jord

My real name is Jordan L. Chilcott, but I use jord to honour the memory of my mother who always called me as jord.

Been a rock 'n' roller all my life,but found Christ at the age of 33. Or, should I say that Christ found me, more or less at one of my lowest points in life. My biggest passion in life has always been playing guitar, but perhaps missed the dream of hitting it big. However, with the death of a dream always comes the birth of a new dream, which in this case is to ensure that promising musical artists from my church,who don't have the means, at least get a chance record a demo CD. Much of this involves producing, recording and mixing their CD's. As well, I will often compose/arrange music for them and play/record it. As well, I write and record my own songs. I also compose and arrange soundtracks for various plays and corporations for their videos and presentations.

I'm also doing contracts within media companies doing plenty of Flash and back-end programming. I have co-authored 4 books dealing with the web, the last one being Foundation Flash 8 Video, published by Friends of Ed which is now available in multiple languages, including Japanese.

And when I am not injuring myself,I am training in Goju Ryu Karate (I am currently a shodan black belt) and Kobudo (with the Bo being my weapon of choice). And once my leg is healed enough to train again, I'll be back for my Nidan!

However, the road to leading to where I am today was not an easy road. I was a teenage alcoholic, drinking to escape the pain of losing my dad at age 7, only to have a step-dad who's attention was obtained only by turning up my guitar amplifier. Between alcohol, drugs and suicide attempts, my life was nothing more than a living hell. It seemed as if I was in it alone with only one friend... my guitars.

Despite all of the Christian "lights" and "breadcrumbs" that God placed on my life's path since my dad had died, I seriously believed that He was about as concerned for me as my step-dad was... until the day that blew my whole belief apart. I was in Brookville, Ont filling my car up after a 2-week vacation in Wildwood, NJ practically in tears begging God for a sign all the way home. A station wagon pulled in to fill up with gas and while we were both getting gas, some dude got out of his car and he walked up to my window with a Gideon's Bible in hand and said, "God told me to give this to you." He then walked back to his car and drove off.

I WAS FREAKING OUT!! Joelle had to drive us home from that point as existence, as I knew it, shattered right in front of my eyes.

Although I accepted Christ at that moment, I didn't go over the edge until a Promise Keepers Conference in Hamilton, Ont in 1996, when Dr. Joe Garlington spoke that night and I felt myself being pulled down by a yet unknown to me Holy Spirit, and I was almost kicking and screaming because I was scared stiff. That night changed my entire life and not only was I free from the grip of alcohol and drugs and healing the longtime gaping wound of my childhood, I started turning my everything around, including facing a 50K debt that everyone was trying to force me into bankruptcy over. Even my songwriting went from booze, strippers and drugs to God, Jesus and my soulmate, Joelle, who literally stuck with me for better or worse.

The last 12 years though proved to me a road that tested my faith, littered with all kinds of temptation and no work for 19 months (felt like Job). I kept my eye on Jesus because I refused to drown in a sea of troubles. To this day, He has prevailed and the various journeys that I have been led on have proven to be nothing short of exciting in every way.