I don’t know why I’m just now seeing the video below featuring William Branch (The Ambassador) & his wife Michelle, but it’s quite fitting given the timing of events in my life. I remember last year when his album Stop the Funeral was released, as I picked it up on or near its release date, since I’m a big fan of him as an artist. While I wasn’t overly thrilled with the music (see my review), one thing that always seemed to hit home when I gave it a listen was the message of redemption that the album carried with it. The message doubly hit home when Da’ T.R.U.T.H.’s album The Whole Truth dropped shortly thereafter (see review) and drove home the same message.
Getting back to the video, I remember when the details came down that both the Ambassador & Da’ T.R.U.T.H. were being dropped from Cross Movement Records due to personal sins that had been exposed. While the true story never came out at the time, I was in enough circles to hear the whispering of details as to why they had been released. To say that I was appalled would be an understatement and thought to myself, “That would never happen to me.” By the grace of God, these two men of God have been restored in their marriage and to public ministry where they can now use their story to continue to affect change for the glory of Jesus Christ. You can see & hear the Ambassador’s story in the video interview with CBN.
You know how they say pride goes before the fall? Well, that was me. Hearing the details of Amba’s adultery, I gotta say that I was in the same boat. For me, it wasn’t someone from church (I was a deacon & training to be a pastor); but, it was a lifelong friend. There was no denying that I had feelings for her, as I always did, but we knew I was married & kept things from happening. Plus, there was always hundreds of miles of distance between us, so all we could ever do was talk. Talking is definitely what we did. When things in my marriage would get rough & I needed someone to lean on I always knew that she’d be there to lend an ear and encourage me to keep standing tall. Like Ambassador, it was almost to the point that Robin & I were living separate lives. For her it was the house & the kids; for me, it was work, church & my studies. When tensions rose, my friend was the one telling me the things that I needed to hear as a man & wasn’t hearing from my wife, all with her just trying to be a friend. Not once did she ever push me to leave Robin; on the contrary, she was one person that was pushing me to stay married.
Fast forward and things finally came to a head. Robin & I divorced, and I moved back to North Carolina where I knew I had friends & family after being shunned by the church as a result of the way things went down. Without going into details, things were to a point where I didn’t think Robin & I would ever see eye-to-eye again, let alone be on speaking terms on anything other than those things that concerned our children. Well, as circumstances would have it, I finally reached a point where I felt the need to completely let go of my lifelong friend and put an end to our friendship. With the Lord working on me in these months, the Holy Spirit showed me that this was the best move for me if I was going to ever be able to move forward with my life. Even with that, I still had no intention of reconciling with Robin, and thought I’d find love elsewhere. In the days & weeks that followed, the Lord continued to soften my heart toward Robin in a multitude of ways (through my kids, sermons, my own Scripture reading, television, prayers of family & friends, etc.).
To sum up the story & bring this to a close, the Lord has brought about reconciliation between Robin & I. Once my lease is up and I participate in my brother’s wedding, I will be returning to Texas to remarry Robin, reunite our family, and complete the journey of reconciliation that the Lord has orchestrated. What’s more, we’re doing this right, making sure that Christ is the head, which is his rightful place. Every night, she & I have been digging into the Scriptures and studying with one another over Skype, redeeming the technology that the Lord has allowed us to have. I’m looking forward to getting back, putting an end to what was a miserable funeral & living again. While restoration to public ministry won’t be immediate, my family will be, which is my first ministry anyway, and one that I’ll be focusing my attention on.