Saturday, May 29, 2010

Sunday Sharing: Laughter and Tears -- Jeff Allen


: An alcoholic atheist from the South side of Chicago who toured the country's casinos and nightclubs as a stand-up comedian for 18 years decides to give his life to Jesus. WHY? Why the switch from X-rated jokes to "Christian" humor? In two short videos Jeff Allen gets us laughing, and then brings us to the edge of tears...

A quote from Allen's Website outlines his accomplishments ...

"Jeff Allen has been doing comedy for four decades and his work has been seen on every cable comedy show in the U.S. including Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and VH1’s Standup Spotlight. His one-hour special, Happy Wife, Happy Life aired on the Odyssey Channel, Family Net and the Worship Network. He was a featured comedian at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen and the Montreal Just for Laughs International Comedy Festival, the most prestigious comedy Festivals in the world. He also headlined his own national comedy tour, Jeff Allen & Friends: Funny People of Faith and is now on the Apostles of Comedy Tour."

This first ten minute clip gets us laughing, guaranteed. But at the time of its filming, his wife was battling cancer, and it looked like she'd soon be losing that battle (although later she did recover). And he has much on his mind. After the first six minutes of humor, he suddenly switches to a story about his 10 year old son asking about life and death issues ... and (not in the script) breaks down crying, bringing his audience near tears also, talking about faith in the Lord in the midst of such tough times.

In the second video below, he tells us how much he originally despised Christianity, convinced that atheism was the only explanation to life's apparent contradictions. He'd never read the Bible, and never planned to. Cocaine and alcohol made more sense to him as a gritty nightclub comedian still living on Chicago's South side, with 18 years experience performing in some of the toughest, rowdiest places in America.

This man has much to say, and tells it like it is. If Bear closes her eyes while listening to the second video, she can almost imagine herself in one of those hard-core bars from his old days... yet his words, as he tells about what led him to decide to give his life to the Lord, weave an incredible tapestry, hard to describe. Bear's rarely at a loss for words, but is right now. She'll try to sum it up with the word "Riveting" and leave it at that...

(NOTE: If you don't see the two videos, you aren't on the Den's Homepage and need to click on Bear's Writing Den and look there for them.)







This is the Den's first week in the "Spiritual Sundays" sharing loop... To see more, drop by Spiritual Sundays as well, where you'll find links to the whole selection of this week's entries by Christian writers, and where you could even add a link of your own to join in the sharing. We all welcome comments and discussion! (NOTE: A small percentage of Spiritual Sundays' entries are by writers of other religions or of the New Age. Discernment is advised.)
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Bear's news and free multi-media Christian resources: Bear's Writing Den

6 comments:

Nikki (Sarah) said...

very funny guy

INSIDE THE SHRINK said...

It seems that we go day by day living our lives, but when something very serious strikes our lives and we need strength and the ability to cope, we turn to the Lord. There is no other hope. Thanks for sharing the videos. God bless.

Michele Williams said...

Riveting testimony. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.

Ginger~~Enchanting Cottage said...

I have never heard of him before, but I don't watch much T.V. I think it's wonderful how he changed his life, can you imagine how many life's he will change.
God Bless,
Ginger

Charlotte said...

Thank you so much for sharing this post with us on Spiritual Sundays. The videos are terrific. I especially loved the last one and his testimony. I look forward to you sharing again.
Blessings,
Charlotte

timgrable said...

For more information on Jeff Allen Visit http://thegrablegroup.com/comedians/jeff-allen/

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