For Us

Just dropped in to share a thought, a daydream as it were...take it or leave it...seriously though, take it...it's like a carrot on a stick dangling right in front of your nose! Take it!:

I touched on this a little in Bone Thrower, but I've been really marinating on this for the past year or so: God is for us. Did you catch that? Hmm...I know, I know, let me guess, you've heard that one a thousand times before, and it doesn't ring a bell of profundity because you can't decide whether or not God is: 1) a big bully on the universal playground, never relenting in his unreasonable onslaughts, never giving you a break; 2) some immaterial-entity-blob-thing floating out in space, never really giving a darn about the goings-on of humanity; or 3) an egotistical, self-serving, self-absorbed dictator who demands praise to satiate his lust for power. 

I could keep going, but hopefully you catch my drift. Let me challenge you to marinate for a while on how God is actually for us...maybe even over the course of a year or so like me. I've noticed that God really marinates the truths in me that I need to grasp the most, the truths that really shape my view of God and the world in a healthy way. The more you get to know God personally, the better your understanding of His character becomes. He's not waiting with baited breath for you to mess up, then say "I told you so!" when you finally do; He's the one who mends your wounds when you fall, because you will fall, and He knows that. That's called grace, and it's one of the key components of God's character. In fact, Scripture goes so far as to describe God as the Perfect Father. You see? This whole truth of God being for us, it's definitely going to take some time to sink in because your whole life has been filled with reasons to doubt that.

People forming your opinions, experiences damaging your trust in God, even poison preached from the pulpit - hey, I understand. I've been there, done that. I've had to sit down and very intentionally think back over my life to recollect all the times people have swayed my heart from God, or all the times my experiences made me doubt His presence in my life, or all the times people of influence have either ignorantly or knowingly painted God in a light that doesn't reflect His true character. I've had to rehash all of that...and ask God to redeem it. God can, you know. I've gotten so much clarity from God about His character through quiet conversation with Him, time in His word, time listening to or reading trusted spiritual resources. "You're cra-cra, Shane." Whatever. Let me ask you this: when the crap hits the fan in your life, do you have Daddy issues?

My heavenly Father redeemed my opinions, convictions, rationality and intellect from all the poison people have tainted them with. Scripture is laced in its entirety with references to a kind God, a good King, a perfect Father, a God so in-love with you He's jealous of your affection. He's for you. My church's worship team, Elevation Worship, wrote a song called Open Up Our Eyes, and it references one of my favorite Scriptures. Nehemiah 4:20 says, "Our God will fight for us." How powerful is that? Who else would fight for you other than one who loves you madly, wildly, unrestrained? "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." ~ Jesus (John 15:13). God is willing to fight for us and alongside us, to lay down His life for us through the life of Jesus, who was God in the flesh. Pastor Furtick (Elevation again, haha) said something awesome a while back in one of his sermon series. He said God is both good and great. He can't be just good and not great, or else He wouldn't be powerful enough to fight for us, to heal us, to be our God; likewise, God can't be great and not good, or else He would be a dictator and anarchist with no penchant for kindness whatsoever. And it's so true. That's why God being for us is such a life-changing concept - He is that combination of good and great. 

If that's not doing it for ya, start with a more simplistic view: God is your ultimate cheerleader, your perfect support system. He's a positive, encouraging force in your life, someone who never drags you through the mud or wears you down. I take great comfort in seeing God through the view of this truth, because then I can hear God clearly everyday, speaking life to me, "You are my own (Exodus 6:7), you are my chosen (1 Peter 2:9), and I will never abandon you (Deuteronomy 4:30-31; Psalm 16:9-11)." Make sense? He's not a bully, a blob or a big-shot, the Giver of life (Job 33:4). If you know Jesus personally, don't get hung up on God's wrath and justice and all the other mud the world flings at Him. Picket-sign prophets on the street corners and Bible-thumping preachers hiding behind their pulpit have painted God in a false light for far too long. Yes, He is just and will exact vengeance...on our enemies, not us. If you know Jesus, you are God's child...why would He turn face and put a holy hit out on you? Do you think God is bipolar or something? When the "Day of Judgement" comes - you know, the one all the poisonous preachers hypes up by damning everyone, because deep down they need to feel secure in their standing with God - yeah, that day is for those who have turned from God. If you're one of those turners, you can still turn back to God! He's for you too, even though you turned from Him. Funny thing is, He doesn't want anyone to experience His vengeance! He'd rather not do that whole "fire-and-brimstone" thing. Read 2 Peter 3:9 for proof.

So what do you do with all this? Well, if you're far from God and would like to turn to Him, message me on Facebook (Shane Tracy) or comment on this blog and I'll share how you can do that! If you know Jesus already, chew on it for a good while, and let it seep into the pores of your everyday life, affecting the way you view the world and God Himself. He's a good God, He's great, and He is for you.

Jump: Part Dos

Fun fact for ya: I've searched the Bible many times for passages that speak to praising and worshipping God, and of all the times I've kneaded through the pages of Scripture, I've never once found a passage condoning an "arms-crossed" style of worship. Or an "eyes-glazed" style. The infamous "angry-eyebrow" stance, or the even-funnier classic, "The Bewildered Brow"? Never mentioned. Or how about one of my personal favorites, the "standing-dead-still-staring-contest-with-the-worship-leader" technique?...errr, nope, thank God. Never once in God's word is praise/worship cast in a lifeless, bland, colorless, boring or unemotional light. It's always described in vivacious, interactive, boisterous, poetic, and bold terms.

Like I said in my last posting, if you're one of those Christians who doesn't feel the need to physically interact with God, insisting that He knows your heart and expressing emotion in worship is irrelevant, I'm not against you. Heck, I might even stay friends with you! ;)  But I will say two things: 1) you're half-right, and 2) I feel bad for you.

1) You're half-right because, ultimately, God really is concerned with your heart. That half you've got right, but you're forgetting the other half: your heart is connected to the rest of your body. David, the Psalmist, writes on multiple occasions about praising God "with all of my heart." What does that mean? How does that connect with the rest of my body expressing praise? Let me put it this way: if you went on a date with your one true love - your amor, your fantasy on two legs - and this dreamboat tells you, "I am so desperately in-love with you," following that passionate statement by slowly sliding into the wettest, steamiest kiss your lips have ever tasted, would you step back, ponder the moment quietly, and solemn-faced, awkwardly say, "that was great, thank you so much" without so much as a twitch of excitement? NOOO!!! If you have a pulse, you're gonna lay a giant wet one on those lips in response! That's worship. It's that one word: response. Responses are an outpouring of emotion toward something/someone. Responses aren't dead or half-baked. They are surging with emotion, even if that emotion is apathy or, at the very least, "The Bewildered Brow." Once you grasp this, you can move from being half-right to right-on...which leads me to why I feel bad for you.

2) I feel bad for you because YOU'VE ALMOST GOT IT!!! If you know God knows your heart and choose to stuff your emotions because of it, you don't realize this but you're so close to actually worshipping unashamed! See, God knows all, right? He's all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful, all-present. In other words, He's the man...sort of. Anyway, you're time in worship with God is kinda like a marriage: you can have emotion toward your spouse over wearing that sexy lingerie, and your spouse knows that makes you all flustered inside, but it's an easier, healthier road to intimacy when you act on your feelings and express those pent-up emotions. If you didn't act on those, imagine how robotic that love scene would be? Definitely not romantic, that's for sure..."beep, boop...you look lovely dear, beep." "Beep bop, thank you honey, let's have marital relations, boop beep." "Sounds...boooop...nice. Here we go, beeeep." Personally, when I'm being intimate with God in worship, the last thing I want is to be robotic. I don't want my flesh, my natural tendency to stuff my emotions toward God, to get in the way of passionately pouring my oil on His feet and wiping them with my hair (if confused, see Luke 7:36-50 for a beautiful example of someone unashamedly worshipping Jesus).

So now what? Hopefully you're longing for the next step in your worship life. If so, let me fill you in on the secret formula to worshipping with all you've got: just...do...it. Yup, that's it! You're like, "what?! that's not advice, that's stupid!" Well, here's what I mean: you know that itch you get in worship to branch out a little? Yeah? Do it. You know that apprehension you get during worship, the one that keeps you standing and staring like a straight-faced statue? Yeah? Toss it. Whenever you feel the urge to raise a hand or move a limb or two, do it! Try it! Whenever you feel the wave of embarrassment or apprehension to move out of your comfort zone, that's exactly when you should be moving! I promise, you won't regret it. God already gave you freedom in so many ways - really, it's us who keep ourselves tied down, us who don't allow freedom to sink into our hearts and minds and subsequently flow out of our mouths, hands and feet. God gives freedom, but we stay enslaved in a lot of ways because we can't get past ourselves. If we are free, then we must embrace it, taste it, and celebrate it. Stop getting in the way of God's freedom taking over your life. Take the bold next step in your worship life. Jump...

Jump: Part 1

I've been on a very interesting journey since my 7th grade year, an adventure that has taught me so much about music, God, and the Church (big C = all Christians as a whole body)...a journey called worship leading. Full-time, part-time, volunteer - I've run the gamut, and I've still got a lot of blocks to go around. One of the coolest worship leading experiences I've had in my career is Jump Camp, a middle school Christian camp I've led worship at for the last three years. That's where I've been this past week, and every year, that's where I wish I could stay just a bit longer.

Camp is a little piece of heaven - leading worship with my great friends and pro musicians/worship leaders Joy, Tylar, Mike, and Kevin (Kaio is at Hillsong's school in Australia this year, but he was our awesome drummer the first two years!). The camp, like most every Christian camp, is full of activities, games, sessions, and spiritual growth. Every year, we lead these teens/pre-teens in worship before each session, and to put it mildly, it's pretty wild :)  We sing in worship at the top of our lungs, bounce around like jumping beans, dance in the occasional conga line - the most fun you could ever have in corporate worship. It really made me daydream about how corporate worship usually goes in most church gatherings in America - let me give you a hint: it's not nearly as fun or lively. And that's sad, isn't it? 

My wife and I absolutely love being part of a church that embraces spirited worship and teaching, but most Christians can't say the same. So here we go, right? The old merry-go-round debate over contemporary vs. traditional. Well, I'm not exactly trying to get into all that touchy business, so don't get all defensive, mmmk? I love hymns, and I love modern worship songs - to me, the difference is in the energy. Of course God is present in the silent moments and the quiet worship - just as present, actually - but what is worship if it doesn't have some kind of energy behind it? And when I say energy, I don't just mean the conga line :)  I mean the spirit behind the worship. The fervency. The burning heart. The uncontrollable itch on the inside to express your passion for God on the outside. That's it, and most people just don't do anything about that itch. "Oh, that's improper. This God-stuff is supposed to be solemn, not slap-happy. Plus hey, I don't wanna look like an idiot in front of all my friends, all these strangers...nah, God knows my heart, I'll just stand here with my hands folded so as not to raise any eye-brows and distract from worship." 

Wow, I can't tell you how many people are thinking this on any given Sunday morning. And wow is it frustrating the heart of God, not to mention worship leaders like myself. Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to lead zombies in worship. Dead, rotting, moaning, drooling, limping zombies...maybe not physically, but definitely spiritually. What is holding us back? If you are afraid of what others think, God doesn't want your worship anyway. In Matthew 10:32-33, Jesus says "Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven." Jesus is being brutally honest here: if you're embarrassed about Jesus, about worshipping Him, about being associated with Him in any way, He's gonna give you exactly what you are advertising on your personal billboard: absolutely zero ounces of Him or His presence. If you're too proud to put some sauce behind your worship, what makes you think you'd even want to be in Heaven? Heaven is an eternally glorious place of ongoing praise, where all of creation worships Christ as Lord in various ways...if you can't do that and put some energy behind that here on Earth, would you really want to in Heaven? Tough pill to swallow, so chew on it for awhile. 

So at this point, hopefully I'm painting a picture of something stirring your heart. If so, come back in a couple days and I'll tell you how to get out of the blase worship rut. If not, forget about it and go back to your comfy style of zombie worship...but if you haven't responded to that stirring yet, I sure hope you come back.

Favor

Another great week in the books...a fast week, but a great one. Man, crazy number of days since my last post! Can't be havin' any slippage, gotta keep daydreaming!

Ok, story time. (woot!) Isaiah 43:18-19 says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." My last couple weeks have been full of God's favor and new things - the fresh, crispy, leafy kind-o-goodness. Mouth watering, foot-stompin', goodness-gracious-sakes-alive kinda stuff, ya know? Here's the highlight reel (in no specific order of occurrence or stellar-ness):
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1. Much to the benefit of my music career, I'm now working with an entertainment agent from Key Signature Entertainment here in Charlotte! (cue theme song, "The Jefferson's")  I've been in contact with him for months, and I've been working on a promo video to showcase to his clients and for my own use. Honestly, I've been hitting the pavement hard over the past year, but I haven't seen the results I've wanted. So I decided a couple months back to enlist the help of a professional, and let me tell ya, it's already been proven as a Grade-A, top shelf, "heck-yeah" decision. My promo video was superbly created by the pros at The Bench Studios here in Monroe, and once it was finished, I sent it on to my agent. He called me within like an hour, asking if I am free June 28th. Say WHAT?! :)  He said he sent my video to a client right away and they asked if I'm available for an upcoming gig they're hosting. How amazing is that? God is fantastically faithful.

2. My wife's birthday is tomorrow, and we're gonna celebrate with a trip to the doctor to check on little baby Tracy! She's not showing a bump yet really, but she can feel a bump coming. We're very excited, and very happy!

3. Got a new hairstyle! I was bored with my boring old bore-iffic bore of a haircut, which I covered with a stylish hat more often than not. I went to our friend, Angy, and she gave me a style! Kinda messy on purpose, ya know? Gelled scruffy, haha. I don't know how to describe it, sheesh. I'll post a pic on Facebook.

4. Heading to Jump Camp next week, a middle school Christian camp up in Indiana. My friend Joy got a great group of worship musicians together a few years ago for it, and we've been going back every summer ever since. I love leading these kids in worship, it's so much fun! We jump and dance to the newest tunes, rockin' it hard for a purpose. Plus it's right down the road a bit from my wife's family, so we get to visit with them for a week or so! Perfect retreat from the norm, which is nice once in a while.

5. I'm driving to Clearwater, FL Tuesday to lead worship for my friend Joy's church! (same Joy)  She asked me awhile back, and it worked out great for this week. We'll have lots of fun, and I have some people from a church down there coming to observe me lead for a church position they have open down there.

Big stuff happening, just wanted to fill you in! Details of my adventures coming soon!

UPDATE: Played my first show for Key Signature last night! Carmel Country Club, it was a fun atmosphere by the pool. I played for 4 hours, one of my longest performances I can remember, but it was fun. No CD sales, though, I need a mascot or something, hahaha. Any takers?