As many of you may know I performed a song at my father’s funeral called “Healer” and while I’m delighted to know that you believe I am capable of writing such a song, I did not. The song is actually by an Australian group known as Hillsong. It has an amazing story behind it and after seeing this video I knew it was important to worship God with this song. The new Hillsong CD will be released on Aug. 5th as far as I know and this song should be on there… until then all we have is youtube. Please watch this video:
Here’s my shameless plug for the new David Crowder* Band CD/ DVD coming out August 19th! What’s even better is the night before the DVD will be shown nationwide in movie theaters! The DC*B brings a very unique and fun view to modern worship with upbeat songs like “Foreverandever Etc.” and “Neverending.” And they twist everything you knew about church music with the “rock opera” (as David used to introduce it as) “You Are My Joy.” There are also some really great slow and reflective songs like “Never Let Go” and “Surely We Can Change.” This DVD will have concert footage and lessons from the band members and all proceeds from this go to the Passion World Tour and Passion Conferences to help spread God’s name and renown to the world! It’s all for God’s glory and therefore… really good. *End shameless plug*
I may be down but I will rise, it may be dark but God is light! All sin, evil, temptation has lost its power and death itself has lost its sting because of the Cross. I have never understood that before this time of brokenness and I have never meant it as much as I mean it now. Death has lost its sting! Praise God.
Marvelous Light (slow version) by Charlie Hall (sorry the sound is really quiet on this video):
When life hurts most there is an anchor of hope… the cross of Jesus Christ. It is there we know what love is and it is there that God shows He will never let go.
A clear and needed message. Please watch the video below! Facebook readers can click the picture to get to the video.
“Lose My Soul” by TobyMac (feat. Kirk Franklin, Mandisa)
Man I wanna tell you all something, Man.
Man I’m not gonna let these material thing’s, get in my way, you all.
I’m trying to get somewhere.
I’m trying to get somewhere,
Thats real and pure and true and eternal.
Father God, I am clay in your hands,
Help me to stay that way through all life’s demands,
‘Cause they chip and they nag and they pull at me,
And every little thing I make up my mind to be,
Like I’m gonna be a daddy whose in the mix,
And I’m gonna be a husband who stays legit,
And I pray that I’m an artist who rises above,
The road that is wide and filled with self love,
Everything that I see draws me,
Though it’s only in You that I can truly see that its a feast for the eyes- a low blow to purpose.
And I’m a little kid at a three ring circus.
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don’t wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don’t wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.
(Mr. Franklin, Step up to the mic sir)
The paparazzi flashes, and that they think that it’s you,
But they don’t know that who you are is not what you do,
True, we get it twisted when we peak at the charts,
Yo before we part from the start,
Where’s your heart?
You a pimp, hustler?
Tell me what’s your title,
America has no more stars, now we call them idols,
You sit idle, While we teach prosperity,
The first thing to prosper should be inside of me.
We’re free…
Not because of 22’s on the range,
But Christ came in range, we said yes now we changed,
Not the same, even though I made a fall,
Since I got that call, no more Saul, now I’m Paul.
(YEP!)
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don’t wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don’t wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.
Don’t wanna walk away,
Don’t wanna walk away
How do I sense the tide that’s rising?
De-sensitizing me from living in light of eternity,
How do I sense the tide that’s rising?
It’s hypnotizing me from living in light of eternity,
How do I sense the tide that’s rising?
De-sensitizing me from living in light of eternity.
(Lord what we gonna do,We’re relying on you,
all eyes are on you Lord,
all eyes are on you, all eyes are on you Jesus.)
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
Don’t wanna walk away, let me hear the people say.
(Don’t let me lose my soul, my soul.)
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
(This is my honesty, Father, won’t you cover me.)
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
(Don’t wanna walk away, and all those people say)
I don’t want to gain the whole world, and lose my soul,
(Don’t wanna lose, I don’t wanna lose my soul.)
Lord forgive us when we get consumed by the things of this world,
That fight for our love, and our passion,
As our eyes are open wide and on you.
Grant us the privilege of your world view,
And may your kingdom be, what wakes us up, and lays us down.
(Hallelujah, Don’t wanna lose our soul,
No, Don’t wanna lose my soul.)
Hey excuse me,
I’m looking for the after party,
Toby,
Ha ha, yeah, last door on the left, you’ll hear it.
Thanks,
No problem.
Don’t let me lose my soul, I never wanna walk away,
I don’t wanna lose my soul,
No, no, no.
Don’t let me, don’t let me, lose my soul,
I don’t wanna walk away,
Don’t let me walk away,
Na na na na no,
Don’t let me lose, my soul,
I’m never gonna walk away.
So this is all hypothetical but I’m starting to think God might be calling me to become a pastor. I’ve had this crazy desire to teach people about God. I want to help spread the kingdom and I want that to be my career… I don’t want my mind on anything else but God. There is still one thing I seek outside of this (see blog: My Prayer). It’s crazy to see how God can and will open the doors he wants you to go through and close the ones he doesn’t want you to go through. There may be a reason God canceled my mission trip this year… he doesn’t want me going to the nations right now. I’m fine with that. God says “jump” and I say “how high?” So that’s a little update on me.
During this week please be praying for my brother Daniel, my co-writer, as he is on his mission trip to Costa Rica. Pray that God speaks through him to the people of this nation and that they see Christ’s love and want nothing more in their lives than Jesus. Pray for God’s will to be done no matter what the cost and pray that the church plant my uncle is working with there will be able to buy their land and build a place of worship.
It’s been a while since I have written about politics but in honor of the Fourth of July I figured I’d share why our current government is unconstitutional. As you probably know the United States of America is listed as a democracy. Definition of democracy: “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.” Definition of representative: “consisting of people chosen to act and speak on behalf of a wider group.” What am I getting at here? Our government is supposed to be “for the people and by the people.” But when I look at our government that is the last thing I see. Our representatives do NOT represent us… instead we are expected to represent them. We are to vote for the person based on what they believe and how they are going to act. But that is dead WRONG! It is the representatives that are supposed to “represent” us. They are to believe what the people believe and they are act as the people want them to act. We should not be in a position looking at our current presidential candidates and not know who to vote for because both of them have horrible views. They should not have their own views that we need to accept… they should accept our views, the views of the people. What is the point of democracy if the people have no say?
Now why would I post this on a religious themed blog? Because it is Jesus who taught us how to serve and how to lead. It is by serving that we can lead… not the other way around! Jesus said that those who desire to be first must drop to last place. Even Jesus lowered Himself to the place of a servant and became obedient to His father’s will by dying in a horrible form of torture! But He must have done something right because over 2,000 years later people are still following this leader. But look at our modern leaders… is there anyone worth following 2,000 years later? No! People can’t even follow our current president for eight years. Yes, he may not have the best track record as president but he is the president and deserves our respect. As for our representatives: they must become servants of the American people. Their job is to serve us. They should be accessible to all constituents and they should keep an open mind about what the people they are representing believe. If the government is truly for the people then what I say is true.
I will leave you with the beautiful words of the Declaration of Independence and remember this Fourth of July that the state of the Union is not good… it needs to return to its roots listed right here:
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
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