Pride: Part 1 of who knows

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted a blog. That is for many reasons, but one main one is because I have been dealing with pride recently. That is not a easy problem to tackle.

After seeing Ann Graham Lotz a few weeks back, she made me take a little bit of a look internally. She had struggled with some sin in her life she did not even realize was there. This was only 3 years ago and she has been preaching for over 3 decades. So I thought that I need to look a little more at myself.

I have been reading C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" for a little while now. I have started reading it and trying to apply it to me as opposed to apply to those around me. The latest chapter I have been reading was about pride. Those 8 pages took me about 4 days to read. I kept going back and rereading and then not wanting to turn the page because I realized I had some pride issues.

Clive Staples Lewis states that, "There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty of themselves." Believe me, Christians struggle with pride. Mr. Lewis is not trying to make that point.

I realize that being in Christian entertainment pride is rampant. We tie everything up in a package that we can sell, which in and of itself is ok. As we create that package it is next to impossible to not let your pride get puffed up. We have the clothes, the lights, the stage, the producers, writers, consultants and the list goes on. Would I still play if there was no stage? No lights? No money? No recognition? If I answered no then I am doing this all for prideful reasons. For this express reason it is vitally important that I stay plugged in to a community of believers and serve as much as I can.

My wife Cassi asked me a few days ago what I would do if I could do anything. I gave her a stock answer I am sure but my first thought was that I wanted to be significant in whatever it was that I did. How is that not pride? I wish my first thought was to be in God's perfect will and give Him excellence. That seems a little more in the right direction.

Pray for me and my pride. I will be working on humility. By the way, Mere Christianity has been excellent so far. I would suggest it as a good read. I am a slow reader so I should be done with my copy in a few months. :)

Peace

Did Christ have to die?

Anne Grahm Lotz was the speaker at the event today. She is the daughter of Billy Graham. She said something today that really caught me off guard.

Apparently, a Pew Research Poll said that there are people that call themselves evangelical Christians and also believe that Jesus is not the only way to heaven. Ann says that there are many of us in the church that believe this. If there are other ways to heaven then why didn't God find it? She then said, "Why would God send Jesus to die on the cross if he didn't have to?"

Think about that. Why would a Father send their child to die a horrible, painful, and ridiculing death if it was not necessary? Would you do that? Isn't that a sick thing to do? So why would we think that there was another way to heaven except through Jesus? You would have to believe that God is a sick and twisted individual. Would God make Jesus go through that if he did not have to?

Your comments are appreciated.

Peace

Camp Wow

This post was written yesterday but not published until today.

We have had a great time here at Camp Wow Camp Walk On Water). Tonight is the last time we play at this camp. Tomorrow we have a 3 hour drive to get to the airport and fly out to Orlando. We are doing a conference for Christian retailers. Another great thing is that we scored tickets to a Disney theme park. That will be fun on Monday.

Last night at camp they had some pretty good fireworks. Here are some of the pics.

I am also going to throw few a pictures in of the lighting. It was one of the best lit shows we have done.

We are hanging with our label and management for a few days in Florida. Stories and pictures will follow I am sure.

Peace

We ARE going back to OK (The Afters...anyone?)

We made it to our next, and final, camp of this year. It was a longer drive than what was anticipated. We originally thought we would be pulling in around midnight and we actually got here around 5:30am.

Joe just got back from his honeymoon and we all went to our churches Sunday morning. We got out of town a little late. Then we stopped in Memphis to see a friend from my, and Daniel's, past, Jeff Jones. He and his wife and 4 kids met us at a Taco Bell in Memphis. (We love Taco Bell) It was great to see Jeff again. The last time I saw him he had zero kids, now they have 4. If it had not been for Jeff and his youth group in Martin, TN I might not have ended up playing Christian music. I was in a few secular bands and Jeff needed a worship band for some Wednesday night stuff. A group of us formed a band called JAG, Jazzed About God. From there Daniel found out I was playing in a worship band and needed a player for a gig he had. That was about 11 years ago. So I might owe some of where I am at today to Jeff Jones (obviously working through God's plan).

After we got back on the road it was a normal drive with road construction, gas stops etc. When we got closer to the camp we got a little "side tracked". I wont say lost, but we did take a long time to figure out how to actually get to the camp. We pulled in after 5 am and got in our rooms after 5:30 am. Now we have had a FEW hours of sleep and are about to get ready for this week.

I played in Church Sunday morning and had to get up at 5:50am. I went to bed Monday morning at 6 am. I have not stayed up for over 24 hours in a long time.

I am sure we will be posting pictures as the week goes on. There is a lake and a lot of recreational things the campers will be doing.

Peace

PS - check out the Afters. I referenced a song of theirs in the title of this blog.

Wedding Bells

We are back in the hotel from Joe's wedding. It was a great service. The rain held out until about 5 minutes after the ceremony and pictures were done. Everyone is very tired.

Congrats to Joe and Kari!

I think I may have some pictures. I will see about posting them a little later.

Peace

We are home now. We drove for more than 80 hours, just shy of 5000 miles on this trip. 13 days away from home. It is sure good to be back and see our families and to get some sleep in our own bed.

Our drummer, Joe, is getting married in 12 days. We are only home for 6.5 days until we leave for a week. Joe is going to leave from a camp we are doing in East Tennessee to get ready for the wedding. The rest of us are going to be there Friday night after we get done playing. He is the last unmarried guy in DDB. We wish you guys, Joe and Kari, a long and happy life together.

I have many chores that need my attention. I have been gone 2 weeks.

Peace.

Into Thin Air

We are still at a Camp in NM. The air is thin. The humidity is VERY low. This is not at all like Tennessee.

We are having a great time investing in to about 1000 campers. They have really taken to the song Great God.

Peace

We keep on runnin'

We have put on many miles and spent many hours in a vehicle over the last week. We drove from Nashville to Fresno non-stop, except for gas, restroom and food. We had 3 shows opening up for Casting Crowns. The shows went well. Daniel blogged about some of it and will be blogging about some of our misfortunes and how we had to rely on God to physically step in and take care of certain issues.

I did get the chance to see my aunt and uncle on my dad's side of the family. It has been a few years. I want to tell them thanks for coming out. It meant a lot.

Here is a pic of us with Casting Crowns (minus Andy, he was breaking down his drums)

This is a picture of Crowns from backstage

Peace

First show with Casting Crowns

There was a little trouble with the electricity. That put the day about 2 hours behind from a technical standpoint. We ended up getting a sound check in about 20-23 minutes. It was just enough to get through a show.

The actual set went well. We added "Lord Reign" for this weekend. We had not performed that one in front of anyone before (except for the CD release). I really love the message and the feel in that song.

Casting Crowns did a great job tonight. The people who showed up loved it too. They got some new lights and a backdrop that they did not have on their recent tour. Tonight was the first night they had used it. It was all new LEDs. They we VERY cool.

Big thanks to Adventure Christian Church for the hospitality.

We have to get up early to get down the road tomorrow. Gotta run.

Peace

West Coast Run

DDB is headed out west for 2 weeks. We got a late start the first day in so we have been paying for that trying to get caught up. We left Clarksville around 10:30 am instead of 9. Traffic in Memphis was the worst I have ever seen. Emily was driving then and her 3 hour shift started right before Memphis and 3 hours later we were just on the other side of Memphis. That should have been a 30 minute drive.

We were cycling through all 5 of us driving. By the time it was my turn to drive we were just getting to our 1st planned destination, Amarillo , TX. We planned on being there around 10 pm and it was now 2 am. Since it was so late and we were running behind we decided that rather than sleeping in a hotel for 4 hours we would just keep driving. My shift was about to start anyway. I drove from 3 am to 5 am. Towards 5 it was getting harder to stay awake. We switched out and then Daniel, and then Emily got us to about 8:30 am. At this point we had been on the road for 23 hours. Then in Holbrook, AZ a gas station attendant told us we were headed in to a wind storm with 25-35 mph winds and gusts up to 60 mph. Derek drove us in to Flagstaff and the wind started picking up.

We stopped in Flagstaff for lunch. When we got off the interstate we ended up in the historic part of town. We parked and found a good Mexican food place. There were some cool shops in the area. We even saw a few posters up for our show coming up in Flagstaff in a few days.

Joe drove for a few hours and the wind picked up even more. The rest of the day was wind, mountains, and slow driving. We were getting about 8 miles per gallon with all of that. We normally get about 12.

So now we are in Fresno, CA. We slept, showered, charged up our phones, trying to feel human again. We drove 40 hours straight. Yummy.

Peace