John's Music
In this realm of ministry (songwriting, music and such) I feel there exists a tension in my heart. The truth of this tension is found in the person of Josh Martin and who I have grown to understand that God created me to be. For some reason I have a hard time candy-coating things or leaving what is on my heart unsaid, and in many religious circles today one looking for truth could easily get lost in the “story-time” and “play-land” of church and never see the Truth of Jesus Christ. The Person, the Life, the Redemption, the Sacrifice, and the willingness of our Servant Savior should stagger us when it comes to be reality in our lives. What He gave on the cross and continues to give to us daily demands a response, and an avenue in which I choose to respond is through songwriting. I have nearly pulled my hair out trying to write some sort of passionate, joy filled, tear jerking, hand raising song of corporate worship but every attempt of mine has crashed and burned. God has just not blessed me in that area, so with that in mind please realize that most of my songs are an interpretation/explanation of personal struggles and failures and few victories, but I consider them worship songs none-the-less. I sing about frustrations, about joys, about fears, and about my hope in the salvation I’ve found in Jesus Christ. My writing has to be honest, just has to or it is worth nothing to me, or to God for that matter. Therefore in my level of honesty lies my tension. I feel like singing these songs God has birthed in me is important, yet I have a hard time-sharing some of the lyrics with others because when someone listens to what I write it is like I am welcoming them to my little secluded world of thoughts and sin and cries for help. This ministry makes me very vulnerable, exposed for that matter and susceptible to judgment, so sometimes it is hard to do. But the tension and the fear of what others may or may not think soon disappears when I realize that even these songs of “mine” are not my own. Even I am not my own, for I have been bought with a price and God claimed all of me years ago and I still find Him drawing Himself ever so near even in the depth of my faults and shame. He is a Great God and because of that I have to sing. So, after saying all that (long exhale and shrug of the shoulders) let me be the first to formally welcome you to my music, to my limp, to my heart, to me. I hope you relate to the situations described in each song, I hope you enjoy the musical beats, I hope the melodies get stuck in your head for days and days and I hope your are blessed by listening. But ultimately I hope that in the end you have little to say about me, my voice, my talents or my guitar playing, but much to say about a redeeming God of love who has used my music to minister to you.
I’ll close with the words and the heart of John the Baptist referring to Jesus in comparison with himself.
“He must become greater, I must become less.” - John 3:30
