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You’ve Given Hope [update]

January 21, 2011 in Blog, The Music with 1 Comment

It’s been a while since September.

My first-ever recording, Stand[by] was released.

No real promotion.
No record label.
No clue what I was doing.
No idea how God was going to provide.

But there was something that became more and more clear as the process unfolded:

Give.

I decided I wanted my music to do more than just exist.  I wanted it to exist for a purpose.

I was humbled to be able to partner with One Day’s Wages to make that happen.  Twenty-five percent of all the proceeds (both CDs and digital) goes directly to ODW.  I contacted Eugene Cho, ODW’s founder in December about where the greatest need was, as I was about to give my first donation of the proceeds.  He let me know that there was going to be a renewed Haiti fund, and I knew immediately that it was where I wanted the money to go.

One year later, Haiti is still facing obstacles that most of us could never fathom.  Even before last year, Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the world. About 80% were unemployed and 60% were living in extreme poverty….and that was prior to last year’s earthquake.

The quake was brutal.  Over 230,000 people were killed and according to some estimates, 1.5 million people were left homeless and displaced.  Add a huge cholera outbreak to that, and saying that Haiti is in desperate need would be an understatement.

Well, thanks to you who have bought my music, there is hope.  Granted, it’s not a million dollars or anything, but we can certainly make a difference with much less than we think.

Eugene sent me this video [click here RSS readers] last week, and I wanted to share it with you all.  Thanks again for all who have bought the music.  Together we may just change a few people’s lives, and I think God cares about that.

Friday’s Quote of Note

January 7, 2011 in Blog with 0 Comments

All that we call human history–money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery–is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.  – CS Lewis


One Word for 2011

January 5, 2011 in Blog, life with 14 Comments

My blogosphere friend, Alece has a great thing going.  She’s encouraged us to pick one word to focus on this year instead of making countless resolutions.  I’ve decided to join in with the fun.

Risk was a word that kept coming back to me in 2010, although I had not picked it.  I guess it sort of picked me.  Making a record was a huge risk to me, considering I never really risk anything financially if it’s over 20 bucks, let alone risking the potential humiliation of people hearing my music and not enjoying it.

I’ve thought a lot over the last week or so about what my word for 2011 was going to be.  I narrowed it down to a couple (well, a few if “dang” counts), and I believe I’ve finally decided on a word.  I think it encompasses what I hope for this year.  It’s an action word, which is good because I tend to freeze in fear.  The word is:

Lean.

I want to lean hard against the truth.

I want to lean hard into prayer.

I want to lean hard into my family and friends.

And ultimately, I want to lean into Jesus.

One can rest assured when they lean against something firm and true.  God is just that.

Only God.

My prayer will be that I choose to always lean there instead of leaning against a faulty frame of  cheap substitutes.

What’s your word for 2011?

So Let it Grow

December 29, 2010 in Blog with 5 Comments


So, it’s raining today…

…in Arizona.

It’s not common, so I’m always quick to pay attention to it.

Today I’m noticing all the life that water brings to the desert.  The plants out here are made for this harsh climate – they conserve water and can sustain themselves through extensive gaps in rainfall.

But they crave the water.

They need it to grow.

I’m exactly the same way, dang it.

Sure, I can get by.  I can do everything I can to conserve myself and be comfortable.  But that doesn’t mean it’s always better.

You could probably climb up a mountain with no shoes, but why would you?

You see, I am far too easily pleased.

How often do I choose things that never give life over what is best?

How often do you choose them?

Perhaps you’re choosing them now.

Perhaps I am, too.

In reality, we’re all in desperate need of water.

Water that brings life, growth and character.  Our dry and cracked souls long to soak up as much as possible, holding on and leaning into it during the inevitable dry spells.

It’s by growth that we’re greener; out of the dry spells.  Out of the downpours and into the sun.

Dear brothers - when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. - James 1:2-4 [NLT]

image: sam

Celebrate the Suffering

December 23, 2010 in Blog with 2 Comments

He explained Him.

That’s it.

The story of God in Jesus summed up in three words.

The image of the invisible God.

The main thing Jesus explained about God was written in a letter from Paul to the Phillipians.

He speaks these words of Jesus: “who, being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing being made in the human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”

Right in the middle of the Christmas story is the deepest place of God’s heart – that he would love us so much to suffer for us.  That lying in a manger would be the first step toward a cross.  He came to die so that we could live.

Jesus became the thing he hated to save us from the thing we love.

A friend of mine shared this quote a while back and it blew me away.

You can confirm this in 2 Corinthians.

The incarnation of God becoming one of us must be celebrated, but let it not stop there.  Jesus had a purpose here on earth, and part of that purpose was to suffer for our sake.

So this Christmas, may we also sacrifice and suffer for others, even if it’s just one.

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