Tag Archive - hope

Yet

June 11, 2011 in Encouragement, Life, My Story, Personal Development with 10 Comments

And just like that, here we are again.

Today is the 11th Anniversary of my 25th Birthday. Do the math. Celebrate good times, come on! I tend to bounce around in the introspective zone often, and what better time to do it than on your birthday.

While the past year has certainly been hard, I have seen God use relationships, situations and struggle to weave a tapestry of hope, redemption and purpose throughout the last 365 days of my life that leaves me amazed.  The invitation and challenge through all of it has been to find hope in what looks hopeless, to find purpose disguised as adversity and to find life in what appears to be dead. It has not always been easy, and it was more often a choice than a feeling, but I have done that.

Continue Reading…

 

Album Review: Kirk Franklin’s “Hello, Fear” + CD & Concert Ticket Giveaway

March 22, 2011 in Giveaways, Music with 15 Comments

To celebrate the release of “Hello, Fear”, I’m giving away 5 copies of the CD and one pair of tickets to see Kirk Franklin & Steve Harvey LIVE in Nashville on April 9! Check out my review of  “Hello, Fear” below, followed by info on how you can enter to win!

I’ve been a fan of Kirk Franklin’s music since 1993. When I had to special-order his debut album, Kirk Franklin & The Family, at my local Musicland store because they didn’t stock it, I had absolutely no idea that 12 years later he would be my boss.

Working closely with Kirk for 3 years was undoubtedly a high point of my 8-years in the music business. That season shaped me in many ways and forever changed the way I heard a Kirk Franklin album.  Having been in the heat of the action while both 2005’s Hero and 2007’s The Fight Of My Life were being created and brought to life and having a first-hand understanding of Kirk’s approach to his music, listening to his new album is a really unique and special experience for me.

First, Kirk Franklin album releases are events, and rightfully so.  In the midst of a fickle singles market where the tide of many an artist’s career rises on falls based on the flavor-of-the-month sound, Kirk has remained an artist who doesn’t simply write songs, but rather crafts albums. His albums are experiences, designed to take you on a journey, meticulously brushing personal lyrics and intricate melodies across a lush musical canvas; sometimes in broad strokes, other times with diminutive detail, but always intentional. Best of all, Kirk will quickly defer to God as the ultimate artist, simply using his pen to tell His story and reveal His glory.

Just as his last few albums have been, the body of work that is “Hello, Fear” is a snapshot of a moment in time that allows Kirk to be very transparent about his life and heart, which never fails to resonate with listeners the world over.

A break-up song to end all break-up songs, the opening title track issues a deceptively sweet “to the left, to the left” to the spirit of fear.  “Never again will I love you, my heart it refuses to be your home…” the singers flawlessly deliver in the chorus.  Following a powerful spoken-word piece detailing “The Story Of Fear” in Kirk’s life, “Before I Die” comes out swinging, horns blazing, percussion percolating DC “go-go” style and boldly declaring:

“I used to be afraid to die, I used to be afraid to try, ’cause I was too afraid of knowing what the end looked like, but the Son came to give me life, now I feel like I can touch the sky…”

Just as a specific musical composition is used to reinforce a central plot or theme in a film, on the intimate “But The Blood” we are introduced to what quickly becomes an overarching theme of this project via the lyrics, “Now we are never alone, your blood it makes us strong, now there is power to move on.” This powerful lyric and melody are reprised on no less than 4 of the album’s tracks, reinforcing the theme that our ultimate victory over fear truly is “by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.” (Revelation 12:1).

The album’s first single, “I Smile”, is a standout, as are the bouncing “A God Like You”, the lyrically masterful “I Am”, the seemingly freestyle yet intimately fashioned worship of “The Moment #1” and “The Moment #2” and the anthem-like “Today”.  For me though, the centerpiece of “Hello, Fear” is “Everyone Hurts”, a stunning ballad with its finger on the pulse of the human condition. Over a 808-anchored track laced with emotive B-3, strings and synths, the song builds to an epic intercessory plea for divine intervention.

“So tonight, we cry out for the world, cry out for the world, ‘cause everyone hurts, everyone goes through sorrow…”

Repeat.

“Hello, Fear” is a brilliant collection of songs teeming with life, certain to empower listeners to face their fears head-on with courage, strength and hope in Christ. From the lyrics and crisp production to the stellar musicianship and strong ministry focus, it is a Kirk Franklin masterpiece and another hallmark moment in an exceptional catalog of music that has touched millions around the world. Hello, Fear.

“Hello, Fear” is available for purchase in stores and online everywhere today, and to celebrate its release, I’m partnering with Verity Gospel & Fo Yo Soul Entertainment to giveaway 5 copies of “Hello, Fear” to AnIdolHeart.com readers!

In addition, I’m also giving away one pair of tickets to see Kirk Franklin & comedian Steve Harvey LIVE in Nashville on April 9 at the Comedy Gospel Tour!

This giveaway has ended. The winners are listed here. Stay tuned for more giveaways coming soon!


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Beautiful Things Out of The Dust

March 14, 2011 in News, Prayer with 2 Comments

Over the past 4 days, the world has watched in shock as Japan has experienced the worst natural disaster and subsequent devastation in it’s history. The images and video are surreal, often looking more like the work of  Hollywood special effects wizards than real life.  But it is no movie. It is very real, and as painful and heart-breaking as it is to watch, I can’t even begin to imagine how the Japanese people are handling this destruction and complete life upheaval.

I just saw news announced that a 4-month old baby girl was found in the rubble, safe, unharmed and alive. I have no idea how it happened, but it’s hard to look at that picture and not get emotional.

Less than 5 months ago, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association held a 3-day festival in Japan, bringing the Gospel to over 50,000 Japanese people, resulting in thousands of salvations and tens of thousands more hearing the Gospel for the first time.

As I try to absorb and comprehend the constant stream of pain and loss happening on the other side of the world, Gungor’s song “Beautiful Things” came to my mind, and I couldn’t help but think how fitting those lyrics are to all that has happened and continues to unfold in Japan.

All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found?
Could a garden come up from this ground at all?

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust

As I write this post, there continue to be many thousands of people still missing, aftershocks numbering in the hundreds, new tsunami warnings and now the threat of nuclear meltdown. I don’t know why it all happened nor do I know what is going to happen next. But looking at this picture I am reminded that God does bring beautiful things out of the dust and make beautiful things out of us.

Hope, though it is dim, remains hope.

Pray for the people of Japan.

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A Year And Some Change

February 28, 2011 in Blogging, Encouragement, My Story with 16 Comments

Today is my birthday. Well, not MY birthday, but my blog’s birthday, rather. Today, An Idol Heart is one year old!

I started this blog one year ago today. When I decided to start An Idol Heart it was because my world had turned upside down and I wanted to start telling the story, even while it was unresolved.

This time a year ago, I had just walked away from my career of 8 years, I was unemployed, I was two months in to being at a new church and was a little over a month in to diving head first into a community group I had joined. I was struggling with how to let go of the things I had allowed my life to be defined by and I was falling apart.

On why I decided to name this blog An Idol Heart, I had recently come to understand that my heart was indeed “an idol factory that mass produces idols.”  That was, at once, a very sobering yet dizzying realization, and one that still reverberates with me today.  A couple months earlier I had finished reading Timothy Keller’s “Counterfeit Gods”, a book that, to put it simply, completely undid me.

Going back now to read what I wrote as my first post a year ago was a pretty emotional experience. At that time, I was so afraid. The false bottom I had built in my heart was falling out and I felt like I had nothing to work with… but words.  I had no idea what the next day, let alone the next year would look like.

One year later, my story looks very different. I am now working in ministry on staff at Cross Point Church in Nashville, the church I had just come to when all this unraveling began to happen. The ministry I’ve received at Cross Point over the past year has done so much to heal my heart and teach me who I am.  Now, I lead ministry teams there and get to help others. The community group I had just come to in hopes of finding new friends when my world was turning upside down has been immeasurably instrumental in how God has reshaped my life this past year. I now co-lead that group of around 150 people and get to regularly share my story of how God rescued me from the pursuit of myself, challenging others to embrace uncertainly, get out of their comfort zones and be intentional about how they invest in this “stretch between” season of their life.

More than anything though, I am learning more each day how my identity does not rest in where my check comes from, but rather where my help comes from and the finished work of Christ on the cross.

I still don’t know what tomorrow will look like and I’m learning to live by faith daily, but looking back over the past year, I know what it was about. God was after my heart. He wanted to rewire it and “make it again into another vessel”.

This past Friday night, Timothy Keller, whose ministry has been such a key part of my story, was in Nashville on a tour for his new book, “King’s Cross”.  I went to hear him speak and also had the opportunity to personally thank him for his ministry and how God has used it to wreck and rebuild me.

He made a statement that I haven’t been able to shake since I heard it. Singularly giving perspective to much of the last year of my life, He said,

“Sometimes, the delays of Jesus are because of details and information that we don’t yet have access to. Ultimately, God gives you what you would have prayed for if you knew everything He knew.”

And there it is.

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)

One year ago, my prayers were very different. I’m so thankful that God heard my prayers but still gave me what I would have asked for, had I only known. Not getting what I thought I wanted is the best thing that could have happened to me.

What life perspective have you seen while looking back over the things you have been through?

 

Grounded

December 15, 2010 in Community, Faith, My Story with 11 Comments

I haven’t been on an airplane in a year. More specifically, I haven’t been on a plane in about one year, 1 day, 14 hours. Even more specifically, I walked off the last flight I took when it landed back in Nashville on Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 7:07 pm.

Leading up to that moment, I spent much of the previous 7 and a half years living on planes and busses, in hotels and airports. Did I have some amazing experiences? Yes. Do I have incredible memories and stories? Yes. Did that lifestyle make it terribly difficult for me to have much consistency in my life? Yes.

Looking back, the irony of the moment I stepped off that last flight stands in stark contrast with what would happen only weeks later.  Interestingly enough, I had been on a calculated pursuit to achieve Platinum frequent flyer status on American Airlines that year. Finally, with my crazy travel schedule, strategic planning, bonus miles and program challenges, I hit Platinum status with that last flight… and I thought it actually meant something.

As I exited the plane that night, there I was… feeling accomplished and proud. Now, among all the other things I had attached to my identity, I was “Platinum”.

I had no idea that after spending years flying the friendly skies, I was about to be grounded.

To further clutter the mix, thrown in with all my work travel over the years, I’ve also lived in 11 places over the past 9 years.  Taking all that into consideration, it just recently dawned on me that for the first time in perhaps 10 years, I have something I’ve long wanted: home.

This is literally the first time in 10 years that I have spent a year living in one place, not on the road, having a home church where I’m involved, having a close community of friends I’m investing in, a close community of friends regularly investing in my life, and feeling like I have a steady place to call home… all at the same time.  Is everything perfect right now? No, but it’s consistent.

For the first time in a very long time, my heart feels something I don’t know when it last felt… Established… Rooted… Grounded.

If you’ve followed my story much, you know this year has certainly been the toughest I’ve seen in many ways. However, I’m beginning to better understand the loving, grounding work of the Father.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith–that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. – Ephesians 3:14-19

This has been a most painful, yet the most necessary, process and year for me. Yet I have no losses to count. I have no regrets to maintain. In fact, all I can find is gratitude.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” – 1 Peter 5:10 (NIV)

The illusion of success has faded and the Platinum has lost its shine. But having my plans grounded has produced a beautifully redemptive grounding work of Christ in my life. And I’m thankful.

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