Hello everyone I know
it has been long while since I have written in this blog but I woke up this
morning and decided it was time to reach out again and share some things that
God has done for me. I want to thank you all for viewing and hope you enjoy it.
About
2 years ago I was just finishing up what I thought was the end of my
undergraduate career at the University of Houston, I had walked at graduation
and was very content. My family was doing great, I was in an awesome
relationship with an awesome lady, I had made some huge strides as a musician
so at that time I believed I was truly “free”. However, reality usually kicks
in and then the test of that so-called freedom gets put to work. I had
neglected to take one class and because of that I was unable to move forward
with going to graduate school and I had to go back to school for one more year
but since I was free I had taken a job as a driver for NAPA Auto Parts and then
later would be offered a job at Ahern Rentals where I would start off on their
counter sales and then be promoted to Assistant Parts Manager and was making
great money (even though I was prolonging going back to finish the class). I
knew inside that I was not in his will and that my desire to be so called free
was driving this need to have my own place and my own money. The farther I got
away from God the more restless he allowed my spirit to be and that began to
frustrate me so that frustration turned into constant stress and anger and I
was NEVER happy and void of everlasting joy. I kept trucking along though thinking,
“…this too shall pass”. I was content to hide behind the word of God even
though I knew I was so deep in disobedience and far from God’s plan.
Eventually, I managed to get engaged and surely then I was on cloud 9 but still
not doing what he wanted me to do with my life. So, I lost my good paying job
and had to teach private lessons full time and find myself struggling HARD not
even to make ends meet but simply just to make it. As the friction heats up so
did my kindled anger and stress and I become difficult to live with and or be
around. The people who loved me the most were on the receiving end of it all,
but remember I’M STILL FREE!! As it turns out when people get fed up with it
sometimes they just have to leave, I lost relationships that were so valuable
to me because I was angry with myself for being disobedient to God. In the
beginning of the year God had enough with it and broke me down to my core where
I could do nothing but speak to him and only him. I was no longer engaged, and
barely making it by. God revealed to me that it was time to rebuild through
revelation from the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. He took the things that he knew
would hurt the most to check my mind, body, and spirit and indeed before him I
was BROKEN.
Nevertheless,
he pushed me to return to my passion that I had abandoned for 2 years and that
was PERCUSSION. I began studying with a Houston legend Sebastian Whitaker and
my zeal to practice intensely had returned. For hours on end I would practice
and on February 25th, 2012 I went and re-auditioned at the
University of North Texas (after having being told to re-audition because I had
not prepared properly just a year before) and was accepted at the audition into
the University of North Texas masters jazz drum set performance program. God
reminded me that at age 18 I committed myself to be his musician and therefore
consecrated for his purposes and to live in contrary to that violates our
agreement and God doesn’t lie so neither should I. During this time God began
to give me song after song and I began to write the music and lyrics. He
exposed me to so many different people that poured so much into me that I was
learning without even knowing I was learning. At about the end of June while
recording drums for someone the studio engineer at 2018 studios suggested I do
an EP and instantly I ran with that idea. I picked 5 of 70 something songs that
I had written and decided to push forward with an EP. I immediately knew to
call it “The Freedom EP” because I truly was beginning to grasp the meaning of
this word Freedom. Grant it I had not lost as much as I could’ve lost, I lost
the things that meant the most to me and that hurt. My anger, my disobedience
cost me more than I was bargaining for but only to reveal to me how free I was
not. The freedom comes not from doing what I want to do, but having the power
to do it and choosing not to. Sin is a choice not a requirement of man, Jesus
grants us the power (and it is a lot of power) to make that choice. When one
chooses Christ he gains life (Paul said in Philippians 1:21 “For to me,
to live is Christ and to die is gain.”) and when he chooses sin he chooses
death in that he is eternally separate from God. (Romans 6:23 “For the wages of
sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”). If it took all of this just for me to get that fact than in spite of
the pain and all that comes with it was worth it because I would rather learn
while I am still a young man than to learn when I am older man these hard
lessons. The Freedom EP simply provides the evidence that it does not matter
how far you ran or have gotten away from God he still loves you and like the
parable of the prodigal son, he will see you coming from far away and welcome
you with open arms, put a ring on your finger, dress you in the finest robes,
and kill the fatted calf for a celebration for you. Why? Because you have come
back home, and that’s all God wants is for us to come back home after we have
come to our senses. I’m not perfect and neither are you but that qualifies you
and I as vessels that can be used for his Glory. It’s not about album sales
here, its about hearing the message that Christ can and will set you free, if
you turn your life over to him. In 8th chapter and the 36th
verse of the book of John it says “So if the son makes you free, you will be
free indeed”. So my cause is for
all my brothers and sisters in Christ to truly be free in order that we may
reach to the lost so that they can be free as well.
The FREEDOM EP will be available August 13,2012 on tunes, spottily,
Amazon mp3 and CDBABY. I Love you all with the Love of Christ and I thank you,
we can only go forward now!
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