Jesus

Winter Jam recap and some thoughts on Christian music

I went to Winter Jam last night, and it was pretty awesome. I always enjoy hearing NewSongas the host band. My favorites from this year were Lecrae, Tenth Avenue North, and the relatively new husband and wife duo Love & the Outcome. Though I must say, Skillet’s performance two years ago is still at the very top of my list.

I had a great time. However, something bothered me, and my friends also; one group (who shall remain nameless) played the track to a secular song, that has no spiritual connotation what so ever, as the song that they came out to before they started to play. What was the point of this? Doesn’t doing that kind of defeat the purpose of coming together to worship God, to offer an alternative to the world? I’m not condemning all non-Christian music, but at a gathering such as this, to play music that is the dead opposite of Jesus and what he represents seems a little like straddling the fence to me.

I also think this kind of thing can get tricky for some people who aren’t really Christians yet, or who are new to the faith. They may think, “Well, they have the same thing going on in here as out there, so there’s really no point in me getting too involved with this. I might as well stay where I am.” Also, said band’s lyrics were kind of hard to understand, mainly because of the volume of the music, but what little we did understand (my friends and I) didn’t seem to have too much to do with Jesus. The lyrics of theirs that I looked up when I got home were very…..bleak in terms of spirituality.

Am I reading too much into this? I don’t like ambiguous lyrics, especially not coming from those who are claiming to represent Jesus. What do y’all think? Leave your thoughts and questions below.

P.S. Stay tuned for a huge load of pictures. You can also watch the rest of the videos, here 😀

break every chain

Sunday I played a song at a fundraising rally that my aunt organizes for her church every year. I sang, “All I Can Say” by the David Crowder*Band in memory of my deceased friend. She had come with me the previous year. When I told the audience her story I heard a unified, “awwww,” which made me feel weird—like I was being pitied. After this I began the opening chords. As the song progressed I really felt it, it wasn’t the best I’d ever performed, but it was my best at the time. And like the song says, that’s all I could give at that moment. But it went well, and on the second verse I heard the bluesy wah of the lead join in with me and the drums followed, lightly tapping the snare and cymbal. When I finished,everyone gave me a standing ovation; at least most everyone. It’s kind of a blur since I tend to look away when I finish a performance, somehow not looking into the audiences faces after a performance means they can’t see me (I hate being in the spotlight. I know, I know…why am I doing this then?).

After I sat, it was time for the choir sing. The lead singer started singing with the most powerful, melodic voice you’d ever want to hear. She dug deep, yet made it look and sound so effortless. As “Break Every Chain” echoed though the walls of the building some called out—amens, hallelujahs, clapping—but I just sat. I sat and I thought. I thought about my friend. I realized that her death, even though it happened a while ago is still a chain on my life that needs to be broken. I miss her a lot. Sitting there, having this realization, I was about to cry, but I stopped myself—foolish pride. I thought,If I let myself cry right now, I know I’ll feel better. But I hate crying—especially in front of people. So I resolved to just sit and listen and hold it in. I wish I could have let go at that moment; let go of every burden on my life that I keep saying I want to give to God, that I keep praying I want to give up, but still hold on to when it’s all said and done. It all comes down to pride. Right now, pride must cease. Things would be so much better if pride were a thing that sin never brought into existence.

—destinie

lyrics

*lyrics preview*

Surprise!

I sang this song today at church. I was not feeling it in any way. It was a last minute thing and for some reason, this song is always in my back pocket. I’ve tweaked the guitar part a great deal since I first sang it on Youtube a year or so ago. Anyway, today I wasn’t into it, but I didn’t make any mistakes, and everything went smoothly. I felt like I could have done way better. But what surprised me is that people still liked it. Several people came up to me afterwards to ask me what the name of it was, and say I did so well, and they enjoyed it, and so on and in my head while they were saying these things I’m like, really? what were you listening to? But I accepted their compliments with thank yous. My mother could tell that I wasn’t into singing today so I told her what happened and she said, “well they were listening to the words and meditating on Jesus.” Which of course made me think about how much I actually give up to God when I sing. My thoughts usually go something like this while I’m singing: Okay, steady, not too fast; your voice is shaking, stop it; am I going to hit this part softly, or with punch; you don’t have too much more to go; that was the wrong note; watch your fingers… I’m so focused on myself, which hinders me from being truly overtaken and having that transforming experience. Sometimes I have a great performance, I’m feeling the crowd, I’m feeling the music, and at the end I walk off like “yeah, that just happened.” But most of the time, I feel like I give a less than average rendering. I guess the only thing there really is for me to do is pray for guidance on song choice, guitar choice, and “set my mind on things above” (1). I’m so much more selfish than I’d realized.

1. Colossians 3:2

Hey There

Hello to all of you reading this; welcome to my blog. I’ve decided to start taking this singing thing that I do seriously. Honestly, I don’t like doing it– singing in front of people and such–but I feel as though I should be; I feel “called.” I’m an absolute believer in the “if you don’t use it, you lose it” saying, and while I’m not the best singer, God didn’t give me what little ability I have for nothing. No matter how far this takes me–whether I sing for thousands, or just the ‘tens’ at my church–I’m gonna do it, and try my best to do it with all that I am. I’ve created this blog to share my music, thoughts, insights, feelings, and testimony with all of you in the hope that I can uplift and minister you in any way possible. Feel free to hit up my ask.

Y’all can find links to my Youtube channel, Twitter, and Soundcloud on the side of this page, and if you’re interested, here’s me on Facebook. And if you’re in the Central Florida area (or even a little farther), I’d love to play at your event!

Also, I’ve decided to name this blog “For the Love of John” for the last few verses of 1 John chapter 4, with emphasis on verse 18, which reads: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love (KJV).

P.S. I have another blog: destiniesramblings.tumblr.com

This work by Destinie Candis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.