It has been awhile since I have blogged. For that I apologize. As of recently we have been on tour with Abandon Kansas and Swimming With Dolphins. The last three dates, we have direct support to Abandon Kansas. They are extremely talented and driven individuals. Playing before them every night provokes me to be the best that I can be.
Over the course of the last couple months our vision hasn't necessarily changed as much as it has been illuminated more clearly. I woke up and realized I didn't want to be remembered as a Christian musician. I am a Christian and playing music is what I do. Limiting God and my relationship with Him to a guitar or a Sunday makes me sick to my stomach. Yet feeling this way created an earthquake-type dichotomy inside of me.
We are told biblically to preach the gospel. We are told to deny ourselves. We are told to be poor by one preacher, told we can believe God to be millionaires by the next. Multiply that by sleeping in a different town overnight and meeting new people and it's hard to find a cable that will connect you to the foundation you were once strapped to. It's like we set out to sail the Atlantic with our idea of what that looks like only to find that once we are out there its a completely different realm.
The point I am getting at is that it's hard to reconcile being a follower of Christ that doesn't just play youth groups and do what the CCM world desires of you. Jesus drank wine and hung out with sinners. He became the filth of the world and the sin of our fathers. Paul said it this way: "Be all things to all men." He never went around waving a flag. He lived and did what His Father told Him to do.
More than ever I just want to be all things to all men that I might win some, that I might get over myself and be an encouragement to someone else. Life is hard. Your best friends go through hell right next to you and sometimes it’s hard to notice because you feel the same way. It's easy to get tunnel vision. However I find peace in asking God what He wants of me, not what an industry wants of me, not what my friends want of me. Who am I? Who do I serve? What does He desire of me?
In a recent conversation with a new friend he said "We say we want to serve God but only do it like the Arcade Fire. Yet what if right now were supposed to be in front of 40 kids a night. We can't pick and choose what serving looks like."
Right now I am learning that "He who is faithful in least will be faithful in much."
We must never be ashamed of the name of Christ. Yet we must never limit the ways in which we can express His love to this world. I choose the path He has set before me.
I love God and I write music. As long as He wants me to, I will keep playing my guitar.
Over the course of the last couple months our vision hasn't necessarily changed as much as it has been illuminated more clearly. I woke up and realized I didn't want to be remembered as a Christian musician. I am a Christian and playing music is what I do. Limiting God and my relationship with Him to a guitar or a Sunday makes me sick to my stomach. Yet feeling this way created an earthquake-type dichotomy inside of me.
We are told biblically to preach the gospel. We are told to deny ourselves. We are told to be poor by one preacher, told we can believe God to be millionaires by the next. Multiply that by sleeping in a different town overnight and meeting new people and it's hard to find a cable that will connect you to the foundation you were once strapped to. It's like we set out to sail the Atlantic with our idea of what that looks like only to find that once we are out there its a completely different realm.
The point I am getting at is that it's hard to reconcile being a follower of Christ that doesn't just play youth groups and do what the CCM world desires of you. Jesus drank wine and hung out with sinners. He became the filth of the world and the sin of our fathers. Paul said it this way: "Be all things to all men." He never went around waving a flag. He lived and did what His Father told Him to do.
More than ever I just want to be all things to all men that I might win some, that I might get over myself and be an encouragement to someone else. Life is hard. Your best friends go through hell right next to you and sometimes it’s hard to notice because you feel the same way. It's easy to get tunnel vision. However I find peace in asking God what He wants of me, not what an industry wants of me, not what my friends want of me. Who am I? Who do I serve? What does He desire of me?
In a recent conversation with a new friend he said "We say we want to serve God but only do it like the Arcade Fire. Yet what if right now were supposed to be in front of 40 kids a night. We can't pick and choose what serving looks like."
Right now I am learning that "He who is faithful in least will be faithful in much."
We must never be ashamed of the name of Christ. Yet we must never limit the ways in which we can express His love to this world. I choose the path He has set before me.
I love God and I write music. As long as He wants me to, I will keep playing my guitar.
-Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment