My first memories of the Tournament of Roses Parade were watching it on New Year’s Day with my mother and grandma. For as far back as I can remember on New Year’s Day every year we would wake up early from our home in Wolfforth, TX and travel to the family farm located right outside of Brownfield in Terry County. I don’t remember many specifics of any parades that we watched, I just remember that I enjoyed most of the floats and marching bands that participated.

“My first memories of the Tournament of Roses Parade were watching it on New Year’s Day with my mother and grandma.”

Last year my mother told me a story of me watching the parades as a child. She told me that one year when I was 4 or 5 years old, I stopped what I was doing, perked up and excitedly stared at the TV screen as a band with red coats and caps took the center stage of the parade. As she was telling me the story, I remember that this band was always one of my favorite bands to watch. That year she remembers me telling her that, “One day I am going to march with this band.”

“One day I am going to march with this band.”

This was quite an odd thing for a kid to say. Who dreams of marching a 5.5-mile parade?

Last year I did just that. I marched my first parade with the band in red coats, the Salvation Army Tournament of Roses Band 2015 to help the Salvation Army celebrate its 150th year of service as a church. And the funny thing is that I was given the chance to march it again this past New Year’s Day. as a chaperone for the Salvation Army Southern Territories.

As a kid growing up in southwest Lubbock I didn’t know what the Salvation Army was and what the organization has meant to millions of people around the world. To me at that time in life, the Salvation Army was a nice dressed marching band that sounded good. I have since grown up and have come to know the Salvation Army as more than a New Year’s Day marching band. I have even started attending the Salvation Army Church and have become a member of the church (Aka. a Salvationist).

“As a kid growing up in southwest Lubbock I didn’t know what the Salvation Army was and what the organization has meant to millions of people around the world. To me at that time in life, the Salvation Army was a nice dressed marching band that sounded good”

Yes, some reading this might be wondering why would I ever attend a church at a thrift store? What many people don’t know is that the Salvation Army is a church founded by William Booth in 1865 England. The doctrine of the church is part of the holiness movement and they are theologically a cousin to the United Methodist Church.

I say that to help shed light on a realization that I had this year while marching down Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena California. Every year members of the Salvation Army church across the US and Canada (and this year England) meet a week before the parade to learn how to march and play music together as one BIG group. For many of the delegates this is their first time marching a proper parade. That in itself is a feat that is accomplished to a high level every year -- but that is not the epiphany I had this year.

My epiphany this year was that God uses this band to share hope and love every year to millions of people. Some of the songs we perform include, Stand Up, Shout to the Lord, and Lord I Lift Your Name on High. Every year hundreds of christians get together and celebrate how good our God is to millions of people on January 1st.

“And guess what?”

Both times I have participated in this parade no one has ever raised a fuss. Instead we are thanked on the parade by people who have been helped by the church. We are thanked by other Christians who are hungry to hear God praised in public. We are thanked for the charity and disaster relief work that The Salvation Army does. But my favorite compliment we get is seeing/hearing many people in the crowd sing along with us as we march.

My epiphany this year was “Why don’t we, as Christians, share the love of God more? and outside of the church’s doors?” I don’t want to be mistaken as saying we all need to be the guy yelling at people on the street corner telling everyone in earshot that they are going to hell.

Unnamed Christian Evangelist walking Hollywood Blvd. December 2016

But rather people who genuinely want to connect with other people to help, listen, and tell our story about God and how he has changed us for the better. To display all of the fruits of the spirit every day and be a living witness of how much God loves his creation.

“22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23. gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

— Galatans 5: 22-26

You never know what impact you will have on someone. It may be that your display of God’s love helps shape the life and perceptions of an eager 4 or 5 year old watching you follow Christ.

Tournament of Roses Parade 2016