, He walks with me along this towpath that serves as life's road -- leading, conforming, and working me as He is the Potter and I am but the clay. He is the shaper and the refiner of the Play Doh that is Jim Yackel.

If any of those other musical paths had led to success, I may have never found Jesus and would today be a dead man walking. It's just lately become that crystal clear: the success of Groovetown Fire Department or the Great Circle would have led to spiritual death down a path away from the Lord. Even the Petition-era acoustic solo career would have ultimately led me astray if it had become too profitable. Thank you, Lord, that those endeavors failed career-wise and yet successfully prepared my heart and soul to first come to you and then to make music about you!