Jeff Allen can easily stand toe-to-toe with the world’s most renowned comedians. He is indisputably one of the most talented comics of his time and has performed in the most prestigious venues and on countless television appearances with his straight-faced and side-splitting stories about family life.
When asked about his growing up years, Jeff describes his family life this way…“Typical blue collar family – a lot of tears and a lot of laughter. When we got together, we had a blast. “
“I got my father’s sarcasm and edge, and my mother’s ability to forgive. I spoke at my mother’s funeral and looked right at my dad and said, ‘She never kept a score card.’ And she really didn’t.”
“My parents were German and I think my dad was bi-polar. He would stay in his room for days at a time… and as a kid you kind of wonder but it’s all you know…”
“Dad recently passed away. He used to shoot pool, and at his funeral his friends remembered him as funny and engaging. His brother is a pastor and all my nephews are pastors, so when Mom was sick we gathered around her to pray. My dad, who didn’t believe in God, started complaining about it, so my mother threw dad out of the room…”
After growing up with the belief that there wasn’t a God, Jeff now sees how God’s hand guided him through decades of seeking…
“What can I say? I made a mess of my life before I crawled into AA 24 years ago…” Jeff recalls.
“When I first walked into AA, if someone had put an arm around me and said ‘you need Christ’ I would’ve left and never come back. But He knew my mind. I made a mess of everything, but I had to. That’s what it took for Him to get my attention.”
“I was told by my father at age 14 or 15 that there was no God, and I believed him for the next 25 years. But about 8 or 9 years into AA, as God was moving me closer to Himself, whenever they would say we had to have a ‘higher power’ I found that I could no longer make one up. I figured it wasn’t really a ‘higher power’ if I could make it up.”
“Christ was literally THE last stone I turned over… I tried everything else first. I would read things on Buddhism and all kinds of other religions, and those things would quench my thirst for a while but I would always get thirsty again.”
Like the story of the woman Jesus met at the well, Jeff began to read His words and follow them… and that thirst for ‘who knows what’ was quenched. Unlike the woman at the well, however, Jeff’s relationship with Christ did not begin in one sudden, miraculous moment or one encounter with Truth…
“It was a day-to-day, year-to-year process. Finally, when the seeker realizes he is the sought, there also comes the realization that God was in everything.”
“Tami and I had separated at that point. She took the kids with her, and I was alone in the house. I remember telling her on the phone one day, ‘I’m a born again Christian.’“
“She said, ‘What is that?’”
“I said, ‘I really don’t know… but I’m learning that I’m supposed to love you like He does.’”
“It was weird to hear those words coming out of my own mouth… and weird for Tami to hear those words coming out of my mouth… and believe me, I have not arrived. But I’m better than I was…”
Now, many years later, Jeff and Tami’s story of healing and reconciliation in their marriage is reaching people across the country through television, marriage conferences and other opportunities that have opened up since the release of Jeff’s newest DVD, My Heart, My Comedy.
For additional information on booking Jeff Allen contact Tim Grable at The Grable Group, 615 283 0039.
This post was previous published as a GAITHER.COM EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW.
