It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, to say the absolute least.

For those of you who weren’t there on Sunday, let me give you the Reader’s Digest Condensed version of what’s been happening recently: my car has been out of commission since just after Thanksgiving, my wife’s car had a flat tire a week ago and we found out the hard way that the spare was flat and the rim was bent, I lost a gig playing with a local artist in town, our heat went out on Wednesday night, my wife’s car had another flat tire on the freeway on Saturday night and we still didn’t have a spare, so we had to leave it there overnight, and we didn’t have the money to pay for any of it.

And I’m supposed to be the worship leader on Sunday morning.

I’ll confess that sometimes I feel like a cheerleader up there. It can be difficult to really get my heart into worshipping God, and especially into leading others in worshipping God. Sunday morning, the last thing I wanted to do was to get up there and pretend like everything was fine. I couldn’t pretend to be a shiny happy person anymore.

Late Saturday night, as I was reading my Bible and praying (out of frustration, but then again, why do you think God allows things like this to happen? It ain’t no accident!), God led me to 2 Corinthians 11. In this passage, Paul is responding to a group of believers in the church at Corinth who were going around boasting about how spiritual they were and what a great relationship with Christ they had. Obviously, that’s not exactly a Christlike attitude, so Paul says, “You wanna have a boasting contest? You’re on!” Paul first lists his credentials – a Jew and a Hebrew, a Pharisee (one of the religious leaders), circumcised on the eighth day, a descendant of Abraham – everything a good Jew was supposed to be in order to please God. On top of that, Paul then goes on to talk about how he has already suffered for Christ’s sake. This is still weighing pretty heavily on my heart, so I’ll reproduce verses 23 through 30 here.

²³ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. ²⁶ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. ²⁷ I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? ³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Later on, in chapter twelve, Paul brings this section of his letter to a close by saying this:

⁹ But [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. ¹¹ For when I am weak, then I am strong.

That’s the conclusion that God led me to after all this crap happened. If I had been in this situation a couple of years ago, I guarantee you I wouldn’t have reacted this way. I would have been yelling and screaming and questioning God. I would have been angry with God and blamed Him for all of this. But that didn’t happen. As I sat by the freeway on Saturday night, waiting for my friend Justin to pick Bekah and me up, I felt the peace of God like I haven’t felt in a long time. I suddenly had the strongest confidence in God’s sovereignty and providence. Instead of blaming God, I actually found myself thanking Him for these trials! Times like these are what bring us closer to Him. He uses trials to draw us to Himself.

That’s the thing: the closer you get to God, the harder life is going to get. The Christian life is NOT one of comfort or complacency. The closer you get to God, the more God will orchestrate circumstances to draw you even closer, while at the same time, the enemy is going to work even harder to pull you away from God. Often, similar things – or even the exact same things – can be used both ways. The bottom line is this: stuff happens. Which direction will you go?

The other thing that God’s been teaching me through all of this is that this is exactly what the Body of Christ is for. I’ll confess something else: I’m stubborn. And I’m proud. When you get right down to it, I’d rather sleep in a 40-degree house than make a simple phone call to a friend for a little help. Even admitting that hurts a little bit.

Once I finally gave in to God’s leading and mentioned that Bekah and I were having a rough time, God’s blessings started pouring out like nobody’s business. Marilyn Clanton, Mark DeMaio, Justin and Rachael Johnson, Lincoln Atwood, Zach Hastings, and Matthew and Chelsea Daniel all helped out in immeasurable ways…and that’s just to name a few. I have been so incredibly awed and humbled by the outpouring of love and support from my brothers and sisters. Thank you all from the depths of my heart for your love. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully describe how much God has blessed me through you. At least not this side of eternity.

That’s what the Body of Christ is all about, Charlie Brown.

I’ve been getting reports that people actually read my blog…that’s a first for me! I apologize for not posting more regularly. Last week, I actually sat down three or four times with the sole purpose of “writing a new blog” and came up with a big ol’ goose egg each and every time. I think I’m trying too hard. Tim Kurek gave me some tips and pointers, and many thanks are in order.

Some of you may be wondering why we haven’t been doing any Christmas music so far. I mean, it is December, after all, and isn’t it traditional for churches to do nothing but carols this time of year? There’s a few reasons why I decided to forego the usual song suspects for now.

First of all, you’ve probably noticed by now that UpRising is anything but a ‘traditional’ church. That’s not to say that we like to do things just for the sake of being different, but we do take a more unorthodox approach in how we do things. Even so, that’s not the reason we’re not doing Christmas songs.

The second reason is that I have yet to find more than a couple of Christmas songs that translate well to the modern musical genre. There’s lots of songs out there that might fit stylistically, but many of them come across as very tongue-in-cheek, or even slightly cynical. That’s the last thing I want to associate with the birth of our Savior.

Having said all that, here’s the main thing: so often, we get so caught up in Christmas that we lose sight of the true meaning of the season. I’m not talking about consumerism here, although that’s always something to be aware of, but rather a true understanding of the big picture. It’s relatively easy to focus on the baby in the manger, the shepherds, the wise men, and all the rest of the Christmas story. It’s a little harder to associate the manger with the cross. We like the warm fuzzies and hope that Christmas brings. That’s all well and good, but the hope of the world lies ultimately in what the baby Jesus would accomplish thirty-three years later. His death, burial, and resurrection is where our eternal hope is found. He was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, and voluntarily gave up his own life in our place. He was buried, and three days later he rose up from the dead, and death itself was swallowed up in victory! Praise God for his perfect gift to us: his son Jesus Christ!

One of my favorite Christmas carols is “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” (and if anyone knows of a cool version of it floating around out there, let me know!). Everyone knows the tune, but take a minute and read all the lyrics. It’s exactly what I’m talking about.

Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled”
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
“Christ is born in Bethlehem”
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ by highest heav’n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin’s womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris’n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King!”

That’s what Christmas is all about. This month, I’ve tried to choose songs that reflected God’s holiness, love and grace. I’ve looked for songs that describe the perfection and kingship of Jesus, because that’s what the manger ultimately points to. Many people have a tradition of reading the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2 every year at Christmas. This year, as you’re reading it, keep in mind that the reason for the season is not only the birth of Christ, but the wonderful truth that he was born to die.

Hey everybody! I already know a lot of you, and I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of you. Let me tell you a little bit about myself, where I’ve come from, and where God is leading me.

I lived most of my life in Grand Rapids, Michigan, although I also lived for a few years in Newberry, in the heart of the Upper Peninsula (or ‘UP’, for all you ‘trolls’ out there). I met my wife Bekah when we were both in high school. We went to different schools, but we went to the same church. We started dating when I was a senior and she was a junior. We both attended Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, which worked out well, seeing as how we got married in 2003.

We were both blessed by being raised in Christian homes. My dad is a pastor, and Bekah’s dad was a deacon (elder) in our church growing up. The older I get, the more grateful I am for my parents’ dedication to the Lord and to serving Him. I couldn’t ask for a better example of what being a servant of God really looks like.

Music has been an integral part of my life as far back as I can remember. I started taking piano lessons when I was in the second grade (thanks Mom!) and stuck with it through high school. I joined the band in sixth grade, blatting out “Polly Wolly Doodle” on my dad’s old cornet. Some of my fondest memories of high school were in the marching band and the jazz band…yep, I was a band nerd. I picked up the bass guitar my senior year and I haven’t been able to put it down since.

Less than a year after Bekah and I were married, we decided that God was leading us to move to Florida. The job market in Michigan had pretty much dried up for us, and God opened the door for me to go to Full Sail in Orlando. It’s a technical school, and I focused on audio recording, since I wanted to pursue some type of music-related career, and it seemed like a more viable path than being a professional musician.

After I had completed the program, I had my sights set on the big city: Los Angeles, California. I spent a week out there visiting recording studios and scoping out living arrangements. I had it all planned: I was going to be a big-time record producer. If you haven’t already figured it out, God had other plans.

I knew that we couldn’t stay in Orlando. We had made lots of great friends down there, but I was determined to follow God’s call in my life to being in music. Since my plans for LA had fallen through, there was only one option left: Nashville, Tennessee. We moved up here in the beginning of 2006. I was working as an intern at Dark Horse Recording in Franklin, and Bekah quickly found employment at a local company.

Guess what? That didn’t work out, either. I got completely burned out on recording, and even on music as a whole for a while. Plus, my internship was unpaid, and we needed additional income in a big way. A friend of mine was working at a golf course in Brentwood, and he got me a job there. Over the year that I worked there, God taught me a whole lot about humility, serving, loving people, and the importance of keeping Him first in everything – absolutely everything – that I do. In August of 2007, I finally yielded everything to the Holy Spirit and accepted God’s call upon my life into the ministry.

So here I am. It’s been a crazy ride this far, and I know that God’s got big plans for UpRising Church in the coming months and years. Your love and support has already been overwhelming, to say the absolute least. I’m awed and humbled that God chose me to be a minister for Him, and I’m excited and honored that He chose me to be here, in this place, at this time. There’s no such thing as coincidence, my friends. Let’s step out in faith and see what God will do!

Whew…sorry about that…I just had to get that out of my system.

It’s good to be here! I’m excited about what God is doing at UpRising Church. Periods of transition like this can be difficult, but I believe that God has big things in store. I was talking with Pastor Joe the other day, and we both agreed that the last couple of weeks have indicated that very thing. We’ve had more than our share of techincal difficulties (at key times in the services) and people leaving the church. The point is that if this church wasn’t destined for great things, the Enemy wouldn’t bother with us. He wouldn’t waste his time on a group of people who weren’t dedicated to the Kingdom of God, and that is an encouraging thought. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord!

I am so thankful for the people who are parting ways with the UC. There’s nothing but love and admiration for Matthew and Chelsea Daniel and Ray and Patti LeGrand. I have learned so much from these people, and I am eternally grateful for their Christ-centered heart and Godly leadership.

This Sunday, Jarrod Morris from Crosspoint Church will be leading worship. He’s graciously volunteered to help us (and me) through this transition time. After that, though, we’ll be kicking things back into full gear!

Pacem,

~Dave

P.S. – Just in case you missed it, that was supposed to be the theme from “Star Wars”.