the day JOHNNY CASHed in everything he had for CHRIST

I remember watching Walk the Line and being marveled at how one of the greatest American music legends fell so far down. The movie told the life story of Johnny Cash: his rise to fame and his demise to shame. Then at the end of the movie, it seemed like he had some kind reawakening, as if he made a new start for himself. But that part always confused me. What really caused that change? How did he get out of that pit?  And I just recently discovered…they left out the most important scene of his life from the movie.

In early October 1967, Cash hit rock bottom. He said, “I never wanted to see another dawn.  I had wasted my life. I had drifted so far away from God and every stabilizing force in my life that I felt there was no hope for me.” At that point Johnny Cash climbed his way into a Tennessee cave with one thing in mind: suicide.  And then he found Jesus again. Johnny describes in his own words:

“The absolute lack of light was appropriate, for at that moment I was as far from God as I have ever been. My separation from Him, the deepest and most ravaging of the various kinds of loneliness I’d felt over the years, seemed finally complete. It wasn’t. I thought I’d left him but He hadn’t left me. I felt something very powerful start to happen to me, a sensation of utter peace, clarity and sobriety. I didn’t believe it at first. I couldn’t understand it … the feeling persisted though and then my mind started focusing on God … there in Nickajack cave I became conscious of my destiny. I was not in charge of my own death. I was going to die at God’s time, not mine. I hadn’t prayed over my decision to seek death in the cave, but that hadn’t stopped God from intervening. I told my mother that God had saved me from killing myself. I told her I was ready to commit myself to Him and do whatever it took to get off drugs. I wasn’t lying.”

Talk about the return of the Prodigal Son. From disgrace to amazing grace, that’s a real life example right there. The temptations of the world choked him: money, drugs, sex, alcohol. But all those years, God never left him. Jesus went out and brought back that hundredth sheep. We can all learn something from this--graduating college, you might make a lot of money, you might be tempted with sex, drugs, gambling, drinking, you-name-it. And you know what? We WILL fall. But it's comforting to know that God can pick us up from the deepest pits. 

Johnny Cash sure as hell wasn’t perfect. He was a great sinner. But I’m no different. In Mark 2:17 Jesus says "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." We need Jesus. And this life will be tough. To that Cash says “It's an ongoing struggle. I do know, though, that if I commit myself to God every morning and stay honest with Him and myself, I make it through the day.” And I get to meet this brother in Christ one day. The brother who said, “Because You’re mine, I walk the line."

From His hands it came down
From His side it came down
From His feet it came down
And ran to the ground 
Between heaven and hell 
A teardrop fell in the deep crimson dew 
The tree of life grew

And the blood gave life 
To the branches of the tree 
And the blood was the price 
That set the captives free 
And the numbers that came 
Through the fire and the flood clung to the tree 
And were redeemed by the blood

From the tree streamed a light 
That started the fight 'round the tree grew a vine 
On whose fruit I could dine 
My old friend Lucifer came 
Fought to keep me in chains 
But I saw through the tricks 
Of six-sixty-six

And the blood gave life 
To the branches of the tree 
And the blood was the price 
That set the captives free 
And the numbers that came 
Through the fire and the flood clung to the tree 
And were redeemed by the blood

From His hands it came down 
From His side it came down 
From His feet it came down 
And ran to the ground 
And a small inner voice said "You do have a choice." 
The vine engrafted me and I clung to the tree