Snapshot: December 31, 2010. College student. Broke. Jobless. Searching for the American Dream. Living for myself first, and God when convenient. Doing things right in the eyes of the world, but not satisfied.
Snapshot: December 31, 2011. College graduate working at a pizza restaurant. Feeling complacent with living life for myself. Desperate to speak the love of God to the nations. Preparing to give up a comfortable American life in favor of a 40 pound backpack and a heart for the lost and broken. A failure in the eyes of the world, and perfectly content with the title.
The last couple of years, I have found myself picking a Song of the Year to apply to my life and make something of an anthem for myself. In 2011, that song was And Run by He is We. The chorus to that song is, “I’m making all my own plans. Throwing all my old ones away. I gotta grow up, be someone. Draw a map, find a path, take a breath and run.” I chose that song to be my anthem for the year while I was still living the life of the first Snapshot, but something in it resonated so deeply inside of me. The following month saw huge change for me. God literally rocked my world and I began to seek Him first. I saw Him move in my life in incredible ways.
So when I graduated and was supposed to be looking for a job and was supposed to be ‘settling down,’ something didn’t feel right. The chorus to And Run felt right. The American Dream did not. I was not ready to settle down. God spoke to me over the four months following graduation. In my moments of feeling complacent, with no purpose, He spoke into me a great desire to explore. And when the moment came for His plans and purposes to be revealed, I felt complete peace. I was going to Run. I was going to Explore. I was going to LIVE.
I almost have to pinch myself every day to make sure that this is real life. If you were to have told me on December 31st, 2010 that a year later, I would be preparing for The World Race, I would have thought you were crazy. I had my plan, and that wasn’t a part of it. I wanted to make good money, get a good apartment and live comfortably. But God doesn’t call us to comfort. We can’t grow in comfort. We grow in the times of uncertainty, in the times of not knowing. We cling to Him when we have no other constant thing in life. We change other’s lives when we step out in faith and let Him use us.
This year, my Song of the Year is The Anthem by Jake Hamilton. It echoes the deepest desires of my heart, and the Truth that God is constantly speaking to me. My prayer is that at the end of the year, I would be able to sing this song not as a lost goal but as a life anthem. My prayer is that God would literally shake my world and break down my walls; that I would live out the calling He has placed upon my life.
Snapshot: December 31st, 2012: ?
Lyrics to The Anthem:
I can hear the footsteps of my King, I can hear his heartbeat beckoning
In my darkness He has set me free. Now I hear the Spirit calling me
He's calling, “Wake up child, It's your turn to shine.
You were born for such a time as this.”
I can hear a holy rumbling.
I have begun to preach another King.
Loosing chains and breaking down the walls.
I want to hear the Father when He calls.
He's calling, “Wake up child, It's your turn to shine.
You were born for such a time as this.”
This is the anthem of our generation.
“Here we are God, shake our nation!
All we need is your love! You captivate me.”
I am royalty!
I have destiny!
I have been set free!
I am gonna shake history!
I am gonna change the world!
