What seems like a lifetime ago, way back in high school I was extremely involved with my youth group. It wasn’t always that way, trust me. It took many fights on Sunday mornings for me to get to church, but after a while, I enjoyed going. I began making friends and it became an important part of my life.
We went on summer trips, we went to Mazzio’s Pizza after church every Sunday night. We hung out at lock-ins. But the most influential part of my life was music. I was in the band, the church orchestra. It was at this time I began listening to Christian artists like DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline……and one of my favorites was the Newsboys.
These artists, I now know, where a part of God’s way of reaching out to me. A kind of outcast who only had a small group of friends, I listened to the Newsboys all the time in my car.
Years and years later, God would use the Newsboys again to get my attention. For those of you that don’t know my story, I decided God was telling me to go back to school after seeing the Newsboys perform in God is Not Dead 2 at the Grand Canyon University Arena. Through a series of other events, I knew when I saw them at that arena, God gave me my first assignment. I jumped on board without any question.
As a family we had already begun our move, changed churches, and God was already working in my family’s lives.
But now I sit here tonight, with my youngest about to fall asleep watching me type while my wife an oldest son are at a Newsboys concert. They are both what I would call new Christians. They recently accepted Jesus into their lives and were baptized.
And once again, the Newsboys are back in the picture. It’s funny how life comes full circle some times.
My point in this short story tonight is this…..the Newsboys have been performing for years. They have touched the lives of millions. They don’t know, when they go out on stage each night, whose lives they will touch. They don’t know what God is doing in that arena, but they do know God is there.
That’s how we should live our lives. Everyday we come into contact with countless individuals. What kinds of influence do we carry? Are we showing the love of Christ in our actions, or are we turning people away?
I hope and pray I am bringing people closer to Christ. I hope that I am helping those out there, who may not know Jesus, that there is a higher power that loves them and wants a relationship with them.
Jesus spoke of this in His sermon on the mount when he said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16, ESV).
The Newsboys keep coming back into my life…..and they have been involved in my salvation, God’s continuing purpose for me, and now my wife and son’s lives. Who would have thought all those years ago when I bought my first Newsboys CD, the one that apparently at some point I downloaded onto my phone where we would be today?
Let us all be cognizant of how we act on a daily basis. Let us shine Jesus’s light. Let us be that city on the hill. Let us bring those around us who don’t know Jesus closer to Him. Or in the least, let us allow Jesus to do all of those things through us.
As one of my favorite Newsboys songs so powerfully says:
You can’t assert
The kinda light that might persuade
A strict dictator to retire
Fire the army,
Teach the poor origami.
The truth is in,
The proof is when you hear your heart start asking
What’s my motivation?
And try as you may
There is no way
To explain the kinda change
That’d make an Eskimo renounce fur
That’d make a vegetarian barbecue hamster
Unless you can trace this about-face to a certain Sign
Make ’em wonder whatcha got.
Make ’em wish that they were not
On the outside looking bored.
Shine.
Let it shine before all men.
Let em see good works and then
Let em glorify the Lord.
It isn’t karma it sure ain’t fate
That would make a deadhead sell his van
Oprah freaks
And science geeks
A rationale that shall excuse this strange behavior
When you let it Shine
You will inspire the kind of entire turnaround
That would make a bouncer take ballet
Even bouncers who are unhappy
But out of the glare
With nowhere to turn
You ain’t gonna learn it on “What’s my line?”
Make ’em wonder whatcha got.
Make ’em wish that they were not
On the outside looking bored.
Shine.
Let it shine before all men.
Let em see good works and then
Let em glorify the Lord.
Tetelestai 
Thank you for stirring my spirit. Never stop writing. It is what you are meant to do. I will be following and sharing. God bless you Jody.
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