This is Life: The Journey Behind the Record

My first full-length record, This is Life, came out last February.  The whole process has been an incredible experience from writing the songs, recording them, to seeing other people sing them to God.

When I was in college, I read a couple of books that challenged me to know God.  In fact, they said that pursuing God was the most important thing I could do.  The more I knew about God and who He was, the more I would fall in love with Him.  The more I loved Him, the more I would worship and obey Him.  This record is about what God has taken me through since I graduated college.

Right after school, I moved to New York City to work with a church plant.  Moving from college to "adult life" is quite a shift.  God was teaching me much about who He was and myself.  Living in New York stretched me in an incredible way.  I met some amazing people and had some profound conversations with people who knew God well and people who had no idea how amazing He was.  While I was there, I began to learn how to write about these things and give voice to what God was doing in my heart and the hearts of those around me.

After a year and a half, I moved to Atlanta, GA.  This was a huge decisions for me that came with mixed emotions.  In the process, I learned how to trust God even when I didn't have everything figured out or lined up.  In Atlanta, I continued to write with others about who God is and what He has done.

The songs on this record are about life.  The are an overflow of what He has done in my heart over the last couple of years.  The songs are about His perfect love for us, and the hope of an incredible rescue that He gives us through the cross.  They are about a desire to Him better and wanting to see a right and true picture of who He is.  They are about trusting in His faithfulness even when I can't see or understand the full picture.  They are about giving our lives away to others, so they can see who Jesus is and how He loves us.  They are about living in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In John 17:3, it says, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."  This is life.  He is the source of life, and knowing God is what life is all about.  My hope is that this record helps your heart open up to how amazing God is.  When our hearts are captivated by His greatness, our response will be to worship Him.

For now, that is a little bit about where the record is coming from.  In the next few weeks, I will tell you more about the stories behind some of the songs.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.