My name is Russ Nottingham and I am singer, songwriter and musician:  I would like to share a little bit of my testimony with you.

 

I started playing music at the young age of 6.  By the time I was 13, I was playing bass guitar in a Country band with my two older brothers out in the bars and nightclubs.  That would have been about 1975.  I have to admit, I did have a lot of fun. But being raised in a Christian home, I knew right from wrong and I knew that there was something missing.  Although I knew (deep down) what that something was, it took me over twenty years to accept it.  I wanted to as they say, "live a little".

 

By the age of 14, I was already drinking and beginning to experiment with drugs and all the other things that sometimes goes along with the nightlife.  That went on for a few years until one night something very dreadful happened that would change my life forever. I won't go into details, but I will say that it brought some very serious trouble my way and no one (no attorney, not even mom and dad) could help me get out of it.  No one but God!  So I called on Him and of course, He was there.  That lasted for a few years until I let some things that happened in church get to me and I ended up drifting away and began to drink and play music back out in the bars and nightclubs again.  I even got into cocaine and some harder things for a short period of time.  But thank God, He had a different plan for my life! 

 

Little did I know (at that time) while I was briefly in church, I had met a young lady there who would become my wife some 5 years later.  Things couldn't have been better.  I had a wife who loved me for me.  Over the years we had two wonderful boy's.  Our band was quickly gaining national exposure.  We were blessed to have been an opening band for many different major country artists. We were starting to travel/tour.  My lifelong dream was finally becoming a reality.  But then I began to notice that I wasn't all that happy.  I was getting very homesick and missing my wife and kids.  I began to get tired and weary.  Even the drinking thing got old.  Nothing seemed to soothe or fill that emptyness anymore.  That's when I began to ask myself this question, is this really the life that I want to live?  Is it worth possibly losing my wife and kids over or maybe even my soul? 

 

It was then that God once again started dealing with my heart .  Don't get me wrong, He never did leave me nor did He quit dealing with my heart.  There was even times while on stage, when we would do an a-capella version of "Amazing Grace" and I would literally have to fight back the tears. Many of times during that song I so wanted to drop to my knees, but didn't.  Believe me God knew what He was doing!  It was then that He began to soften my hardened heart. He slowly began to transform or mold me like a potter does a piece of clay. He began to change my way of thinking.  He began to change my attitude.  He accepted me the way I was and for who I was even though I needed alot of work!  

 

So with all of that said, I want to thank and praise my God for giving me a praying and believing mom and dad, a loving and caring wife and two wonderful young men (sons).  It is because of them and by the grace of God that I am still alive today and have now been back in the fold since 1996 and I don't plan on going anywhere soon!

 

God has given me back that desire to play music and to sing once again, but He changed my desires, my goals/dreams and more importantly, He changed my heart!  Now, all of the songs that I write come from some of these true life experiences. 

If we never meet down here on this earth, I will someday, "See You In Heaven"!