I was born on November 3rd, 1984, in Arlington, Texas. The insanity of my life quickly ensued, as doctors discovered, rather quickly, that I was born with a severe, genetic eye condition, called congenital glaucoma. Let’s put this in perspective – the normal eye pressure ranges around 12-18 or so – but, when I was born, my eye pressure was 67. In a matter of days, I had already undergone eye examinations and surgical procedures. And – all things considered, doctors had my eye condition under control until around age 3, when I lost my left eye in an accident at our home.
I grew up in a normal house, went to a mainstream school, played sports, rode my bike, watched TV and played video games – I just did it with only one eye. I was, and continue to be, incredibly blessed with the vision I have had through the years. I began to show an interest in music when I was in the sixth grade, and when we moved to Springhill, Louisiana, in my seventh grade year, I started playing drums in the junior high band. Toward the end of that school year, I had another incident with vision loss – when my retina had detached in my remaining eye. It began the slow, degradation of my residual vision, which lasted nearly nine years.
We moved back to Texas when I started eighth grade, and I ended up graduating from Lufkin High School in 2003. During the second half of my high school career, I started attending a local church – First United Methodist Church. My parents were religious, but we never really went to church often before that point, so I would comfortably say I was not a Christian up to this point. I was a fairly level-headed kid, rarely got into trouble, and kept on the straight and narrow most of my life. At FUMC, I met a stunning, funny, outgoing girl, named Angela, who I began dating in 2003. FUMC was also the church I accepted salvation. I found Christ at a Disciple Now event in 2003, and knew instantly that I needed a relationship with Him in my life. I really didn’t embrace that relationship for a few years, but I knew that Jesus had come to Earth to sacrifice His life in order to pay my debt of sin.
I also met Todd Wright through FUMC Lufkin. Todd was instrumental in getting me to pick the drums back up, despite countless attempts from band directors to shove me in a corner. I began leading worship with Todd for our youth group, and have continued to work with him through the years. Todd has demonstrated being a humble servant of Christ, a valuable insight into arranging, dynamics, and worship flow, and a source of encouragement and information any time I need him.
I went to Stephen F. austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, from 2003 through 2009. You’re probably wondering – what took you so long? My first three semesters were spent playing “Madden”, “The Sims”, and “Splinter Cell”, watching endless amounts of late-night television, skipping classes, and sleeping *A LOT*. When I *REALLY* started school in 2005, I studied public relations and interpersonal communication studies. These two fields allowed me to leverage my affinity for connecting with people, building relationships and writing killer content. with artists. During my senior year, I met Ben Love of Clairmont, and I built a press kit for the band as a senior project.
In 2007, I married the woman of my dreams, Angela Nicole Janisch. Angela can read my mind, offers me unconditional love, extends countless amounts of grace, and is the most generous, compassionate, witty, intelligent gal I know. I had another major eye operation 15 days after our wedding, and it restored a great deal of vision for about six months. During this time, I was able to, visually, understand what my wife looked like, and see the home we were started around us. It was absolutely incredible – and an experience I thank God for every day.
Fast forward to graduation in December 2009, and I am now playing drums for Clairmont. I was able to utilize my degree to handle multiple management and PR aspects of the band, while playing drums in this awesome indie alt. rock band. I stuck with them for about 10 months, and realized that I needed less performance, and more ministry. I love working with youth and college students, and it was hard to fulfill that passion when we were striving so hard to get our music noticed. I left Clairmont in September 2010, and started a company focused on social media and digital marketing for corporate entities.
In March 2011, we were excited to discover that we would be expecting a little one sometime around December, 12, 2011. I’ve struggled to come up with words to describe how truly excited I am about Baby Romack – but, “thrilled” will get us started. I’m rounding a wide corner on the road of life right now, but constantly rely on the Father for strength, wisdom, discernment and clarity as we embark on what will be the greatest journey of our lives’.
Want to know more about Justin? Are you a brand or business needing a passionate and dedicated individual to transform your company’s digital and content marketing strategy? What about an artist or band needing to hire a drummer, percussionist or kazoo player for the evening? Shoot an email to jromack@gmail.com to contact him directly.
