Each summer our family travels to several music festivals and we have the privilege of sharing the stage with various performers, who are singing and playing, more often than not, alongside their families. Although each group has a unique audience scope and special gifts, all speak of the hope that can be found in Jesus. Why are there so many family music groups? Why is God repeatedly putting families on display? What message is He sending the status quo of our generation?
The family is beautiful and sacred, because it is the image of God represented to the world. The husband/wife relationship is an object lesson of how Christ loves His bride, the church. Family is a representation of how the family of God, the church, is designed to function. Family is God’s perfect template – His designed building block for a healthy, growing society.
Our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking for who he may devour. He uses any and every deception to distort and destroy God’s perfect template. Families and marriages are under huge attack. The broken family is quickly becoming the new normal. Drugs and alcohol are becoming increasingly more accessible, and acceptable, making drug dependencies a huge epidemic. The unborn are unprotected. The sanctity of human life from conception to natural death, continues to be eroded. Woke culture, the push for alternative life-styles, pornography, sex education and humanistic teaching in schools, all aim to confuse and destroy the innocence of childhood. The enemy has been attacking and distorting the perception of God’s perfect image, to sabotage the traditional family, and to ultimately destroy lives.
God is not done with family! He has not given up on humanity! He loves the whole world – each person!
After Bonnie and I were married in 1996, God placed on our heart the desire and vision to share the message and the love of Jesus through our music. Today, we have the privilege of sharing the stage with our amazing children. Our presence on and off stage is a testimony that our God is able to save, to deliver, to heal, to restore, to provide. We know because He has done this for each one of us! He is so faithful! We pray that our lives clearly testify that the Lord Jesus Christ extends hope and grace to all who would place their trust in Him.
“You are the light of the world – like a city on the hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:14-16
Hope is rising in this new season! ‘The city on the hill’ is the community of believers that will not bow to the gods of this age. He is our peace and He will tear town every dividing wall. Together we declare that Jesus is Lord!
