Music is incredibly powerful. Just hearing a few notes of certain songs can take me back to a specific moment in time. When I close my eyes...while listening to the song...I can ‘see' the moment...feel the moment...and sometimes even smell the moment.
Last week, I came across a CD that I have not played in years. I slid it into the CD player and waited for the first song to start. Hearing the first note of the song, I was immediately transported out of the present moment and back to a day long ago...a really, really hot day in Atlanta, Georgia. It was the summer of 1994.
As I had done for several consecutive years, I took a large group of teenagers to Six Flags over Georgia for Atlanta Fest '94...a Christian music festival. For three days, we camped on the grounds in unrelenting heat...listened to live Contemporary Christian bands day and night...and played in the theme park between concerts. We had a blast!
On the second day...standing close to the stage in an amphitheater packed with 20,000 people...I waited for the concert to begin. The Kry was a relatively new band on the Christian music scene, but I had previously heard a few songs from their debut CD. I was excited to finally hear them play live.
After a few upbeat songs to get the crowd moving, the lead singer announced that they were going to slow things down and play some of their personal favorites. Accompanied by acoustic guitars, The Kry sang the song...'I Believe in You'. As I listened...standing there...with the Atlanta sun shining down on me...I closed my eyes and lifted my face toward the heavens. It was the first time I had heard this song...but it became my personal anthem...a proclamation of my commitment to live my faith out loud...a declaration of my willingness to go wherever God directs my feet. When they sang the chorus the second time... "From the mountain tops to the depths of the sea...I will always trust in You. Though the world may label me a fool...I believe in You"...I sang those words to Jesus Christ...my Lord and Savior...as a promise.
Almost fourteen years have passed since that day in the summer of 1994, but the words of this song mean more to me today than the first time I heard them. Everyday, I understand a little bit more what it truly means to "take my cross and go against the flow...to deny myself...to lose my life to gain it all." No...life is not a bed of roses. How do you have faith when all you see around you is desperation and despair? How do you hang on when you can barely find the strength to make it through the day? How do you believe when you are consumed by fear? How? By holding onto the hand of the ONE who created you...the ONE who has walked in your shoes...the ONE who will never leave you and never forsake you.
"Some say I'm crazy...that I have no reason to believe in You. The whole world can try to bring me down, but I'll stand on the promise that no one can take me away from You. From the mountain tops to the depths of the sea...I will always trust in You. Though the world may label me a fool, I believe in You!"
Kry - I Believe In You Lyrics
More Kry Lyrics...
*****This post is dedicated to my beautiful friend, Julie Neerings. As I was writing this post, I received an email from Julie. She took this photo a few weeks ago while she and I were talking on the phone. She told me that the sun was shining into her office window so brightly...that she wished that I could see it. I asked her to take a photo and send it to me. I cannot imagine a more appropriate photo for this post. Thank you, Julie! I love you, my friend!!!*****
Written and Posted by:
Elizabeth Nieves - Broker, REALTOR® -- The Elizabeth Nieves Realty Group @ Keller Williams (A Bilingual Real Estate Team serving Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill NC and surrounding areas.)
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