Chermark Music: Random thoughts

I first heard Judah Smith preach during the fall of 1999 at a youth conference in Harrisburg, PA.

This self-described 19 year old (at the time) "skinny guy" impressed me and I picked up a few of his tapes. One tape was entitled "Convenient Christianity" and it mirrored a message he delivered to us that Friday night.

Some eight years later, God brought this tape back to my attention through the actions of my four year old son--an interesting story--and He used it to significantly alter my life--an even better story, of course.

Today, you can hear Judah via FREE audio and video Podcasts on iTunes. Check out what God is doing through this Seattle, WA based youth ministry called Generation Church: www.GenerationChurch.org

~M

Thank you for praying for us. We sincerely appreciate those of you who have been faithfully doing so, especially our family (literally!) and extended "family" at McBIC.

More than anything, we want to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. (Mark 12:29-30)

"But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him." (John 5:42-43)

Some quotes from John Piper in "What Jesus Demands From The World":

"To love God we must know him. God would not be honored by groundless love. In fact, there is no such thing. If we do not know anything about God, there is nothing in our mind to awaken love. If love does not come from knowing God, there is no point in calling it love for God…."

Because loving someone requires that we actually know the person, loving God means we must know Him. Jesus is the fullest revelation of God (look at John 14:7-9 and Matthew 11:27). Look again at John 5... We cannot love God and reject Jesus. The more we accept Jesus as He is (not just the parts we are comfortable with), the more our love for God deepens.

Getting back to Mark 12 and a quote from John Piper:

"When Jesus demands that we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, he means that every faculty and every capacity of our being should express the fullness of our affection for God—the fullness of all the ways we treasure him…. “Heart” highlights the center of our volitional and emotional life without excluding thought (Luke 1:51). “Soul” highlights our life as a whole, though sometimes distinguished from the body (Matt. 10:28). “Mind” highlights our thinking capacity. And “strength” highlights the capacity to make vigorous efforts both bodily and mentally (Mark 5:4; Luke 21:36).”…. the point is that every faculty and capacity that we have should display at every moment that God is our supreme treasure."

Well explained. Lately, I've been challenged to let go of my tendency to minimize my heart's response to the Holy Spirit's touch.

I don't want my heart to "grow cold" as described in Matthew 24:12 where it says that in the last days, many people will see their love “grow cold”. Therefore, let us spend time getting to know the Jesus of the Bible, the full revelation of God (John 14:9).

Let's give Him our full attention, becoming more aware of His presence, eating His Word. Let's make every effort to keep our love passionate, using every part of our existence to treasure God. May we "look steadily at Jesus and pray that he would reveal God as compellingly beautiful.” [Piper]

Remember that loving God does not exclude our emotions. Emotions are still a God-given part of us. Let's give him all that we are. Even the most stoic among us light up with a smile when their child or grandchild gives them a hug around the neck and a kiss on the cheek, so don't tell me you have no emotions. :-)

And let's remember that God is not pleased with the form, style or external appearances of "worship"... He wants our hearts to be passionate towards Him.

Lord, help us look to You, that we would see You as You are... "compellingly beautiful". Pour Your love into our hearts through Your Holy Spirit and allow us to experience the grip of your grace.

-M

It's been a while since the last post. Where to begin?

For starters, we've been enormously blessed with the addition of our fourth child. What an amazing, miraculous, marvelous thing!

This might explain the long gap in posting. :-)

We appreciate your prayers during this time as we continue to seek the Lord and draw close to Him.

(Mark, again.)

I love C.S. Lewis. Always have.

He and I were first introduced on a warm summer afternoon over a glass of homemade sun-tea.

It was the best. My mom would fill a huge jar with water and about ten thousand tea bags. Then she would place the jar on the sun-soaked cement surface of our little backyard patio.

Somehow she knew the precise moment at which the jar should be rescued and cooled. Then she poured it over ice cubes in a tall glass and, well... perfection.

No sugar needed, thank you.

Our modest split level home in Delaware's Pike Creek Valley was situated so that the warmth of the afternoon sun would flow through our living room window -- a window as long as the couch on which I would lay -- sun-tea in one hand and a C.S. Lewis book in the other.

As a young boy I was captivated by The Chronicles of Narnia. As a young man, I was captivated by his other books like Surprised by Joy, Letters to an American Lady, Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, etc.

So many great nuggets of truth in there. Just today I was struck by the following excerpt from Surprised by Joy:

"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me... I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England. I did not see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation."

How true. We're so thankful for His unrelenting, unconditional love, acceptance and unmerited favor.

-M

Hi, friends. This is Mark typing... and this might border on blogging (gasp!).

If I may be so bold, I'll take this moment to speak for Cheryl and try to give a little context to the songs.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, music is a pretty remarkable thing. We are so surrounded by music that we take it for granted... until that mysterious moment when a song pierces our heart inexplicably and we are moved inside.

It's more than emotion.

There is something inherently spiritual about music. Have you ever been blindsided by a song and you can't explain it? Like the song was written just for you?

Music has a way of getting through the facades, the walls we build.

Transitioning here... Stay with me.

These songs were written out of our own life experiences; within the context our relationships with people and God. And it's not always pretty.

There is brokenness, pain, joy, surrender, trust, worshiping together, kneeling alone... longing for more of His presence and power in our lives... something we desperately need.

We recognize that we've been blessed more than we will ever really understand. And we are learning to be more aware and thankful for this. Along the way, however, there have been very intense and painful times. It is interesting how we tend to grow during the painful times, isn't it? I suppose that is what James was referring to when he wrote: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." Welcome to the stuff of life!

So, we write about it and the next thing we know... it ends up being recorded. But that's a story for another time.

-M

It's been an interesting journey! We hope you experience a renewed awareness of God's presence and grace as you listen to these songs and make them your own.

Special thanks to everyone who contributed to this project, especially:
- those who wish to remain anonymous
- Tim James (owner/engineer, Harvest Field Studio, plus piano/keys/Rhodes)
- Jeremy Medkiff (guitars, bass)
- Rick Murray (drums, percussion, loops)
- David Johnson (cello)
- BGVs: Carla Apple, Cynthia Lindsey, Sherry Selkirk, Kristian Walker, Janna Whitenight

And, we can't forget to thank Mark Grosz (MIghty River Music) for his advice and counsel toward the end of the project. Thanks for taking the time and sharing your insight and wisdom.