An Early Calling, Squelched.

Pastor Gary Simons’ grandmother taught him, at the early age of eight, how to play the guitar.  He loved to lounge around with his guitar in hand, singing and playing the ol’ gospel tunes.  While attending a denominational church, an elder approached him laying out this ultimatum, “you can either be a musician or a Christian, but ya can’t be both.”  Deep down, knowing his musical gift came from God, he was taken back by this, truly desiring to use that gift in the house of the Lord. 

The Rebel by the Handbook

At the ripe age of eighteen, he left the church to pursue his music where it would be acccepted.  He moved to Austin, playing from club to club, downtown in the infamous 6th Street club scene.  And of course, the nightclubs accepted him, and people accepted him and his giftings with open arms.  Hair down to the middle of his back, dyed jet-black, earring in his ear, Gary was playing the “Rebel by the Handbook.”

The Boy in the Bubble

Over the holidays, while home with family, Gary scheduled an appointment with his family dentist for a routine oral surgery to remove his wisdom teeth.  His immune system reacted violently to the anesthetic chemicals that were placed in his bloodstream.

He became deathly allergic to practically anything and everything that he was eating, drinking and breathing.  He moved back in with his parents, and they created a sterile “Boy in the Bubble” type environment for Gary.  While Gary was imprisoned within this hopeless circumstance, his father sought the advice of specialists throughout Texas, to no avail.

Gary cried out to God for help, “if you truly exist, no doctor has been able to heal me, you’re going to have to touch me.”  He heard a little voice on the inside say, “turn on your television set.”  He reached over and turned it on, and just as the image came up on the screen, a little man in a big church pointing directly at the screen said, “You don’t have to die with the Devil, but you can live for Jesus, and proclaim the works of the Lord.”  It was like a flash of heavenly light flooding the darkness of Gary’s situation, and for the first time he had “hope” to live a normal life. 

Applying what he was hearing from the Word of God, something transpired in his heart.  Faith rose up within him, things began to change... first in his spirit, then in his body as it began to line-up with his spirit.  Within months he walked out of that environment, completely healed!