Hope you’re all well. I thought i’d follow up my Facebook post about a car ride into the city worshiping with Bruce Springsteen with a longer blog post here.  not sure if anyone has the new Bruce record “Wrecking Ball”  yet but it’s outstanding.  He tackles a lot of different things and this isn’t going to turn into a record review but i wanted to focus on 2 songs, tracks 9 & 10.  “Rocky Ground” and “Land of Hope and Dreams”.

Not sure if anyone else does this, I actually hope you do, but I’m a big fan of worshiping in the car on the ride into work every day.  i’ve got about a 45 minute commute each morning & try to find different ways to worship each day.  some days it’s music, some days it’s listening to readings of the bible, some days it’s listening to sermons from various preachers.  this particular morning it was worship with Bruce Springsteen.  let me give you some lyrics to these 2 songs:

Track 9: Rocky Ground:

Rise up shepherd, rise up,  Your flock has roamed far from the hills
Stars have faded, the sky is still, Sun’s in the heavens and a new day’s rising

You use your muscle and your mind and you pray your best
That your best is good enough, the Lord will do the rest
You raise your children and you teach them to walk straight and sure
You pray that hard times, hard times, come no more
You try to sleep, you toss and turn, the bottom’s dropping out
Where you once had faith now there’s only doubt
You pray for guidance, only silence now meets your prayers
The morning breaks, you awake but no one’s there

We’ve been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground,  There’s a new day coming

(c) 2012 Bruce Springsteen

and Track 10: Land of Hope and Dreams:

I will provide for you, And I’ll stand by your side
You’ll need a good companion now, for this part of the ride
Leave behind your sorrows, Let this day be the last
Tomorrow there’ll be sunshine, And all this darkness past

Big wheels roll through fields, Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

This train, Carries saints and sinners
This train, Carries losers and winners
This Train, Carries whores and gamblers
This Train, Carries lost souls
This Train, Dreams will not be thwarted
This Train, Faith will be rewarded
This Train, Hear the steel wheels singin’
This Train, Bells of freedom ringin’
This Train, Carries broken-hearted
This Train, Thieves and sweet souls departed
This Train, Carries fools and kings
This Train, All aboard

(c) 2012 Bruce Springsteen

Both songs speak of hope and clearly speak of faith & speak of new days coming.  Yes, these are very universal themes, themes that can be taken in many different ways but on this particular day, in my car, with the sun shining and the windows down, as i looked over the Hudson River…Bruce was preaching to me.  Feeding my soul.  Bringing me a little closer to the God that i believe in.  The God that looks down and says, “I’m here”, I’m the One that will see you through the rocky ground, i’m the One that will be here when all else fails.  I’m the One that will bring you to the land of hope and dreams. I sent my Son to do nothing else but that, provide a way for you to enter the land of hope and dreams.  I sent my Son to die for you so that you could get on that train and live with Me forever.  Your faith will be rewarded, your broken heart will be restored, your hurt will be replaced with joy.  Pain will be overcome by goodness and hope will come.  No matter what, hope will come. Hope will prevail.  Whatever you’re going through, know that.  Our God continues push hope through the darkness.

I needed that that morning.  I needed this & God came through.  Who knows if Bruce knew that when he wrote those songs he’d be leading worship on that Wednesday morning.  It doesn’t really matter.  All i know is that when God wants to speak to you, don’t wait for the voice from heaven to come booming down.  Turn on a little Bruce Springsteen. The Real Boss used the other boss to speak to me that morning.

Here’s “Land of Hope and Dreams” from a performance in New York City:

I just got back from driving down to Florida and back, total of 48 hours of driving.  there’s something about road trips that i love.  i know a lot of guys out there that do what i do are on the road a lot, i choose to stay in my tri-state area when i tour.  so to go on a 48 hour road trip was a bit of a hike.  i love the road, i really do, i love the driving and the ability to basically turn everything else off and just sit and stare at white lines blipping by, beautiful sunsets & the occasional crazy driver that flips you off because you were only going 80 in the high speed lane when he expects you to be doing 90.

i love the fact that i can pray when i drive, i can worship when i drive.  this is what i tried to do as much as i could.  i thought a lot about easter, a lot about sacrifice and a lot about how little i sacrifice.   i try to sacrifice, i really do.  i fasted a few weeks ago for three days, it was a liquid fast, it was extremely difficult but incredibly humbling.  i did that for two weeks in a row and then again for one more day the week after that.  a total of seven days of liquid fasting.  i won’t share all of what i fasted for but one major part of it was for worship at the church that i lead worship at, Liquid Church in Nutley, NJ.  i pray for the church daily, i pray that God would use the worship to draw His church closer to Him.  i pray that i would lead humbly, lead in a way that would glorify Him and not glorify me.  i don’t want the attention, i want the attention to be drawn to Him.

i get so many people every Sunday that come up and say, “oh i love your voice”, or “great music this morning”, that’s all well and good but i really want people to say, “great worship this morning” or “i was really drawn closer to God through the worship this morning”.  i don’t lead worship on Sundays or at my shows so that people can see how great i sing or how well i perform.  i lead worship because it’s part of my DNA, it’s part of who i am.  i lead worship so that others can experience what i’m experiencing….an encounter with a God like no other.  A surrender to the one who loved me so much that He gave His only Son to die for me so that others might live.  I worship because God deserves all that I can give Him.

When you worship this week, see beyond the musicians and the singers, look for God in the songs, look for God in the music.  He, after all, is the One who gave us the music, gave us the melodies, gave us the talent to do what we do.

Don’t get me wrong, i appreciate the encouragement, but i want there to be a bigger picture than just the performance. It’s not about the performance, it’s about the heart behind the performance, it’s about worshiping a God who deserves the sacrifice of who we are.  I don’t want to be a fan of God, i want to be someone who is a true follower, someone who leads others to Him through the talents that He’s given me.  That’s what i try to do on Sundays and every other day of my life.  I encourage you to do the same.

So as you drive around this week, even if it’s for 10 minutes, try to pray, try to worship instead of listening to talk radio or the ball game.  take a moment to sacrifice, sacrifice for the one who sacrificed so much for us.

THE WEEKLY WALK – March 12, 2012 – the Outlaw

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2-3)

I just finished John Eldredge’s “Beautiful Outlaw”.  He ends the book by pleading with his readers to hold on to this, to hold on to what we just experienced together.  i thought it was a brilliant way to end a book.  so many times i finish a book and move on to the next one without applying the principles that i just learned.

the principle in this book is simple.  Jesus is life.  Jesus should be in every aspect of my life.  He should be in everything that i do.  Here’s a quick excerpt from the book that hits this right on the head:

“When i’m in Christ or he’s in me or however you describe that, everything is different-the way i see myself, the way i see you.  i am the man i want to be.  as we love him, experience him, allow his life to fill ours, the personality of Jesus transforms our personalities.  the timid become bold and the bold become patient and the patient become fierce and the uptight become free and the religious become scandalously good. They look to him and become radiant (Ps. 34:5).  they looked to Jesus and became like him.  loving Jesus helps us to become what human beings were meant to be.  as Athanasius said “he became what we are that we might become what he is“…..you realize that whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not-in all our efforts we are continually portraying the personality of God to the world.”

wow.  in all our efforts, we are continually portraying the personality of God to the world.  think about that just for a minute.  think about your day, think about how you represented yourself today to the people that you interacted with.  i’m actually ashamed right now.  i walked past no less than five people today that needed monetary help and i did nothing.  kept on walking.  i walked past people that were hungry today and did nothing.  did i smile to the cashier at the Starbucks that i had breakfast at.  i think so, can’t remember.

the message of the book is plain & simple.  jesus was a guy that people wanted to be around, a guy that people could relate to.  he was easy to talk to. he loved and loved well.  he was compassionate, kind, caring, helpful, loving, a friend, a companion.  he did it with ease, he was humble about it.  never boasting but giving all the credit to his father in heaven.  Jesus became what we are so that we could become what He is.  Am i getting closer to what He is, do i have those traits?  sometimes.  i’d like to have them more.

Eldredge goes on to say that every morning now he prays this prayer – “Lord Jesus, i give my life to you today, to live your life”.

This desire, to know the real Jesus, is something I strive for.  He’s someone i want to be around more often.  i stumble, i fall, i continue to frustrate myself with how ridiculously i look at life sometimes, but if i strive for Him more, maybe some of those things will change, maybe i won’t stumble as much, maybe i’ll have the right words to say to someone at the right time.  maybe Jesus will shine just a little bit more through me and maybe the world will see the personality of God a little bit clearer though his child.

i encourage you to read this book.  As Eldredge says at the end of the book “Let his life fill yours, introduce him to others, there are a lot of people out that there need to know this Beautiful Outlaw”.

check out more info on this at http://www.beautifuloutlaw.net

thanks for reading, pls comment here on this page…..