"UNSHACKLED!"

I thought I would share a little known story of how I became a Christian. I grew up in church I've always attended church, sang in the choir, went to Sunday and Vacation Bible School, and appreciated Contemporary Christian and Gospel Music. Funny thing is none of that is enough. Being a Christian is intentional and cannot be attained somehow by association.

My brother's and I went to Catholic School and each and every day our mother used to pick us up and drive us home. One the way home, each and every day, we would listen to a radio program called "UNSHACKLED!" The program was wild. It was like a radio theatre show from the forties with a full cast of talent, sound effects, music, etc. Being the nerd that I am I immediately got into it. The show reminded me of an old war show. Funny thing is some how I would hear everything but the Jesus part. There memory that is most vivid is the organ intro and outro of each show. Hey.. must be the musician in me. The stories differed from day to day and featured everything from prostitutes torn between family life and their "work" to soldiers fighting in overseas conflicts unsure what their tomorrow will be. One day I realized mom's salvation wasn't enough for me and while I wasn't at a crossroad like many of the broadcast's characters, there wasn't much separating me from them.

In a culture where church is trying to emulate the world and we are constantly trying to reinvent the wheel all along moving further and further away from our purpose I'm excited like that a show like this is still produced! Check out there website and pass it along! You can stream the episodes online!

..::Listening to Chains written by Kirk Franklin::..

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Background Information:

Since 1950, Pacific Garden Mission has produced this unique series, making "UNSHACKLED!" the longest-running radio drama in history. Still produced in the style of the "Golden Age" of radio, every element is live at the time of the production — the original music, the creative sound effects and, of course, the dynamic performances of talented professional actors. "UNSHACKLED!" is broadcast around the world over 7,000 times each week on over 1,800 radio outlets. In addition to the English broadcast, it is translated and re-dramatized in Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Romanian Polish, Korean and Japanese.