Pat: Salute to Steel Sculpture Park, Venice, Illinois

Tonight, while driving into Illinois from St Louis on the McKinley Bridge, I passed the "Salute to Steel" sculpture park near Venice. This is where God ended up wanting me to stop and sing. I tried to keep driving, because why would God have me stop at a place where no one stops, right? The farther I drove, the more my heart pounded. I could do nothing but turn around.

I parked at the little resting spot by the sculpture. At least, I thought, this was a good opportunity for me to get out and read about the history of the local area. I never knew Route 66 once came in via the McKinley Bridge, or that before the bridge was there this road was made of wood planks leading to a river ferry boat. I learned that, before it was a bridge for vehicles, rails formed a way for trains to cross the river, and since the area streets so easily flood, the people felt it only best to name the town Venice, after the one in Italy.

The whole time I was still questioning why God wanted me to stop, but a little picnic shelter on the grounds was a perfect spot to play the ukulele while taking in the sounds of the traffic, trains, and the voices of people from the neighborhood behind the line of surrounding tree line.

It was when I started to sing Reign In Us that a man on a bicycle rode up and began to listen. After parking and walking over to throw away some trash, he sat at the table and said, "Keep playing! I'm loving this!" Because of that invitation I did not feel bad for stopping. When I reached the end of the song, I knew it was time to introduce myself and meet who God had brought into my life.

Tonight, I met Pat. Pat rides his bike from Granite City to his corner in St Louis every day to hold his sign and ask for donations, which helps purchase the medication he needs for a major sinus infection that he has been battling with for months, and doctors are not able to spot the cause of. He rooms with a local guy for a place to sleep, and his sister drives for the Metro Bus service. Pat wears a wristband that says, "Tagged for Jesus", and engraved on the inside is a scripture half wore off. Pat knows the scripture from Numbers by heart, because it is one filled with encouragement that God knows the plans He has for us, and this promise of comfort has gotten him through some pretty tough days.

I had the honor of praying for Pat, but the cool part was Pat's response to my prayer. When I finished with my "Amen", Pat, with his eyes still closed, tapped the table and said, "my turn."

In his prayer, Pat said, "God, You know I try to talk with you every day, but I know I need to draw closer to You. Thank you for bringing Tim into my life today to inspire me to remember that, and bless him so that he can live in peace and have plenty to live on. Amen."

God, I cannot thank You enough for where You have been taking me. Thank You for Your Love and provision!

What is your story?

Niko and Karate: O'Fallon, Illinois, City Park

I got to sing in the city park in O'Fallon, Illinois, yesterday. While singing God placed, in the distance, families spending time together at the playground; a mother and father encouraging their children and playing together. They ended up having a picnic at the shelter far from mine and looked over at me occasionally with smiles on their faces. I'm not sure if they saw me as a scary, strange man with a scrappy little guitar to make sure their children didn't get too close to, or if they could even hear me well enough to know that I was singing about God and His influence in our lives, but I was OK with that. There comes a time when have to realize that we are not the ones in charge of reaching every person out of the corner of our eyes and that God is in control of the makings of our hearts.

As I was finishing my song, Lies, three teenagers arrived as school had just ended for the day. God did bring these three into my path. I had the privilege of meeting Niko, Chloe, and Jeff. (jeff if I remember correctly - I am still working on the everyone has a name for a reason thing). Niko is the lead guitarist in a band called Paradigm Symphony, he has a fauxhawk and is a native of Hawaii. (I think he even has a birth certificate to prove it.) Paradigm Symphony's music is heavy.
Chloe is cool and stylish, and has that punk girl vibe.
Jeff has the tendency to be a little slower than average, but today he was being taught some - what I am assuming were - Karate moves by Niko. Niko was working slowly with Jeff, guiding his hands and feet in the direction they needed to go.

It is just super cool to see how people help each other. I guarantee what Niko did for Jeff yesterday encouraged him so much, just simply for the reason of spending time together.

I pray I free myself to do the same. Knowledge is not always what we need, sometimes we just need to know someone desires to share their time.

Answers to a Community of Prayer

Thank you all for your prayers! The meeting I had with the District Manager, Corey, of the Journeys in the district I work in turned out to be an offer; a promotion to Co-Manager of a Journeys store in the St louis area. The catch is that its schedule requires me working some Sundays, which complicates my role in youth ministry.

Because of your prayers, God has provided a way for me to continue serving in youth ministry, reach out with the street music ministry, and begin a more stable career by gaining on-hand experience in management. My role in youth ministry will begin to take on the role as more of a trainer, which is such a blessing to begin working with youth and families an help them find areas to serve as leaders in the church! Yesterday, it was my privilege to hand the Sunday School lesson materials over to one of our senior high students. She accepted the position without hesitation and has already began thinking of ideas for the class. A couple parents have already asked what ways they may be able to help with transportation for events and we are possibly in the works of planning a Mother/Daughter day in Forest Park. Another of the senior high students has begun expressing an interest in leading a cooking ministry on another night during the week.

I start the new position at Journeys in mid-September to make a way for me to keep my singing engagements on my calendar, and in October the manager is making a way for me to be able to still go to New York and sing music to raise funds for Shannon's Fight! The new schedule will allow me to still have some evenings free for scheduling concerts and speaking engagements, and the atmosphere has always been influenced by the music culture. I cannot be more thankful!

God has ways of supplying out needs; we must be willing to accept what He gives us and invest them for His return.

The JC Challenge: Mount Vernon, Illinois

Lots to blog about, and it has been busier than a bee with one wing recently! Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to sing and speak at the Mount Vernon, Illinois, JC Challenge 2012 Festival. The event director described what the festival is all about when he said "JC" stands for both "Jefferson County" and "Jesus Christ", because it is their call for the county to have a focus on worship and leading to Christ.
Here is how my selfishness started the day - the first music artist was like a mix between Needtobreathe and Chris Tomlin; he brought the foot tappin' spirit into kickstarting us into the worship mode, and had invested his talents through the years. He was also the only artist of the day that brought his own cd's to distribute. Basically, he could have very well been a headliner.
After him was the Logan Street Baptist Church Worship Team. Their lead singer is Brian Fuller; a singer who has a history in the industry, and has had a few albums in the professional market. His major influence has been Brian Duncan and gleans a few vocal elements from groups like Petra. They have 'production' down to a science; they brought a real sense of worship, but you could tell they were very polished. They could have definitely been an opener for a headliner in the festival.
I was next and have been blessed to build a great network with many people. God has brought a lot of opportunities into my path that I've never dreamed of having. I am by no means in the professional market yet - however much I would like to be - but my thought was storming through my brain that if we were the first in the line-up, the rest of the evening had to be good for sure!

The next band was a local worship team that consisted of five middle aged adults that could have very well just stepped up from the crowd to sing karaoke to a soundtrack. They had decent voices, but if faced by Simon Cowell as a judge would have been chopped up like fresh beef. My first reaction was to question what they were doing on the stage, but then God asked me to look around. The Church was in worship! This moment was not about the professionalism of the artists that were chosen, but that this body of believers were all worshipping together!

From then on, the line-up consisted on more people that just couldn't help but sing about their love for God and guide others to join. It really changed my view about what we are trying to do here. David Crowder and Josh Wilson are amazingly talented worship leaders, but I think it was Mac Powell who put it in such a great light at the beginning of a Third Day show, and I am just now REALLY beginning to understand what he said:

"If you came here to see a concert you might as well go home, because we are here to worship God. He is the reason why we are here."

See, Third Day, Casting Crown, The David Crowder Band, and Logan Street Baptist Church's Worship Team put on talented concerts, but that is all they are if they were only on stage to show off a performance and if the crowd only came to head bang or fist pump. Church looks so much different when we come together for worship. It is a blessing to have a professional kickstart the moment by stirring up the atmosphere for everyone to soften their hearts and let the Spirit lead, but there comes a time when the performer has to step back and let the Church sing out. That is music to the ears of our Creator.

The last to have the stage was the EOCC, a gospel church that brought a youth drama team, worship band, and a special testimonial speaker. They started out by having their drama team do an interpretive movement off of the stage, which forced everyone to gather closer to the stage and climb out of their camping chairs to see what was going on. If anyone had not opened their heart for the move of the Spirit, they were touched by this display of worship! When the music began for us to join and sing, the Church was to their feet and humbled by the presence of our Mighty Savior, and once the speaker gave his testimony, my knees weakened and I could not help but humbly bow before my Lord in prayer. It was not until me and a brother in Christ that had been praying next to me reached out to each other that we could help each other stand again. That is a blessed moment when God shows you that life is dependent on the His strength and the support of a fellow believer.

The JC Challenge ended with a closing prayer, and then continued with prayer circles where people were praying for each other to receive Christ, believe in His healing for illnesses, diseases, peace, and understanding. We witnessed a little boy that was deaf in one ear be able to hear, a woman in a wheelchair be able to stand, and a couple who was emotionally wore out from financial strain be able to laugh again.

A teenager named Maye came up to me and asked for prayer. She has been following Christ for a while, but has been living in fear of how to live it out around her unsaved family and friends. She shared with me her natural shyness and how that effects sharing her faith. We prayed for God to touch her with His hand of protection and give her a sense of confidence and strength for standing strong in her relationship with our Creator. Maye told me about how she did not know if she did the right thing by sharing with her class that Jesus was her hero a week ago for the "Who is Your Hero" assignment at school, but know she feels like she did the right thing. Maye left the festival on Saturday hoping to share what God has done in her life with her family, because God is glorified when we allow Him to use His strength through our weaknesses. Maye is an inspiring leader.

God is still moving.

A Community of Prayer

While I didn't get to sing yesterday anymore than just a run through of what I am doing at the JC Challenge today, God filled the day with so much more to consider. After blogging about Bob and Tom, I ate the last of my macaroni and cheese and headed over to the workplace to update my work schedule and meet our District Manager, Corey. Little did I know that a conversation I would start with him about what growing with the company would look like would result in what happened next, and I am still in utmost prayer about the decision.

I can not yet share all of the details, but what I can say is that my weekly "routine" would be completely turned upside down. After a private chat on a pair of couches in St Clair Mall, Corey invited me to go with him to meet a manager of the largest volumed Journeys store in St Louis. Our conversation on the way there consisted of everything from billboards and movies to corporate ranks and the use of the word "microscopically". The store we visited consists of about 8-10 times the inventory I have been use to, and twice the staff to handle it; if I owned half the merchandise in this store, I would be the jealousy of every shoe addict and the brunt end of every man's jokes, but I would have one freakin' SWEET room of shoes!

I was able to sit down with the store manager and share my story and hear his as well. In the end, an offer was made to me that would allow me to share my love of God and His Love for us to far more people, but would alter the way I serve in the Church; the Body of Christ.

What I am asking for now is a community of prayer that God grant me the ear to stay in tune with His soft whisper, the strength to persevere and devote my life to Him in a new way, and that my will not be greater than His. Will you join me in a community of prayer?

Bob and Tom: The Fountains of Belleville Square

Yesterday was another turn around for me. When I decided to find a new place to sing every day I did not think through all the possible human interactions I would encounter, and that was probably God's safety net to keep me from battling against too many temptations trying to persuade me not to do it. Yesterday was my day to meet the homeless.

I went to the downtown fountain circle of Belleville, Illinois and found a place on a bench, under the shade of a tree, to practice some music. I could hear a little bit of a murmur from a couple of guys on a set of benches further down the sidewalk, but I just thought they may have been trying to encourage me to sing on! Then my pride was put into check.
One of the guys got up, walked over to me, interrupted me in the middle of Michael Buble's "Everything" and Chris August's "Amen", and asked if I was homeless. When I said no, he immediately responded by yelling, "Well I am, and I don't need to hear your crap!" All I could think to do was start packing it up and find a new place to sing.

I liked the shade there and the sound of the rush of water from the fountains, so I moved down to the other end of the yard and started playing again. This time God was putting me in check. I could not play one song without considering that this man was who God placed in my life today, but I also could not get the question out of my head; "Why him, God?". I mean, he is homeless. He has a friend that's homeless with him. Who knows how they could attack me?

The more time went by, I thought about how hungry I was getting. I had not had anything to eat all day except for a self serve bowl of macaronie and cheese and a leftover Mountain Dew Baja Blast from Taco Bell. I needed to put something in me before going to work that night, but I was short on cash. I decided on a sweet tea from McDonald's because i had a dollar to spare. While I packed up Patricia, my ukulele, and drove off, the thought began to eat away at my mind; all I did was walk away.

Another thought pounded away in my head as I was sitting in the drive thru waiting for my sweet tea; there are two men in downtown Belleville that are sitting on park benches not getting a bite to eat, or a drink to sip on, today.

"FOR REAL, GOD?!? I barely have enough for my own drink, and you're wanting me to get another one to give to the very guy who cussed me out and told me my music was crap?!? NO!"

After getting my tea, and sipping on it for a bit, I pulled back up into the dive thru and bought a second one for the man on the bench.

"What the heck am I doing?"

I parked. I looked at my tea. I looked at the tea I just spent my last penny on (I had literally scraped what I could together of the change I still had underneath my Chick-fil-A cow that I keep as the protector of my spare change compartment in my car) to give to this homeless man. After a couple minutes, I began to make the drive back to the square.

The drive wasn't bad. It was when I got to the square that new thoughts started to attack.

"What are you going to say to him when you get there?"
"How is he going to react when he sees it is you walking up to him?"
"You only bought one, what's his friend going to think?"
"You don't have time for this, you have to be at work soon!"
"All the signs nearby say 'NO PARKING' and the ones around the corner are always taken."

Wouldn't you know it? All of those parking spaces around the corner were completely vacant.

I am walking toward the two men. I take a seat on another bench to plot out how I am going to approach them. I start to think about how pointless it is for me to be sitting here "plotting out" how to approach another human being. I pray for God to just bring him over to me, that way I would at least not have to deal with not having a second cup for his friend.

He gets up and walks toward me.
"...thanks for answering that prayer, God."

I cower. He passes me, circles the fountain, and returns to his friend. How's this for making me feel pathetic? During his trip around the fountain, he stopped to think about taking a drink from it, then went inside a building in hopes to find a drinking fountain.

Alright. Enough is enough. I take the walk towards them. As I get close, the man sits up and looks me right in the eyes.

"I'm not sure what to say here, sir", glancing at both of them, "...but I'd like to apologize for interrupting your peace earlier with my music. I have this extra tea from McDonald's, and I don't know if you will have anything tonight or not, but it's yours if you'll have it."

I cannot begin to describe to you the smile that came upon this man's face, or the spirit that overflowed from him as he, with no hesitation, accepted that cup. To top it off, his friend already had a drink from a gas station nearby! Now they both had a drink of their own.

"No...", the man replied, "I should do the apologizing. It's been one of those days. I shouldn't have yelled at you...how long have you been playing that mandolin, or whatever it is?"

With a sigh of relief I said, "Around three years! It's a ukulele."

"I KNEW IT!", said the man's friend.

For the next ten minutes I was introduced to Bob and Rich, two guys that call the fountains of downtown Belleville, Illinois, their temporary home.

Bob has two sleeves of tattoos, both of which came from years in a penitentiary, and Rich is just a down-home kinda guy, full of knowledge about the life of the town. They both invited me to come and sing anytime I wanted, and gave me some tips as to when the best times to "catch the crowds" are. Apparently, Belleville has some good night life.

That night at work, I found out I had made a mistake about when the next pay day was, and I was receiving a check the next day! How's that for God providing? I am reminded of the first of the beatitudes we went through lat Wednesday night, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

God wants to provide for us, but we have to let go of what we hold so tightly to before He can put something new in our hands. Lord, give me a humble spirit.

What is your story?

Get On With Your Point

1 Samuel 16:1-13

God asks of Samuel, a prophet, to anoint a new king to take Saul's place because Saul has become corrupt. At the ceremony, Jesse comes forward with his sons to be considered. Samuel stands by as seven of Jesse's sons pass to show off their looks and talents. Once the show is over, God has made it clear that none of them are to be chosen. Since God has already said the new king would be anointed out of Jesse's sons, Samuel asks Jesse if there is one he didn't bring to the ceremony.

David was the youngest and tended the farm animals of the family. He was a shepherd. Bringing him in from the field took time. It meant traveling all the way back home, on foot, searching for him in the fields, cleaning him up at least halfway decent, and making the trip back. He was not in the same shape as a war soldier and probably would never model for Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch.

When Jesse finally returns with David, God nudges Samuel and says, "He's the one."

I wonder how many times the thought passed through Samuel's head that he wished God would just get on with the point, especially right when he got the nudge that he was to anoint David. How often do we try to rush God's timing without considering what God wants us to learn from it, or what others around us are learning from watching us?

You Have A Story: Granite City Park

I did not get to do much singing today. A) because I have caught a flu, virus, cold, strep throat (hoping not for this one!) or something else. I have never known the difference in those, nor do I really think I'd comprehend any word of it if you tried to explain them to me. So we'll just go with "I'm sick", and B) I wrote a letter to the parents of our youth ministry today asking for their support and prayer as we go forward, then spent five hours selling shoes at Journeys for Kidz!

So back on track tomorrow!

Yesterday was interesting. I talked with a few friends this morning about these experiences, and I am just now getting to write them out for everyone to read. I sang at a picnic table, under a shelter, in the city park of Granite City. I had the perfect view of the tail end of a life-size model airplane.

I am definitely feeling more and more comfortable singing in outdoor public places, but I did realize one thing I have yet to overcome: interaction. There were probably around 30-40 youth and families that God brought across my path that night, two of which included a skateboarder and a biker that stopped to listen for a bit, but when moments come where people stop to listen I find myself playing a song longer hoping not to strike a conversation.

THAT IS NOT GOOD!

I really want to get to know peoples' stories! I want to hear testimonies, struggles, prayer requests, and have church in the middle of wherever it may be! I cannot do that if I'm constantly avoiding the interaction.

I hope to learn from this, but also act on that experience as well, in the hope to break my fear of small talk and catch the amazing fire God's Holy Spirit is trying to spread through His people!

Investing Talents: St Louis, Forest Park Grand Basin

I have been extremely neglectful to my blog lately, and to my blog I apologize. So sorry blog. I totally have no intention on hurting your feelings.

Last week I started my daily challenge of choosing a different location every day to sing. Tuesday's adventure is highlighted in my previous post, check it or wreck it. Anyway, Wednesday was a work day for me and I ended up only having time to sing at the church before youth night. Thursday's rain prevented me from doing too much, but I was still able to practice in the church's fellowship hall. I know! I know! It was a fail attempt, but it helped me see I have to figure out how to go up against rainy days from now on.
Friday was cool. I decided the beautiful day was worthy of a day spent in Forest Park. After walking around the St Louis Zoo for some excersize, the Grand Basin felt fitting for a place to play music. The moment I sat down I was met by two smiling ladies. The fact that I cannot remember names is another hurdle I really need to have victory over, so I'll just do my best to describe them.
I was met first by an African American lady that had smile worth a thousand words. I want to say her name was Elaine, but I'm not certain. She was small in stature, but her spirit was overflowing. With her was her Voice Therapist, which I am fairly certain was named Laura. She was a much younger, lovely caucasian lady, and very quiet.
The one I'm calling Elaine asked me if I could sing her a song because she had just been given her certificate of graduation from her therapy course! It was a pleasure singing for her and congratulating her for her certificate. It was what happened after me singing that was the real joy; Elaine asked if she could share her voice and began singing A Capella a gospel song that completely blessed my socks off, which is hard to do because that day I was wearing "no shows", which are socks that wrap around your heel and toes and hide in your shoe. So for her to bless my socks off, they had to be pulled off of my feet and out from my Toms. Ok, so back to the story, her spirit that flowed from her soul really opened me up to have a blessed worship experience right there at the basin. We all have our stories, and Elaine will now be Investing her talent in a church choir, singing praises to our Lord! I am so humbled to be part of such a larger picture of the Body of Christ.

How are you investing the talent God has given you to care for?

Long Acre Park, Fairview Heights, Illinois

Well, today starts a new phase for me. Being influenced and inspired by one of my teens in youth ministry, I've felt led to take on a new mission statement of following music where it leads me and live, breathe, and love to sing. Every day I will find a new place to sing and share the music God lays on my heart, and blog about my adventures here. I love for you all to be in on where I am led in this journey!

Today, I decided to start simple. I went to the park next to the church, and found a concrete box, with a water spicket rising from it, to sit on. As i started to play, the music felt really uncomfortable and I sang fairly quietly - I've never been one to feel like I was interrupting someone's privacy, peace, and quiet. It occurred to me as I sang that I should have the confidence to feel like the music that is on my heart can set anyone's mood in any environment, especially when it praises and glorifies God! Once I let down my barriers and discomfort, God opened the doors for sharing.

While singing my cover of "Reign In Us" by Starfield, a man named Steve came up to me carrying two or three really big cameras. Out of nowhere he stepped up to me between the picnic shelters! He introduced himself as a photographer and reporter for the Belleville News Democrat; the largest running paper for this area. He asked me some questions about why I was doing this and jotted down some qoutes, then asked permission to take some pictures while I continued to play. After about half an hour, we shook hands and thanked each other, and he let me know this story would most likely be in the paper in the next day or three!

I share this to say this; God does not call us to embarrass ourselves, He calls us to be excited about the relationship we have with Him and desire others to experience that closeness and Love too! We are created to worship Him, and He gives us talents to care for while He builds His Kingdom. How are you investing yours?