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February 23, 2010

An old journal entry

I have no idea where this came from but today I found a random page on my office floor when I came into work. It was an old journal entry (written on a random sheet of paper... not actually in a journal). So I thought I'd share it with you today:

March 6, 2008
As I was singing "I Lay Me Down" by Darrell Evans, I began to feel a change in my head and body. When I got to the end of the song I was crying out, "AND FREEDOM WILL BE THE SONG OF MY HEART!" I started to feel chills run up and down my spine and the pain that was in my neck disappeared!

Then I saw a vision of Jesus, my Savior, my best friend, begin to rip off layers of what looked like rotten hamburger but it was hard as rock. It was Jesus tearing away the layers of rejection, bitterness, anger and unforgiveness! I kept singing and singing and He kept tearing and tearing!

When I finished, I litterally felt a weight had been lifted from me! Praise God for He is great! Then I felt led to Psalm 32:7 it says, "You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah"

Praise God!!! I then found an old song I wrote called "The Pieces of my Heart" (its about the rejection I've felt) God told me to rip it up! He said, "you don't need that song anymore; FREEDOM is now the song of your heart!" Amen & Amen

Never forget


Wow God is still so good! I love that verse: "...and [He] will surround me with songs of DELIVERANCE." God's freedom is something I find difficult to put into words... it is so amazing! Well I hope this post encouraged you and remember FREEDOM IS THE SONG OF YOUR HEART!


Soli Deo Gloria

February 4, 2010

Music... Christian music

We've come a long way in Christian music... I mean a long way! Yesterday a friend of mine and I were watching (REALLY) old Christian music videos from "back in the day"... Unfortunately not all of the videos let alone the songs have held up over time (If you wanna see some ummm... classic DC Talk go to youtube and look up the song "Heaven Bound" haha!). But anyway...

When I was a kid I always felt like Christian music, especially Christian rock, was always one step behind. You'd pop in some White Cross or Petra and be like, "Yeah! Rock on!" and then you'd hear of this band called Metallica (no I'm NOT a fan) and their sound would BLOW any Christian metal band out of the arena!
Plus at one time the best Christian rap song was "Who's in the House" by Carman. Come on you know the song!

I don't think it was all the artists fault either. The music industry in general wasn't very accepting of Christian music... You never saw ANY christian bands on the top of MTV's music charts or anyone else's charts. Now obviously no one could touch our worship music but then again only Christians would want to.
There was a time that if you were admitted that you were a Christian band, you were pretty much only going to popular in Christian circles, not that there's anything wrong with that. Maybe you've heard of the band Evanescence. This story I'm going to share with you is straight from Amy Lee's mouth so don't doubt me (and no I don't think you'll find it online).

Amy told a friend of mine, who was her tour bus driver and a good man of God, that when they signed with Wind-up records that their new record company told them that if they were to admit that they were Christians and that in fact some of their songs were about God, that it would be career suicide and Evanescence would NEVER "make it". So they hid this fact... and the rest is history.

But we've come from that, a record company telling a band to hide their faith, to a time where just a few years ago an openly Christian band called Switchfoot had the #1 song and music video in both Christian AND secular circles! And then there's bands like P.O.D. and so many more that are breaking the message of Jesus Christ into peoples daily lives... and they're NOT shy about it! Praise God!

I'm not trying to criticize ANY Christian music artists. What many artists, like Carman and White Cross and Petra, did for the Christian music industry is amazing! Thank God for them! I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm so glad that people in ALL circles of life are hearing the amazing music that comes out of a love for God and not selfish pride... and so many more people are hearing the Gospel and that is truly a work of God!

Soli Deo Gloria

February 2, 2010

'ello world!

So I guess this is an attempt to start blogging again. I know... my blog posts have usually had many months in between each other but that is something I'll try and remedy. So what to blog about? HAHA I'll think of something...

I guess I'll for this first REAL blog post in a very long time I'll reiterate what Worship With My Life is all about. It's pretty clear by the verse Romans 12:1 and by my profile what I'm trying to say. Have we really lived out this verse though? When taking this verse into mind I'm sure at times my "life song" has been a bit off key if not down right out of tune at times!

I love what verse 2 says as well: "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
Don't fit in so easily to your culture... Change what you think is normal... by changing the way you think... so we can know what God wants from us... because what He wants from us is GOOD, ACCEPTABLE and PERFECT! That last part reminds me of how some people are almost afraid to truly pray, "God, YOUR will be done NOT mine..." But God's will is awesome and more perfect than what we can imagine.

Sadly, I see many Christians who fit way too easily into the worldly culture around them. From the music in their iPod's; to the movies they LOVE; to the way they talk and dress... But what does 2 Corinthians 6:17 say again? "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN ; And I will welcome you.


Soli Deo Gloria!