truth

I am not strong
I am not wise
in that moment I fall to the ground and close my eyes
I hope for the best
and hope, alone.

I am not there yet
I want to be
but every time we get there
I fail the same way
my trademark

I hate that you’re the victim
this is not my desire
I never aimed for this
but I was too scared
to step up and speak.

but it’s not as easy as you think it is
my world’s been rocked, to the core
what else is left? This is all I know.
and the only thing I’m here for is compromised by my fear
what remains?

God, Your word pierces through me
but other words follow right behind Yours
words of truth chase the Truth into the depths of my soul
and they’re left to sit together, both true
but in complete contrast

the inward battle is on.

Lord, have your victory. Please.

pod x3 live VS m13

Any guitarists out there?

I’m tired of having to wonder why my pedals are messing up, why I’m getting humming, why the power supplies are messing up, or trying to change things on my delay pedal while being in the middle of leading a song. I want to get one of these pedals, but they seem pretty similar, and both go for $500 new. I’m sure you all know more about this than me, so help! Which one should I get?!

OR

can you take…miii…hiiiiaaaahhh!!!

Creed. Reunion Tour 2009. Virginia Beach. August 22.
How much would you pay for a ticket?
Or
How much would you have to be paid to take a ticket?

My Cry To You

It’s here! The CDs came in the mail last week, and we are ready to give away a free copy of our newest worship album, My Cry To You, to every single person who walks in the door of Aletheia Church on Sunday morning. Everything is so quality; Graham did an amazing job making these songs sound so good and Ace did some sweet album art. It’s so awesome to see this idea that we had become a reality so quickly!

One of the songs from the album is already available for listening at the Aletheia website. The song “Shape My Heart” was posted about a week ago for you guys to go check out. A little known fact: this song has in interesting story.

About two years ago, my good friend Jon Carolino let me hear a song that he had been working on for a little while. He had recorded some guitar parts and had some drums in the background, and asked me if I’d like to try writing lyrics and melody for it. It was either that day, or the next day, I wrote the lyrics and melody that became “Shape My Heart.” After writing it, Jon said that he liked it, but it just wasn’t quite what he had in mind. So, with that, we all just kind of put the song on hold for a while. It never got talked about, we never tried to do anything different to it, we just let it sit. Until about three months ago.

I thought it’d be fun to teach Shape My Heart to our congregation here at Aletheia, just to see what the reaction would be. So, I gathered the band together and we started learning the song. I first time we played it was on a Wednesday night and I remember the response we got. The church was stoked. This song hit so hard with us, and we just wanted to keep singing it. It was crazy for me, because here I saw the Lord take a song that neither Jon nor I thought we’d ever finish, and turn in into a song that became the anthem of our church that night. SO AWESOME!

So, J Car, thanks for writing that music and praise God for Fruity Loops. Yous da bests.

pancakes

the girls at Narnia are making pancakes for everybody this morning cause it’s Brian and JoJo’s birthday. i’m thoroughly excited. end of transmission.

ASHER!

the ministry house got a puppy!

thumbs down to tuesday, biggie ups to everything else!

this past week has been pretty crazy. i’ve had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but the Lord showed up this week for sure.

Easter was insane. we saw an amazing number of people come out to our service, by far the biggest Easter service we’ve ever had. it was so good to see how many people came out because so many people worked so hard on getting the word out to students on campus at JMU. it was a moving, powerful service and it was even cooler because my parents (and granny!) came up for it. I loved being able to spend Easter with them, even though it wasn’t at our home in virginia beach.

moving on…

tuesday was the worst day i’ve had in a very long time. it started with picking classes, in which I wasn’t able to get the classes that I needed and it immediately brought me down. next, I took an exam that I had really studied for and felt really great about but ended up getting a C. not what I had in mind. after that, I got up to the church and noticed that I was so focused on the Easter service that I hadn’t given enough time to planning the sets for Wednesday and Sunday of this past week. so, when we got to practice, no one was really prepared since I had only sent the songs out a day before. of course, practice was rough. I was so easily torn down and just felt like a horrible leader. but, the day didn’t end that badly, because Chelsea brought me Greenberry’s after practice. (thanks Chels)

wednesday.
the service was great. our numbers are STILL growing! it amazes me! this time of the year, our services always get smaller and smaller because the students seem to start getting busier and have more things to do. but, the exact opposite has happened. people are making church a priority. people are making fellowship, education and study of God’s Word a priority in their lives, it’s awesome. Jay Sullenger gave an amazing message that really encouraged me and just lifted me up.

the rest of the week was good. we went on an awesome camping trip as a Haus this weekend and it couldn’t have been better. we spent the days shooting shotguns, making food over the fire and just spending awesome time together and great time with the Lord. it was nice to finally get to spend some good time together with the boys…as always

camping weekend, sucka!

we’re leaving in an hour for the Treehaus Camping Trip. say what! anyways, we’re really excited and stoked that it’s 70 degrees this weekend.

a lot of huge things have happened recently, including an amazing Easter service, and horrible day on Tuesday, and an amazing end to the week. there’s alot to write about, but not much time. I’ll holla back with some updates early next week.

hope you all have a great weekend! biggie ups!

-cam

I’m Ripped.

On Monday night I shattered an ice tray at the girls’ house. I was trying to get the ice to pop out, but I pushed it too hard, and it just broke in half…but the ice cubes came out then…so it was still a good night.

Yesterday morning I got in the shower. Everytime I get in the shower, I grab the shower head and push it to the side, so when I turn the shower on, the cold water doesn’t spray on me. Yesterday, when I grabbed it, I snapped it right off the pipe. So, now we just have a jet stream of water that actually hurts a little bit when it hits you. Also, it sprays so hard, that the water ricochets off you and flies over the shower door and completely soakes the floor….

TREEHAUS!!!

The Sound of Your Grace

I don’t know what it is about this song.

Every time we play it, and every time the old band played it, this song just blew up, more than any other song ever would.

I was talking to a few of the dudes tonight about the song and the impact that it has on this congregation. We’re teaching a new Steve Fee song on Easter, that is just a rock anthem that celebrates the resurrection. We were planning on ending the morning with it, but after thinking about it more, I realized that this Steve Fee is not the song that lights this congregation on fire.

I have no clue what it is about The Sound Of Your Grace. Is it the lyric, is it the melody, is it the drive? I have no idea. But for some reason, each time it’s played, I see something that I never see.

When the instruments fade out, and Speedy or Dan would just start ripping up some drums, you can hear yelling and cheering, and you just experience people getting excited for what’s next. The congregation knows what’s coming.

“You are my Savior, my Redeemer. You are great, You reign from high above.
You are my shelter, You’re my healer. You are love. You are love.”

What is it about these words!? Again, I don’t know.

Is it the fact that it’s OUR song? We are the only church singing this song. It was written by us, and for us to use to glorify God. When we sing this song, we automatically feel so connected. It’s OUR song. It’s OUR song of praise to God. Is that what makes it so special?

Who knows?

But, I do know this. If you’re at Aletheia Church on Easter, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Just be ready to see a different side of this church when we start this song. I am so pumped. So pumped.