On The Shoulders Of Greatness..

I am a huge people watcher. One of my favorite things to do is go to the mall or downtown, and just sit and watch people. Seeing how they react to certain situations, seeing what is making them laugh or just watching their body language and guessing what they are thinking. Last night, we played a show in British Columbia and during the Newsboys set, I decided to go out into the audience and check out the crowd. I was standing in the aisle watching the guys play when I noticed to my right a young boy on his dad's shoulders watching the show. He was bouncing up and down with the music, having the time of his life. It reminded me of the times growing up when my dad would do that for me. Even though I was really young, I can still remember the feeling I got when I was a few feet above the chaos below me. I felt on top of the world and it was all thanks to my great dad. It made me really think about how blessed I am to have great parents and a great family. Being out on the road, it makes you really miss home. Throughout all the years, I have had the most supportive family a guy could ask for. They have always challenged me to go for my dreams and aspirations. Some months, I haven't made enough money and they have helped me with bills because they want to make sure I never lose the spark. Even when they might have been struggling, they put me first and made it possible. So I sit here in Canada, a blessed guy, who loves his family more than anything and cannot wait to go home and see them soon.

Precious In His Sight..

Living on the road, you meet all kinds of people. Some people that I meet most often are youth pastors, promoters, other musicians, fans, and volunteers. Getting to know these people would probably have to be my favorite thing about what I do. Seeing what God is doing in their lives and getting to join them in it for a day or so is an amazing thing. I was walking through the airport thinking about this the other day when a pretty cool (and random) thought crossed my mind. Every day, I meet people and get to see their lives for a little while. But even more so than that, I see people every day that I will never see again or never talk to. These can be that guy you make awkward eye contact with in an airport, the guy who opens the door for you, or the lady at the information desk that is trying to help you get where you need to go. We see these kinds of people every day and may never say a thing to them. Here comes the random thought that I was talking about. During your day, what crosses your mind the most? If you were to shrink down to the size of an ant, crawl through my ear, and find your way to my brain you would see a lot of different things on my mind. Being in my early to mid twenties, it would a normal thing for you to see thoughts of the future. What am I going to do for the rest of my life? Who am I going to marry? Am I following God like I should? All these things swim around in my head every day. If you looked a little bit deeper into my brain, you might see more random thoughts like "What am I going to eat for lunch?" No matter what the thought may be, to me and my brain, it may be the most important thing in the world. I have my own thoughts and daily struggles that I battle with. My perception of the world is very different than yours. I may see a light blue sky while you see it as gray. The point I am trying to make is that everyone sees life differently. The people that you pass by every day are moms to children, husbands to their wife, employees of their boss, and someone to somebody. Everyone has their own take on this crazy world. We all lead different lives and have different responsibilities. The incredible thing is that no matter what your perception of life is, the one thing that is constant and that stays the same is God. We serve a God that knows your every thought. He understands why you think the way you think. He gets you! In Psalm 139, it talks about how unique each of us are. It says that even before you think about what the future holds, He not only knows what you are thinking, but He gets gets you and he holds your future in His hands. What an amazingly simple but profound idea. The God who created you with his very breath, cares about what you are thinking. He hears the cries of his children, each and every one. Life is so complex but it makes way more sense to me knowing that everything stems from God. The God that created the heavens and the earth cares about my thoughts. So next time you are walking down the street and you make awkward eye contact with someone, know that God has a plan for their life. They have random thoughts just like you and me. They are precious in His sight.