HOPE WILL RISE

A dear friend of mine Vince Wilcox once told me,”Success in your work is doing what you love with people you love doing it with”. I can truly say that in these several decades I have spent on this planet, that has been the case over and over again! Every season, every creative project   has produced more than new music. It has provided opportunities to make new friends and build new relationships. I have been blessed to have many friends help me in developing my new project HOPE WILL RISE.

This project is not intended to fit in any specific stylistic box. It is a handful of songs that express my heart felt gratefulness for those in my life that mean the most to me. A tribute to the experiences and the people that inspire hope in my life.

I sincerely pray as you take time to listen, that it will make you feel a little more hopeful and a little more thankful than you were before. God’s blessings are all around us. We just have to take time to look for them.

Thoughts On A Proverb

PROVERBS 3:5&6

I have to continually lean on my life verse here Proverbs 3:5&6. I think the thing that is most meaningful or appropriately directive in this verse is that the point is made that we will not “understand” many things in life. The first thing we attempt to do in times that seem somewhat confusing or “against what we had planned” is to try to make sense of them. We try to create a story that gets us to the point where we say “aha!” That is why all this took place. It is human nature to do so. Most of the time we can collect enough facts together to support the story we have created. That is why I think it is so important to emphasize that this truth says,”Lean not on your own understanding”.

I also find frequently through scripture that “His ways are not our ways”. Passages that tell us that we cannot understand the hand of God. We cannot trace it because it is constantly moving in directions that we cannot predict. We will never see the cinematic picture that God has created because we are such a small single pixel among billions. Yes we are to look for Him among all events in life. We are to “acknowledge Him in all of our ways”. We follow where He leads almost blindly because most of the time we cannot see what lies ahead. Therefor we “trust Him with all of our hearts”. Our hearts must be intensely tuned to Him as He leads us down paths that are many times uncertain. There may be a sudden turn we had not expected. Maybe a small path covered in leaves and branches that we would not have seen without holding tight to His hand.

I know with all of my heart that God will direct my path. I also know that following that path He has so sovereignly designed for me will take me to places that won’t make human sense. It won’t line up with the “logical” schedules or timelines we have created to bring us comfort. We have to consider that many times people won’t understand the “why”. They may even accuse you of making the wrong turn or going the wrong direction. All along in God’s economy, exists a peace that passes all understanding. The security in knowing that in the midst of a world that screams,”Your life makes no sense!”, God is accomplishing incredible things through that very life that will glorify Him and will fulfill His purpose. 

So when you don’t feel one single hand on your back patting you with affirmation, trust Him. When someone is giving you what they feel is advice based in wisdom and discernment but your heart is telling you God is leading you down an “unpopular path” trust Him. When the road  He has chosen for you is the one that doesn’t appear to be paved and has no visible road signs, trust Him. Yes Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. Knowing this, it is amazing how we make most of our decisions based on visible evidence and collected facts. 

I think we have to come to the conclusion that following God many times may look like insanity to most. When you step back on your life and everything looks planned out carefully and follows the standards created by many who do not know God, you may need to ask yourself how God actually fits into the picture. Does God ever look like the world? I think in most Biblical accounts of  major events it appears that God intentionally does the opposite of what was expected. He chooses the impossible over the possible. The illogical over the logical. The impractical over the practical. Most of all He chooses the miraculous over the mundane. 

When God is in the middle of something, people will always step back and say WOW! How did that even happen?! I would have never planned it like that. How did all that come together from mass chaos?!  The answer is that God doesn’t have guidelines. Everything about Him has no limits and no boundaries. He is in control of everything and above everything. He answers to no-one. He is not scheduled in anyones calendar. He is in control of the calendar. He created time and every second of every minute ticks at His command. He decides when things stop and when they go. When they rise and when they fall. He has absolute authority over everything that has ever existed and everything that will ever exist. The most important thing to keep in mind as we live in this tiny window of life here on Earth is that everything may look totally different than we imagined. We must not allow a world full of fabricated boundaries, timelines, and barricades to box in this life that was created to pierce through solid rock like water. 

Trust God to do incredible things with your life far beyond what you could imagine or understand! Live life in a way that takes so many twists and turns as it winds its way through touching and changing heart after heart that people can only acknowledge the hand of God as they observe. They will see that it has to be something more than well made plans and goals. It can only be the hand of God directing your path. 

REAL MEN

I would like to bring up a topic that might make some feel very uncomfortable. I would ask though that if you do, you really put those feelings to test. Ask yourself why it is you are feeling uncomfortable. Is it truth that is driving that discomfort, or is it something that has been dictated by your culture, surroundings, or personal experiences. I would say in most cases it would more than likely be the latter.

First of all what image comes to mind when you hear the words, "REAL MEN". I would venture to say that it provokes images that mirror activities such as various sports, hard work, maybe even a somewhat abrasive or reserved personality. In most cases it would rarely bring up thoughts of sensitivity, artistic or creative ability, or even being affectionate. Interesting isn't it? Was this the image that Christ,"the ultimate example of manhood" modeled for us? I really doubt it.

I believe Jesus would have made direct eye contact with whoever he was communicating with. I believe He was one who would greet another person, even another man, with a big hug with both arms extended. I believe He was sensitive, caring, and made anyone he was spending time with feel they were extremely special to Him. It would be His desire to make sure that person felt the intense love He had in his heart for them.

Now. As men in our day and time? These very qualities that Jesus modeled would be somewhat uncomfortable for us.  Others who observed it would be quick to jump to assumptions that were not accurate. I think most of us would admit that we need it. We need to feel love and acceptance from other men. We have allowed culture and the loud voices of those who have gone beyond what is considered "healthy affection" to steal this very important element from our lives. Over time we have allowed ourselves to settle with surface, shallow, distant relationships that barely resemble anything close to genuine or authentic.

I grew up in an environment where men were rough around the edges, affection was close to non existent, and conversation was limited to cars, football, and the latest jokes. In many ways I felt the "desire" for deeper relationships with my male peers was a "personal issue" when in fact it was a core human need. This feeling has a tendency to teach you to be isolated and disconnected from other men. You learn to exist in this fabricated idea of what male relationships should "look like" and become confused as to what that need for healthy, rewarding, nurturing interaction with other men really is.

I ask you this. When is Satan most successful in distorting and confusing our emotions and our thoughts? When we isolate ourselves. He surrounds us like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. A lions most vulnerable prey is a creature that has fallen away or pulled away from the group. Could it be that so many of the struggles that are quickly becoming common among men are somehow related to this isolation? Could it be that culture dictating that "surface and shallow" are somehow "manly" is an attempt to isolate men to make them more vulnerable?

I can't possibly pretend to know where anyone is on this scale. We are all a result of a unique set of influences and surroundings. I think what we as men should all consider is that it is "OK" to reach out to our Brother and show affection. It is one of the most obvious signs of being secure in our manhood to feel the freedom to tell our Brother we love him. It is absolutely healthy and healing for men to connect on a deeper level than we have observed from many in our previous generation.

I know I am not where I need to be on this journey but God has done some tremendous work in my heart and life to show me that when He said, "and the greatest of these is love", it is exactly what He meant. It is not just to be applied to the opposite gender. It is to be applied to all men. I pray that we will learn to reach out. To be sensitive. To go deeper. To show sincere concern. To be authentic. To be "LIKE CHRIST".

New Site

Very happy to announce that my new site becomes available today! I would love for you to keep posted for new music and opportunities to enjoy a live performance! Please contact me through the contact tab above if you have any questions or comments for me!