Would You Go

I know you don't need to be reminded (because you've been waiting anxiously all year... right?) but our DEBUT ALBUM CD RELEASE PARTAY is 6 DAYS AWAY! I'm not excited at all.. why would you think that?
This album is a four year collection of songs. It's been two and-a-half years in the making. It's got some upbeat pizazz, and some slow it down lets think about thisness.. It's got character. And if you relate to it or not,(what can I do about that?) it's genuine. We didn't build it for radio hits, mosh pits or the famous groupie ditz.. We wrote it to tell a story. We recorded it because we liked it and wanted it to last, and through two and-a-half years, two different producers and a changing of the band, the original feel we were going for was still able to come through.
A friend of mine from work mentioned that he would check it out even though there would probably be some "strong Christian undertones". You know what, I wont pretend that he's wrong.. I'm a Christian, and that passion is going to flow into what I write, how I perform, who plays with me and what I desire. If you're a friend of mine or you like the music but you don't happen to be a Christian I hope you'll check out the album anyways. I try not to be a "shove it down your throat every chance I get" kind of guy. This music is my way of expressing what I believe and how I see the world. It's no different than someone who loves to party singing about how much they love getting drunk and going to the club. So give it a shot.

A while back I said I'd go into the stories behind the songs. Well, I'm going to start that today with the story behind the title track "Would You Go"

It was close to 11 pm in a Haitian refugee camp in the Dominican Republic. There was a medical clinic in the village which had a separate living quarters for visiting missionaries. Amanda lived here and I lived in a hut down the hill. My little hut had no electricity that night (This happened a lot)and I felt like reading so I was chilling in the kitchen reading a book called "The Shack". I can't remember the author's name right now.. Anywho, this book stirred up some controversy in religious circles so I had to read it.. It was about a guy who had lost his daughter to a rapist and was lured to a shack (thus the title) by God. (I think this is where the controversy is found?) Well the thing that sparked me was the idea of actually spending a day with Jesus. I mean, what would He say? If we were just chilling, walking around, shooting the basketball, what would that conversation look like.

So I sat there and I started writing intently. It started pretty laid back

"We skipped a stone across the lake,
And watched the shivers it would make
Lay down your head and rest a while
And know you always make me smile

I would go, I would go, I would go to the unknown for you

Just as the tide, it needs the shore
My need for you is so much more
Your breath alone invades My heart
Oh how I loved you from the start"

Pretty cheesy when you look at it from a guy's perspective.. But I'm thinking about what He said in His word and the way that He lived.. He loved me deeper than I love my brothers. How does a friendship or a relationship that deep look? He's just overflowing with love for me.. love that made Him do some crazy things.. And then I remembered that crazy thing and I grasped how real it was. I thought about Jesus for the first time, as being real, flesh, my best friend.. I'm not lying, I literally cried the first time I sang the next two verses

"Then with the darkness overhead..
They pierced my side, pronounced me dead.
It was your sin that hung me here,
The very heart I hold so dear

But I would go, I would go, I would go to the unknown for you

My precious child is who you are
It was for you I bore these scars
And as you know this was My choice
But how I'd love to hear your voice

Would you go? Would you go? Would you go to the unknown for me?"

I screwed up, and someone had to pay for it. So my best friend stepped up, was killed, felt God literally turn away from Him, and went to Hell. The comfort is that it was always His plan, and He conquered death and Hell and came back with the promise that the price was paid for everything I've done if I just believe in Him. I'm a long ways away from death (I hope) and it's easy for me to lose sight of the day when I'm faced with all the choices I made, and I face the reality that justice demands a punishment. He took that punishment for me. It's crazy..
Now, if you just decided that you'll never read a blog again because I'm too preachy, just look back on my past posts.. I'm typically not like this. I keep quiet, because I respect the fact that you're going to ask if you want to know, and I don't need you to believe what I believe to keep our friendship going. But today I'm telling the story behind this song, and there's just no way of avoiding the most integral part of the story.

Would you go is the question it drives into in the improvised ending.. We were just jamming away in practise and I started singing out some random melodies and lines all centered around that question. Sometimes (not as often as in the past) I'll pray over the guys or sing some improvised words of encouragement when we're jamming. Just let it flow it out y'all.. Any ways, I was doing that here, and as I was singing it out I just felt something crazy happening in the room and I blurted out "Here I am". It just felt like God was letting me, and my boys, know that this was exactly where He wanted us. It was taking up all our time, all of my money (I mean ALL of it) and it was difficult to explain to our friends and family (School? No, I'm in a band..). But in that moment I knew that this is what He made me to do. I just keep going now, because if He could die for me, than I can take every last song and chord in my arsenal and use it for Him.

So the question.. Would you go? If it costs you everything? How far would you follow? We built the album on it, because I can't think of a more crucial or important question to ask. If you wont go, than what's the point? He did it for us.

This is as long as my posts get. Forgive me guys. And hey, I can apologize to you IN PERSON at the CD RELEASE PARTAY! Please come, and bring your friends! It's going to be an awesome night.

Levi