I live a sort of double life. By day, I run a religious bookstore, but by night I rock and roll. I don't believe in playing Christian music either. I play good, old-fashioned Rock 'n roll music for young people looking to party. Anyone who knows me and my daily life finds this hysterical. The ideas of me running a Christian bookstore is preposterous. I do not, nor have I ever believed in the religion, and yet I still sell Christian publishing to some very conservative, true believers. The story of how I got involved in it is actually pretty interesting.
You see, when I was about 21, I was having a lot of trouble. I could not find a job and in many ways, my life is falling apart. I get taken in by this Christian book store that promised me employment. I didn't believe in their religion, but they were very nice to me. They helped me out by giving me a job, gave me advice that helped get my life together, and even helped me find a new low-rent apartment. I ended up going to church with them a few times because it was so important to them. You see, they wanted me to believe very badly. They needed me to be Christian like they were. After all, they liked me, and in their mindset I was going to hell unless I believed what they believed.
So I started pretending. I even had a sudden “miraculous” Conversion one day while we were all in the Christian book store. I didn't do it to be mean. I did it to be nice. I thought their religion was foolish, but it did give them some comfort in their lives. I wanted them to feel comfortable about me and to feel assured that I was going to go to heaven even though I didn't believe what they believed.
The problem was that they wanted me to become more and more involved in their church and religious life. Eventually, when they retired, they left the running of Christian book store to me. There are some big Christian book stores out there with chains that stretch across the country. Ours is not like that – we run a small shop. Even so, it is enough to make quite a comfortable living. I am grateful to them for the job and the Christian book store, even if I am not grateful to their God.
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