Journey’s End

Every journey should have a destination.  There should be a vision for everything that we set out for, and it should not be to just keep going and looking for what’s next.  At some point, there has to be a destination.  There has to be a stopping point.

Well, The Alarida Journey has reached the end of the road.  Effective immediately, we are closing our regular blog posts.  This will be the final post from this site.  We will however be continuing the contest for the gift card and new iPad giveaway.  The Team Alarida page will remain active on the site for the purpose of the contest only.

We would like to thank everyone who has followed us from the start, and all of the comments that have ensued.  You have been the driving force behind our journey, and I appreciate you one and all…

Thanks for the memories, and may your journey be one that leads you to the cross.

Please Remember Me

I called my assistant today and told him to drop everything he’s doing, because there’s a change of plans for me. Since my first tour in 2006, I have worked for about 7 months and took the rest of the year off for rest, vacation, and prep for the next tour.  This time has always been crucial for my success.  It’s been my time to re-energize and catch up with the things back home.

Fuel costs were a determining factor for this current tour in 2012. While looking at 150 shows in about 60 different cities, we took many to the chopping block.  Today, all of that changes.  I will not only re-schedule those lost shows, but I intend to add even more.

In addition to what I’m adding to the current tour, I am changing the 2012 tour as well.  Where I will typically perform for about 3 days/6 shows per week for about 29-30 weeks, I intend to tour for a full 50 weeks in 2012, which will average about 5 work days, and 2 days of travel.  And actually, if you want to get technical about it… it’s really a 7 day work week, because I will spend every available day writing material for the next year’s tour.

This will mean one thing for certain… I have to say goodbye to many areas of my life.

“I’m gonna miss the simple town full of memories
I’m gonna miss just hanging out with all my friends
The rainy days and summer nights
Skipping stones by the river side
But i know.. its time to go.”

Getting to come home to Alabama would happen occasionally, but still rarely.    I’ve left before and moved to NYC to do emcee work while off tour, and it nearly drove me insane not being home.  But, I still had downtime when I was not on stage.  Even being in the city that never sleeps sometime left me bored.  So after the tour, I packed up and moved back home.  But now, my bus, Delta Airlines, and Mariotts from coast to coast will be my home.

I’ll miss my church.  I know I’m nothing more than a pew warmer, but I really love my church.  My pastor has the most amazing vision, not only for our church in general, but to see a  lost and dying world know Jesus.  I never find a church on the road that feels like home… not even close.  Chances are, with this new schedule I will never darken the doors of a strange church.  My Pastor is birthing a digital church, and I will be able to join them online while they’re worshiping live back home.

I’ll miss my two best friends.  One I never get to see anyway because of his out of town schooling, but I currently get to see the other about 2 or three times a month.  These guys have been the best friends I could ever ask for.  One I’ve known for 9 months, and the other I’ve known for 9 years.  Their families have treated me like one of their own, and it will kill me to not see them as regularly as I’d like.

“I’ve got a heart thats full of dreams
and a little bit of crazy
I can feel it pulling me to somewhere i have never been
I’m packing up and leaving home
To travel into the great unknown
Its time, i have to go.”

This was not my plan, as I mentioned before.  But, I have too much time on my hands right now, and it’s actually taking more of a toll on me than not having enough time.  The enemy is notorious for getting into my head and changing happy thoughts into unhappy ones.  Sitting around and waiting on the next show to arrive is seriously beginning to make me crazy.

So, the plan is to work so hard that there’s never any spare time for the enemy to work his way in.  Personally, I think I’ll be too tired to listen to what he’s saying anyway when this kicks into high gear.  50 weeks of touring with only one week vacation for Christmas and one in July?  How could that possibly go wrong?

“Were not guaranteed tomorrow
So we must just keep on living for the day
and make the most of every moment
every step along the way…”

I’m going to continue the blog.  I realize how much of a potential I have to reach such a large amount of people through this ministry.  Christ has been my guide on the journey, and He has led me every step of the way.  I know He will also guide me into this brand new arena where I also have the chance to meet so many people and touch those lives as well.

I want to be able to keep in contact with everyone, so please keep up with me on the blog and let me know how you’re all doing.  I won’t be able to see everyone while I am home on vacation, but my promise to all of my Alabama friends is that my tour will include at least 2 local shows each year.  You’ll be informed in advance when I’ll be in town.

“So heres goodbye heres so long
I must go and follow love
I feel my heart moving on
I must go and follow love
Carry on while I’m gone
This is what i’ve been dreaming of
I’ll miss you so
But i must go… go and follow love.”

Friends… thanks for everything!  I love you guys more than you will ever know.

Don’t Call Yourself Christian

I’m fed up.  If you follow this blog at all, you’ll know that this is not my usual tone and it takes severe anger to get me like this.  What I have to say today is going to be controversial, and frankly… I don’t care.  It needs to be said, and it is long overdue.  If you need to move along to a different blog because you cannot handle this, I understand.  Hopefully, I don’t have to be this BLUNT the next time I get behind the keyboard.

I just left a friend’s house.  She just turned 20.  Today.  For her 20^th birthday, her father unplugged the battery from her truck so that she couldn’t go anywhere.  Meanwhile, they’ve gone out of town for the week.  They had absolutely no regard as to whether she’d be able to leave her house in the event of an emergency.  (She had no idea what was wrong with her truck, nor how to repair it… that’s why she called me.)  She nearly missed a party that her friends had planned for her because of what her dad did.  (He just sent her a text telling her that he unhooked the battery because he figured she’d be too stupid to figure out how to fix it.)

I’ve received calls from her so many times before because of her father.  He’s abusive.  She’s had her shoulder nearly dislocated and her knee injured because of his abuse.  In addition to the physical abuse that she’s endured, there also comes the mental abuse.  Time and time again, she has shown me text messages from her father where he’s called her names, and referred to her as a “sorry sack of sh__.”

Here’s the kicker… he’s in church every Sunday.  He lifts his hands, and sings Holy Holy Holy, but treats his daughter like trash when he’s home.  He puts on the pretty face and nice suit at church, but at home acts like a pagan.  Her mom defends him, and does absolutely nothing to comfort her tormented daughter.

Matthew 23:25-26 (NLT)

²⁵ “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! ²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.

James 3:10-12 (NIV)

¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

The truth about who you really are is defined not when you’re in public, but behind closed doors.  You are detrimental to heaven with your activities.

Matthew 23:13 (NLT)

¹³ “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

If you’re this way, scriptures tells us that you are truly not a Christian… and I am tired of you running my Savior’s name through the dirt.  You’re a hypocrite, and unless you repent of your sins, scripture says you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 24:51 (NLT)

⁵¹ and he will cut the servant to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Weeping and gnashing of teeth occurs in Hell, there are no tears in heaven.  Or consider the Parable of the Wedding Feast, where the King finds someone at the party not clothed in proper wedding garments.

Matthew 22:12-13 (NLT)

¹² ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. ¹³ Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Hypocrites will not be able to crash God’s Wedding Feast, they must be properly clothed in a true righteousness that comes only from Christ via obedience to His commandments.

If we live in hypocrisy yet call ourselves a Christian our joy of Christ will be short lived.  Hypocrites are the seed that falls on the rocky soil, it never takes root and the heat of the day comes and destroys the seedling.

Do you really know Christ?  Do you spend quality time with Him, intimately praying and seeking His counsel?  This cannot be done in Church in all practicality but is best done in quiet time we carve out and give to God.  It won’t matter on the last day if our social network thinks we were a holy person and prayed a lot; it will only matter if God says we knew Him and met His qualifications to enter His Kingdom.

I wish I could say that this is an isolated incident, but unfortunately… it is not.  I have another friend who is forced to endure something quite similar from parents who also call themselves Christians.  It’s absolutely horrible.  I understand that children must be submissive to their parents, but I also understand that Godly parents are to have responsibilities to their children as well.

Ephesians 6:2-4 (NLT)

² “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: ³ If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”^[a]

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.

If you fall into this category, I beg of you…

1. DON’T CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN!
2. GET RIGHT WITH GOD… REPENT OF YOUR SINS, AND TURN FROM YOUR WICKED WAYS
3. THEN, AND ONLY THEN… CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN!

Call yourself a heathen or a pagan…  but stop running my Savior’s name in the dirt.  You’re disgusting, and you make me sick… and according to SCRIPTURE, you’re making GOD sick, too.

Revelation 3:15-16 (NLT)

¹⁵ “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other!¹⁶ But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

Now, if you want to get upset with someone, you need to choose someone else besides me, because all I’ve done is shared scripture with you.  No opinion, just the facts and The Word.  Just an idea, why don’t you get upset with YOURSELF.  That’s the first step on your road to recovery.  Get right with God!