It’s Friday night, and this evening finds me once again hundreds of miles from home. It’s camp season, and we are honored to be working with our friends from FBC Van Buren, Arkansas. We (members of the Kevin Williams Band) have driven from Mississippi and Tennessee to the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks area in Missouri to help lead worship for their annual kids camp. We’ve actually lost count of just how many years we’ve been coming here…it’s either year six or seven!
It was a long day of driving, but we have a blast when we get together. There’s always laughter, and always music being played and discussed and played some more. And while it is fun, the travel can be grueling. But the work we get to do is so rewarding…I wish each of you could experience just a taste of what it’s like.
Hence this blog entry. Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas I got the idea to write an article for each day of this camp. Some entries will have more substance than others…which invariably means some days won’t! Just trying to set the bar of expectation accordingly.
So today was filled with music. Between the four of us, we have a pretty wide variety of musical influences, and it’s fun to be exposed to new music or old favorites long forgotten.
A song by Katy Perry was played at some point, leading to a discussion of the merits of her music and artistry. It’s well documented that Katy started her career in Christian music before becoming a pop hit maker. But what I didn’t know is that she is the product of a fairly extreme Charismatic/Pentecostal upbringing. ‘Secular’ music was of course forbidden, and many issues and topics regarding our modern culture were not even discussed, much less allowed. Legalism was the rule of the day…
Katy’s world was rocking along (with little to no rocking!), until she discovered the music of Alanis Morisette. Here was music unlike anything Katy had heard. Raw and powerful, with lyrics sung and sometimes shouted straight from the heart. Katy has described how from that point on, she would sing the truth of her heart and soul.
While I do like some of Katy’s tunes, I’m not a diehard fan. But I could not help but be moved by her story. I’d like to think that I write and play from the heart…but I know full well that I’ve erected walls of protection around it. And these walls have inhibited the flow of passion I long to saturate my music.
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I’ve got a hammer
And a heart of glass
I got to know right now
Which walls to smash
A heart of glass…fragile, to be sure and easily smashed. But glass can be beautiful and transparent. Clear and bright, becoming a lens to magnify the brightness of the Spirit. But I know I have walls…big and tall and strong, and made by me to withstand every onslaught.
But the walls must come down if my heart is to sing with the passion placed within…
It’s going to be an interesting week. Hope you come along for the ride!
GV