“But there’s a lot of shame surrounding sex,” Crist went on to say. “That’s why I make jokes about it, because it’s like a God-given. And I’ve been through a lot of embarrassing things…I wanted to commit suicide. And I was in rehab for four months.”
“But I always talk about it, because there’s a lot of people in here who struggle with a lot of shame, especially surrounding sex,” Crist said.
Crist then shared what it was like for him after he left rehab, saying, “I got out of rehab—it was on a Sunday, so I went to Five Guys. Chick-fil-A was closed. And I went in there. I was very embarrassed. I didn’t think I’d ever tell jokes again. I gave up on being a comedian and all that stuff. I wanted to live by myself and not tell jokes anymore.”
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As Crist shared the story, someone from the crowd shouted, “We love you, John!” Crist jokingly responded, “That’s how I got in trouble last time!”
“There’s a lot of shame, a lot of shame surrounding sex, especially as a Christian,” Crist continued. “I’ll never forget, because everything I went through was horrific and embarrassing and awful and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. But the only thing worse is if that would have never happened to me.”
“Every time I had a sold out show, or anything that I did like on television, as a Christian, it would come with a lot of shame. Because I thought that if everybody knew the truth about me that all these people would hate me,” Crist said. “And [in] that whole rehabilitation process, I found out that there’s a God who loves you. And He cares about you. And He’s not mad at you.”
Crist then joked about closing in prayer and taking up an offering, saying, “That would have been the perfect time for the [offering] buckets. Get ‘em in with the emotion, send the buckets!”
Getting back to his story about going to Five Guys after getting out of rehab, Crist said, “I was wearing like a hood and sunglasses, and I didn’t want to be recognized or nothing like that.”
It was at this moment that a family in the restaurant called him over to their table, something that made Crist immediately think about how they must think he was a bad Christian, a bad influence on kids, and an embarrassment. How they actually felt about him was a surprise to Crist.
“We just want to let you know that we love you and we care about you, and we’ve been thinking about you,” the family said.
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“It was so confusing,” Crist remarked, “because it was the first time in my life that people knew everything about me and they still chose to love me.”
“And I just want to say, that in a lot of ways, I’ve been through a lot of darkness and the people who are out here who bought tickets to my show saved my life in a lot of ways. And I just want to say thank you,” Crist said.
