Roccopalooza 2012

Musicians are a rare breed. When one is hurting, they all hurt. And they will go out of their way to help a brother in need. When local guitarist/songwriter Rocco Marshall recently had to have his leg amputated, long time friend, Jim Brown, immediately sprung into action to put together a benefit to help cover the medical expenses. One benefit soon turned to four separate events. Musicians from many genres came together to donate their time and talent to the cause. Rocco is well loved and respected amongst his peers and their devotion to him was evidenced by an incredible response to these events. It was a true example of love in action.

European Street hosted the acoustic based musicians. Mike shackelford and Steve Shanholtzer, The Storytellers, Jamie Defrates and Susan Brown, and Larry Mangum.
Brewsters Pit had the rock bands HSOA: Heated State of Aggression, Rogue Patriot, Bleeding in Stereo, and Rosco Caine.
Yesterday's Social Club had two events. On Saturday night they had A1A North, Rick Arcusa Band, Al Stone, Dillinger, and Synergy. Sunday's lineup included a jam session (Jim Mack was in on one of the jams) followed by a show featuring J. Collins, Danny Delves, Mojo Roux, and Yankee Slickers. Randall Hall was also there jamming with the bands. One of the highlights of the evening was when Rocco's daughter, Aaron Marshall joined him on stage. The girl can seriously belt out the tunes. Whew! Such a talent! She must get that from her daddy.

Each of these venues received a donation at the door for Rocco, and there were auctions of things that people and businesses had donated. Yesterday's also had a t-shirt with the bands listed on them which was sold. Part of the proceeds went directly to Rocco.
All of these venues and bands had one common goal...raising money and showing their support for Rocco Marshall. As I listened to the bands, I knew that, not only was Rocco blessed, every person who came was as well. I mean, how many times do you have an opportunity to witness so much talent in one room? And the most amazing part...every one of those musicians left their egos at the door. Nobody was there to show off how great they were. It was all about Rocco. Throughout the night Rocco repeatedly expressed his love and gratitude for the tremendous support. He was honestly humbled by it all. And that to me makes him all the more loveable.

Boyce Avenue - Broken Angel (Live & Acoustic at The Fort Studios)

When I was a child my father left home. It wasn't like I never saw him again, but he wasn't really a part of my life. He had another family and his time and money was spent with them. I always had this notion that it was my fault that he left. You know how children can think silly things like that. Anyway, I would do good in school, get awards, etc. hoping that I could be good enough and it would bring him back home. Sadly, that never happened. And I suffered for years feeling that I wasn't worthy to be loved and that I could never be good enough. My dreams of the perfect life were crushed. I feel like a lot of who I could have been was destroyed when he walked out that door. But you know, God had a plan in it all, and I've learned to forgive my father. Yes, I was once broken...but I am no longer. I have forgiven my father. And I have accepted a Father who will never leave or forsake me.

Attack or Opportunity?

A few days ago I felt led to post some of the music I wrote years ago on my youtube site. I really didn't think I'd receive any bad feedback since most of the people who would be listening to it were my friends or those who are in a Christian group I am a part of.  Imagine my surprise when I received negative comments on one of the songs. Now, it wouldn't bother me if they didn't like my voice or the style of music. People have different styles and tastes, and I think that I would be okay with that. I don't profess to be some amazing singer who will make your jaw drop the moment I open my mouth to sing. But the negative comments weren't about my voice. They were directed more at the lyrics. Okay, so I could take a little criticism of lyrics. I mean, like I said earlier, people have different styles and tastes. But this attack became something directed at me. I was called self righteous and an idol worshipper. I felt hurt and offended. And what hurt the most was that it came from someone I assumed was a Christian. As I thought about it I realized that any time we do something to promote God and His message, we can expect that we will face opposition. And sometimes that opposition will come from those who you would think were on the same team. I've seen it many times before. And you know, there's nothing new about it. If you think about Jesus and His encounters with the religious leaders of the day you see that they didn't like His message either. They rejected Him even though they should have known better than anyone that He was the promised Messiah. They questioned Him and tried to trap Him into speaking the wrong thing. Ahh...which makes me think...."could this be a trap?" My guess would be that it is not only a trap, but an opportunity. And that makes me smile. I have been praying for God to give me opportunity and here it is. An opportunity to not be offended, to walk in love and to not lash out in anger. It's funny because I was having this conversation the other day about how easy it is for me to speak before I think. And this might have been one of those times if I had fallen into the trap. But thank God I didn't.

Having said all of this, let me say that for the past week I have really been seeking to spend more time in God's word, in His presence, praying and worshipping. My desire is to develop an even closer relationship and to be able to hear His voice more clearly, discerning what is and isn't of Him. So this shouldn't surprise me. But I will not be moved. And I will continue to do those things I believe God is asking of me. Yes, there will be opposition and trials. In those trials I will choose to rejoice. I must be doing something right if someone is trying to put a stop to it....

~jan~

Jesus Culture - Holy

Just one look on Your face
Just one glance of Your eyes
My whole world is changed
My whole world is changed
Oh I seek only to see Your face
I don't wanna go anywhere without You God
Without Your presence
Oh let me see Your face
The beauty of Your holiness
Take me into the holy place

And only one word comes to mind
There's only one word to describe
And only one word comes to mind
There's only one word to describe

Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty
Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty

And only one word comes to mind
There's only one word to describe
Only one word comes to mind
There's only one word to describe
And only one word comes to mind
There's only one word to describe
Only one word comes to mind
There's only one word to describe

Holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Holy, holy Lord God Almighty

There is no one like You, You are holy, holy
There is no one like You, You are holy, holy

Holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Holy, holy Lord God Almighty

As Christians we are called to be holy (1Peter 1:15-16). Funny how little you hear about that these days. It used to be preached about a lot more, but often times those preaching it were laying down some self imposed rules to live by; things that God never equated to holiness. Perhaps this is why people have steered from talking about it. The word holy has been sullied by the misrepresentation of its meaning by legalistic ministers and now there’s this fear of running people off at the mere mention of it. Many have defined holy as perfection. In their efforts to get people to live perfectly they have veered from the course and fallen into the trap of legalism. And based on what we read throughout the Bible, legalism is never going to cut it. It is based on the works of man. I think about all of those religious rituals that were required in Old Testament times. Don’t get me wrong, they had a purpose. Because Christ had not come onto the scene, there was a need to be cleansed from our unholiness. But once Christ came, the need to practice all of these rituals was eliminated. Christ was the perfect sacrifice. The one time sacrifice. All we needed was him.

So once we’ve been saved, how are we to be these holy people that God has called us to be? Can this be achieved in our own strength? Let me pause here for a minute and say that if perfection in the truest sense of the word were the requirement to be considered holy, then in our own strength we could never attain holiness.  And that would be a cause for frustration and discouragement if we thought we could never be pleasing in the eyes of God. That being said, I doubt very seriously that the Bible would tell us to be holy if it were an impossibility. So, let’s look at 1 Peter 1:13-16 for a moment.

13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

These verses cause me to believe that part of being considered holy revolves around us being obedient children who no longer conform to the evil desires we once had prior to the revelation of Jesus Christ. If you think about it, all sin comes as a result of disobedience to God’s word. Some may claim ignorance (they didn’t know it was sin), but let’s be real here…if you didn’t know a crime was a crime, do you think you’d be able to tell the judge you didn’t know it was wrong and get off scott free? Oh, you could tell him, and he might show you a little mercy, but ignorance isn’t an excuse to commit a crime. And grace isn’t a license to sin. Yes, we will sin. And when we sin we have a mediator, Jesus Christ. But I believe that true repentance is required if we are striving to live holy lives. We cannot think that a ritual of confession is all that is required. Our hearts must be grieved by sin. We must want to turn from sin.

When we accept Christ into our hearts, he comes to live in us. Our sins are forgiven. So, even though we in our own strength can never be perfect, we now have the perfect one living within us. And he has made provision for those times when we do mess up and sin. In 1 John 1:9 it tells us “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I like that. It’s an awesome feeling to know that when I sin I can come to Jesus for forgiveness. The slate is wiped clean. And you know, it’s like I am perfect. Not because of anything I’ve done, but because of the blood of Jesus.

I was thinking about David and Bathsheba. Now, if you know the story you know that David committed some pretty awful sins. But David was still considered a man after God’s heart. Why? Because he had true repentance for his actions once he was confronted by Nathan the prophet. You can read about that repentance in Psalms 51. The part I like most in that passage is found in verse 4. It says: “Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.” Even though David had committed these sins against other people, ultimately the sin was against God due to His disobedience.  David realized that God was not seeking some ritualistic sacrifice, but rather a heart that was truly sorry for the sin. God’s desire was a broken and contrite heart. So what does this mean? To me it means that you are crushed by the fact that you’ve sinned against God and you want his forgiveness. Your desire is to turn from the sin and not repeat it. Have you ever had this revelation of the sin you’ve committed and it kind of hit you like a ton of bricks? That’s exactly what happened with David. Maybe you have committed a particular sin and you would say you were sorry, but later you’d do it again. And then the guilt and condemnation would come. And maybe these accusations by the accuser only hindered you from repenting because you felt like God was mad at you or something. You felt like God couldn’t possibly forgive you. Years ago I was really struggling with a particular sin. One day I was praying about it and God showed me a visual image of what he saw when I did this…it was like a light bulb came on. I was totally crushed by it. My heart was grieved. This wasn’t condemnation; it was conviction. And let me assure you, there is a difference. Condemnation offers no hope, but conviction is filled with hope. So when you hear those voices in your head telling you that you are this horrible person that God cannot forgive, you can be sure that it’s condemnation at work. But when you have a revelation of your sin, and there is heartbreak, it is conviction.

All this being said, let me say that even though I know I can never be perfect, I know that I will continually strive to live a life pleasing to God...a holy life. And where I fall short, the blood of Jesus is there to cover me. His grace is sufficient. May I never take that grace for granted...

~jan~

The Desire for Our True Comfort Zone

The other day I was visiting my dad at the nursing home. I mentioned that he had a doctor appointment the next day and he made the comment that doctors were a waste of time, that they never did anything for you. When I started telling him all the stuff they did for him he said, "yeah, but they don't know how I'm feeling inside." Well, this comment made me probe a little deeper.  I asked, "What do you feel inside, Daddy?" He looked at me with the saddest eyes and said, "neglect." Now, in years past I may have wanted to say, "Now you know how I felt all my life." But you know, that's not what I thought. I actually felt bad for him. When I think of the word neglect I immediately think of someone who is not cared for. So it upset me that he would feel he wasn't cared for. He's probably had more visits from family in the nursing home than he ever had at home. But visits don't always make a person feel cared for. Honestly, he probably doesn't even remember the visits five minutes after we leave. So perhaps this accounts for his feeling neglected. The only reason I can think he would feel this way would be that he's not at home. Being that he has Alzheimer's he probably misses having something or someone familiar around him at all times. He feels discomfort at an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar people.

As I was thinking about this, I got to thinking about how, as Christians, we too can feel a discomfort. This world is not our home. It's just a temporary home. So even though we can function and carry on, our hearts are longing for our true home, our true comfort zone. Think about if you go to a foreign country. While you may have access to the basics of life (food, water, etc), you will still feel awkward, especially if you don't speak the language. And if you are there for a long period of time you will eventually have a strong desire to return to your own home, and to your own family. You will desire to be in that place of comfort.

We are creatures who like to feel comfortable. There are days when I would love to just pray, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus." But when I think about all the lost people that would go to hell if he came today, I am less inclined to pray that even though I may be feeling a weariness in the struggle to live in this world. I don't want to see my loved ones go to hell. I don't want to see your loved ones go there either. God's desire is that all men come to repentance. He is patient. And as believers, that should be our desire too.

Brandon Heath - The Leaving Eden Sessions: Leaving Eden

Sometimes we may have this notion that our lives are supposed to be perfect. We look around and see those who seem to have it all. But do they really? Our own hopes get dashed when we see the effects of the fall of man. ..sickness, disease, poverty, hatred, child molesters, murderers, and the list goes on and on. It can be quite depressing at times. And to some, it can seem hopeless. But you know, there is hope. And that hope is found in Jesus Christ. When we come to accept Him as Lord, we can have a peace even in the midst of turmoil. And we can rest knowing that our eternal future will be spent in the most perfect place...the very presence of God. So, we may have left the idea that life is perfect, but we can trust that it's all going to get better one day. Don't know about you, but I am looking forward to that day.

~jan~