Day 30

Welcome Back!

Thank you for joining me on this journey across the Christian music world. I am currently on the last day of my journey, and it has been the most impactful and worth while thing that I have probably ever done. I truly hope and pray that anyone reading this blog would consider taking the same journey that I just did. If you are wanting to know more about the journey because this was your first day, then I suggest that you go back and read my very first blog post. And if you want to read more about how this journey of listening to only Christian music for 30 days has changed my life, keep reading this blog. Again, thank you for the support, and let’s dive in to the last blog of my 30 day challenge.

As I have mentioned before, this journey has been life changing for me. When I first started the journey, I was very hesitant as to whether or not I would even want to do it. My girlfriend was very insistent though that I take this journey with her, this “Blogrimmage” as she called it(?) Admittedly, I only said yes to her because I wanted her to leave me alone about trying all these new things that she finds, (She loves to try new things, and believe me, it can be tiresome for a person like me who doesn’t try anything new unless he knows he can finish it.) But through the grace of God, I discovered that not only did I truly enjoy doing this, but writing this blog actually helped me to listen to the songs that I had already been listening to in a whole new way. Suddenly, the songs that I had been singing along with for years because fresh in my eyes, and I was finally able to be impacted by the songs in the way that God had intended. Instead of just hearing a Christian song and thinking, “Wow, that was a fun little song. I liked that song.”, I know here those same songs and think “Wow, the hand of God was definitely on the artists when they made this song, because I can feel his presence in this song.” And that is something that I have never felt before.

I know that I have talked a lot about all the different songs that I have heard over this last month, and what they might mean, and how they can help the listener, but I don’t feel as though I have done a lot of talking about how these songs have impacted me. And that is exactly what I would like to do today. Before I started this journey, I honestly felt like everyday I had a dark grey cloud hanging above my head. Now it wasn’t always there, and it wasn’t like I was depressed or anything, (Not saying that being depressed is a character flaw, because it is not. It is a real issue and it needs help to treat. I was just trying to describe how I felt.) but it definitely felt like something was off. Now, I know that this cloud was caused by some of the decisions that I have made, and I hated those decisions, but I couldn’t seem to stop making them. Honestly, I felt trapped. I didn’t really have a true relationship with Christ, and I felt like I was living a lie every time I stepped into church on Sunday’s. However, ever since starting this challenge, my whole world has been flipped upside down.

Before I start talking about the effects that this challenge has had on me, I do want to say that I am not fixed. Listening to Christian music for 30 days is not going to magically fix every problem in your life, and you are not going to suddenly stop facing trials and temptations. However, what it can do is change the way that you think, and the way that you make decisions, and that is exactly what the challenge did for me. As I have outlined in this blog, there were a few big things that were standing between me and a relationship with God. And a couple of those things were not bad things in and of themselves. But in my brokenness, I took those things and skewed them out of what they were intended to be, and created idols out of them. And through the use of the songs “Idols” by Jessa Anderson and “Clear the Stage” by Jimmy Needham, I finally saw my obsession with Madden and football in general as what they were, propped up Idols that I cared more about than Jesus. Now trust me, coming to that realization was no easy thing, because I knew that meant that I had to give them up and come back to the cross. But that is not what I wanted to do! Through the use of some heartfelt prayer though, I was able to give my idols up to Jesus, and trust that he has a better plan in place for me. So I set a date for when I wanted to be done with Madden for good, and that date is April 1st. Well I am happy to announce that over that time span, since when I first recognized the problem, God has worked in my heart to the point where I don’t even WANT to play Madden anymore! And for those of you who know me, you know that is basically a minor miracle in and of itself!

The next thing that I want to talk about is how listening to only God’s word all day, can melt your heart of stone, and bring you back to having a true and real relationship with Jesus. As I mentioned before, for a large part of my life, I have felt like I had a cloud hanging over me that kept me in a daze. This cloud is what kept me from drawing close to God, and because of that cloud, I never truly felt like I had a relationship with Jesus Christ. I did all the things you were supposed to do though. I went to church every Sunday, I was a leader in FCA in college, and I even joined a small group. But nothing really helped me get out from under this cloud of regret and shame. Nothing until this challenge that is. After I gave my idols up to Jesus, I started to notice something different about my life. I now started to feel happier each day, and I started to look FORWARD to reading my Bible each morning! That was something that I had never felt before! On top of that, I remember going to church about halfway through the challenge, and hearing a message preached on the Holy Spirit, and for the first time in my life, I think I truly felt the Holy Spirit come onto me and come into my life! I don’t know what happened, but from that moment on, my whole perspective changed. I no longer felt trapped by that cloud, and everything that happened in my life seemed to reflect the glory of God. I started to think about God while looking at nature. Hold on, let me say that again for those of you who don’t know me.. I STARTED TO THINK ABOUT GOD WHILE LOOKING AT NATURE!! That is not like me! Haha I have never done that! Yet, there I was, driving home with the windows down, and marveling at all that God has made.. in Northwest Indiana! (If you have never been to NWI, then that joke totally just flew over your head) Anyways, what I am trying to say is that taking this challenge has allowed me to give up some of the things that were holding me back from a true relationship with Jesus, and through the act of giving everything I had to God, I was given a true relationship with Jesus that I don’t think that I have ever had before. So if you see me anytime in the coming weeks, and you notice something different about me, but you can’t quite put your finger on it, let me just give you a hint as to what it might be. That thing that is different in me, that’s Jesus. And he wants to be what’s different about you too. So I hope that this blog has inspired you to pursue something similar to what I have just done, or if anything, I hope that this blog has inspired you to seek a more true and lasting relationship with your heavenly Father, because he wants to seek a relationship with you. Again, thank you for reading my blogs, I hope that they have been a blessing to you, and may God bless you in everything that he has planned for you.