Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/567026
GraceRiderMag.com September/October 2015 35 to visit, then in for a tour. I readily accepted, and my wife went with me. The blessings were about to begin. We were about to step into a time capsule of history of both music and people that Graceland and Elvis would envy. You see, there are many Blues festivals each year in Clarksdale, and they all come to stay or visit with Ratt. John Lee Hooker, Howling Wolf, John-John, Ike Turner, BB King, and others make this their home away from home. This weekend the Viet Nam Vets MC have filled the place for the weekend. There is no color boundary, social boundary, or economic boundary here. Come and play, or listen but be cool. Each individually decorated and spotless room oozes memories. And Ratt loosely runs the show, or maybe it runs him. Only rule is no drugs, and people come year after year from as far away as Japan. Leaving their guitars and other belongings knowing they are safe in their friend's house. It is not unusual for the cops at 6am to stop by when people are still playing to visit, not harass. After the tour Ratt had us sit in his makeshift office, piled high with stuff of all kinds, family pictures on the walls whom he shared details with, and a loud banging ceiling fan. All this from a man, who an hour earlier we didn't even know. Now we are his friends. No religion, boundaries, rules or laws. Just friends. The other side of travelling the south is what I know it to be - at least incorrectly - as the Bible belt. A religion belt is more accurate, as there is so many types of Baptists we quit counting, and on Sunday mornings there are maybe six cars in the church parking lot. About the only commonality I saw was that they didn't get along. Jesus said you are my friends if you keep my commandment, to love God and your neighbor. I wonder if He would be welcome in our churches, or He would stay with Ratt, where he would be welcomed. Church people: we are commanded to love, if you don't, start doing it. Quit finding difference and realize we have one Jesus, and concentrate on Him. Pray for each other, invite each other to dinner, or maybe just to visit. Fellowship, and concentrate on the Lord. Maybe, just maybe, your heart may be changed. Then, where you fellowship and with whom, who you ride with or what you rode on won't matter. Maybe the Bessie Smiths in your life won't lay bleeding in the next room because of their different color or belief. Maybe just maybe, you will see Jesus for the first time-not in book or movie form but in person, as the Son of God. Pray for Ratt, his life style is a display of brotherhood, but not salvation. But knowing Ratt, and the values his mama instilled in him, I know he has heard the gospel. I pray that behind that toothless grin, beats the heart of a believer. This is one book, which after looking at the cover, must be read. Somehow it all makes sense when we just love. Love with compassion, Mike Mohn Note: that old Cream song "Crossroads" by Eric Clapton was written about Clarksdale and the blues, and I'll bet there is part of Ratt in it too.