{"id":2356,"date":"2023-12-04T16:13:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T16:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/?p=2356"},"modified":"2023-12-04T16:54:29","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T16:54:29","slug":"jeremy-hampton-little-drummer-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/2023\/12\/04\/jeremy-hampton-little-drummer-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremy Hampton: Little Drummer Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jeremy Hampton: Little Drummer Boy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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\u201cThe Little Drummer Boy\u201d is a familiar holiday tune about a poor young boy who performs for Baby Jesus.  While the song itself is a Christmas classic, the Rankin & Bass TV version received only a lukewarm response in Nielsen ratings.  Children were put off by the lead character, who wore a wooden expression on his face throughout.  He never smiled \u2013 not when his pet lamb was miraculously healed, and not even when Baby Jesus smiled at him.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight, we think the Rankin & Bass production was ahead of its time, but 50 years ago there just wasn\u2019t anybody out there with enough charisma for the lead role.  Today, we know of the perfect person.  He possesses the excitement, poise, and glamour needed for the protagonist\u2019s part.  With piercing eyes framed by a rugged face and well-groomed beard, our guy even has an infectious smile.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet Jeremy Hampton!  CORE Church members readily recognize Jeremy as the accomplished drummer for our popular praise and worship band.  His resume doesn\u2019t end there.  He\u2019s also a house manager, recovery instructor, spirituality class teacher, softball team member, and volunteer for CORE special projects.  Jeremy is able to serve in these positions because he has recovered.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While people today have difficulty picturing this, five years ago Jeremy was a struggling addict who hit rock bottom.  He told us \u201cI was doing a lot of meth, weed, everything.  I was 118 pounds and malnourished.  I was sleepng in my car and miserable.  I was dying<\/em>.\u201d  His predicament was the product of denial and blaming others.  \u201cMy thinking was that I just needed to get away, change my location and friends, then I\u2019d be fine,<\/em>\u201d he recalls, \u201cit all made sense in my head at the time.<\/em>\u201d  Jeremy shook his head while telling us this, and we understand why.  Within CORE, we know that such thinking is eternally wrong.  Unfortunately, it\u2019s terribly common with an addict trapped in the cycle of addiction.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of his last spree, everything Jeremy had worked for in life was gone, again, and this time he had nobody to turn to for help.  The moment finally had come for him to quit, but he couldn\u2019t, no matter how hard he tried.  In desperation he called our program manager Kevin Hunt who, Jeremy says, \u201canswered my phone call and got me in [CORE]; he probably saved my life<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremy worked his recovery program in earnest and, after 6 months, was doing Steps 10, 11, and 12 daily.  He vividly remembers the exact moment when he \u201csuddenly realized<\/em>\u201d \u2013 in the Big Book\u2019s words \u2013 \u201cthat God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves<\/em>.\u201d  Jeremy was at his place of employment, a local resort:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I opened a drawer, and there was a bag of dope.  I\u2019d never expected to see that there, but I went and flushed it without really even thinking.  Five minutes later, it hit me.  There was no craving or desire.  My mind didn\u2019t race about how I could do it without getting caught.  And that\u2019s when I knew it; the miracle had begun.  It was an awesome realization.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremy credits his recovery to God, who he sees as loving, forgiving, and understanding of his past.  He maintains conscious contact with Him by \u201cexpressing willingness, by doing the act of getting on my knees, praying, and by doing the steps<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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He shows gratitude to God through abundant service work.  Within a few months of his recovery, Jeremy went through our presenter\u2019s training and began studying the AA Big Book cover to cover.  In his first class, he told us, \u201cI was so nervous.  My mouth was dry and I could hardly talk<\/em>.\u201d  He walked through fear by faith, nevertheless, and now Jeremy\u2019s recovery classes are always popular with clients.  In time, he also began helping teach our weekly spirituality classes which, he says \u201cprobably helps me more than it helps anybody else.  It makes me really dig into scripture and learn<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At CORE, we are so very happy and pleased for Jeremy!  We sincerely hope that his association with us bears fruit and continues for years to come.  But \u2013 what does Jeremy see for his future?  His answer for us was altogether encouraging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He enjoys his profession in real estate, but he also feels that God may be leading him into working full-time with clients in recovery.  There has been talk of CORE possibly opening a third recovery center.  Jeremy hints that if this does happen, he may be interested in helping get this started and underway.  He said, \u201cthat looks like where my calling and destiny is headed, where God wants me.  It\u2019s in the recovery field, and I’m at the point where I need to surrender and give into what God wants<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ordinarily, we might conclude Jeremy\u2019s story here.  We know, however, that many Readers are fans who really want to hear about Jeremy\u2019s musical career.  We dug hard to get this information, which is 100% true, so here goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremy always had a knack for music.  He remembers rhythmically beating on pots and pans as a toddler.  When he was 7 years-old, Santa Claus brought him a “Fraggle Rock<\/em>” drum set \u2013 a child-sized, working drum kit, with Jeremy’s favorite Muppets shown on the bass drum!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While these seem like humble beginnings, Jeremy already was on a trajectory toward musical greatness.  He never had formal lessons and didn’t need them.  He rose from being first chair in junior high, to jamming with garage bands in high school.  By his early 20’s, Jeremy played with a local rock band whose popularity took it to towns up and down the Mississippi River.  Sadly, his musical career was derailed by drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Jeremy\u2019s mind, being a member of CORE\u2019s band today is a great blessing.  When given the opportunity to play, Jeremy says, \u201cI was grateful and cherished it.  I still do<\/em>.\u201d  In our humble opinion, his performances are central to the band\u2019s pulsating energy, a conduit of raw power.  His drumsticks seem to blur in a whirlwind of controlled chaos, yet his limbs move with precision and dynamic athleticism.  Each rhythmic crash of his cymbals sends the crowd into excitement, mesmerized by sound, movement, and spectacle alike.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a pity we don’t have an actual pic of Jeremy performing, because it\u2019s really something.\u00a0 Happily, our graphic artist has been kind enough to make a fun facsimile that gives Readers a mental picture.\u00a0 He looks something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Jeremy Hampton: Little Drummer Boy \u201cThe Little Drummer Boy\u201d is a familiar holiday tune about a poor young boy who performs for Baby Jesus.  While the song itself is a Christmas classic, the Rankin & Bass TV version received only a lukewarm response in Nielsen ratings.  Children were put off by the lead character, who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/core-usa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}