This week has been a highlight of my time at CGA. After many weeks of preparation, we completed recording a three song EP of worship music written by the worship track at Adventures. God has had so much favor on this project, from the songwriting process, to the musicians He has gathered together, to the actual recording process. We’ve been blessed by Randy Garmon, and acclaimed music producer and a squad coach (along with his wife Betsy) to current squads on the field.
I never could have imagined that I would be able to help record an album, and after all the ups and downs I’ve had with music in my life, this has been a redeeming experience. There has been a joy in music that has come from this whole process that has not been there in such a long time, and there is no doubt in my mind that it is because this project is for the Kingdom.
Why am I telling you this? Well, for one, because I’m ecstatic about this album, and I hope that you will check it out after it is released sometime before Christmas. But secondly, because God has used this experience to take me out of my comfort zone, though not like you might think.
Here’s how:
On Monday of this week, the brilliant idea came to me that there are violin shops near the studio, and I could “try out” a much nicer viola than I currently own and use it for the recording. Don’t worry, it’s a legit thing in the classical music world.
So Monday night, the worship track prayed over it, that there would basically be a viola in the shop with my name on it.
Well, prayer answered. On Wednesday, I went to the store to try out some violas and ended up gravitating towards one in particular.
Little did I know how much I would fall head over heels for the viola I picked up. (Background: I’ve been in the search for a new viola off and on for the past three years, but never finding just the right one.) Sounds a little exaggerated? Maybe, but at the very least, I’ve been searching for a viola with a very particular sound quality for years, and never found exactly it. Until Wednesday, that is.
The problem is, there’s no way I would be able to afford it, even if I were to save every penny for years.
Yesterday though, during one of the CGA labs led by Seth Barnes, we discussed the ways in which Jesus lead his disciples, and critical elements to the disciples’ growth as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. One of these elements was that Jesus sent them out in Luke 4 and told them to go and heal people. They had never healed people though! They had only seen Jesus do it. And well, He’s God so….
Still, there are no excuses. God calls us to step out and break the mold. To pray for things that we’ve never prayed for. To command healing, and deliverance, and freedom in people that we’ve never seen done before. And yet, there isn’t an expectation that what we pray for must come to pass. We so often feel that if we pray for healing, and the person isn’t healed that it will shatter our faith.
But Jesus looks at it this way. He sees that we are stepping out in faith and depending on Him.
Before, maybe we’ve never prayed for healing or the like. So to do so, no matter the result, is to break us free from living the world’s way, and taking one step closer to living the Kingdom way.
For me this week, that means praying for God to provide a way for this viola. I have absolutely no frame of reference for how He could. It seems too big; too impossible. Which is why I pray.
I hate it when I feel anything is impossible for God.
So I pray. And by faith, I’m choosing to believe that He is a good Father, that His gifts are never less than best, and that He’s about romancing my heart towards Him. Faith even in that sometimes, is a challenge to me.
What are the mold that the Holy Spirit needs to break you out of? What limits are you placing on what God can or cannot do? Pray into that, and ask the Spirit to bring you moments in your week to release you from those things.
