Food for Thought...

This morning was one of the most incredible mornings of my life. No exaggeration. The Lord is so amazing and that in and of itself is a tremendous understatement. Can I just say that I claim to know nothing but Christ's death, burial and resurrection? Thanks.

As some of you may or may not know...periodically I have been taking 7-10 day trips to Indiana once a month to finish up the self titled LEVEL 3:16 album due to be released December 28th. This process looks like 12-14 hour days, each day, in the studio. We are writing and recording...well for me, as the DJ, I am doing a little bit of everything. My day can look like MPD for hours, blogging, fan pages, producing, conceptualizing shows, practicing my mixing and scratching for hours with some occasional writing and recording.

This trip has been no different than the trips before other than the intense pressure there is in this session being the final recording session before the work is finished!

BUT...this morning, I was able to encounter the Lord in our time together like no other time before. We were talking about some of the most recent headlines on CNN and it lead to a very obvious observation of this "human condition" we are all born with. We all were kind of grieved at the state of our society until a split second later our grief was turned into thankfulness at the very thought of our own ability to be in similar states apart from the Lord and the power of His changing work on the Cross.

Not only did this cause me to reflect on my process in coming to the Lord and surrendering my life to Him but it caused me to think about the cost of that very decision. I AM A PRISONER OF THE GOSPEL. What does that mean? And when was the last time I thought about the implications of that in my day to day life? Honestly, it has been a long time. I have since enjoyed and pursued the benefits of being a Christian. Not just the eternal benefits but the earthly ones as well. Not necessarily referring to "things" but, you know, the presence of God and the fruit of the Spirit. This in NO WAY has been "wrong" but I was reminded today that not only should I be thinking about what I can obtain from a personal relationship with the Father through Christ...but also what liberties I can forfeit because of my personal relationship with the Father through Christ. All so that people can be pointed to the goodness and glory of God through my thoughts, words, and actions.

Otherwise, why am I hear if my life is not "showing off the glory of God in every area..."?

Until my next heartbeat,

KB

Roanoke and Back in 3 Days!

Home sweet home! I guess...! Last week I got to visit my home for 3 years, Roanoke, Virginia. You don't know how much you miss a place until you leave it. I mean really...I really do miss being on one side of Roanoke and 20 minutes later have gone around the entire city!! OK, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration...but really if I got all green lights I think I could make it around the city in 20 minutes. I really miss having no traffic to sit in just to go around the corner. I also miss only having 4 options of places to eat when I'm hungry. I liked being able to drive downtown and not have to stop for pedestrians. Oh, Roanoke, how I love thee!!

But this trip wasn't about reliving my favorite past-times, it was an opportunity to reconnect with the people I love and to share with others what God is doing. I found myself driving to Roanoke at 7-something in the morning, just for my GPS to take me to Richmond and THEN to Roanoke. As you can probably imagine, I was slightly frustrated mostly because I missed church. I did catch the last 30 minutes though but I guess that's the most important part, that's when the Gospel is shared.

I was able to reconnect with people I hadn't seen since May. I was extremely encouraged to know that there were people who had been praying for me, following my blog and following my page on Facebook. Who knew?!?! This, naturally, is acting as a motivation to update my blog all the more. In addition to being able to sit with people whom I had connected with during my time living in Roanoke, I was also able to connect with students whom I'd served during my time there.

I was able to visit Patrick Henry High School during the lunch periods. This was a highlight because during my time living in Roanoke, I visited this school almost every day as a means to build relationships with students and tell them about Jesus. I missed the smell of high school cafeteria food...(ok...not really:-))

If I had to sum it up in one word, my time in Roanoke was WONDERFUL. The climax was the dance party Wednesday evening. Just imagine...60 to 80 high school students gathered in one space, ready to dance and have fun to Christ-centered music. It was surreal seeing the very same students that I had "done life" with stepping up and being leaders. It made me proud to see the once young freshman boys now grown into mature graduating seniors. It was an honor to witness the growth that had taken place over the summer. Some of these students had really taken hold of the Gospel and wanted to start impacting their school and communities for Christ.

Though my trip was short lived, it was refreshing to see my family and friends who have impacted my life in more ways than can be expressed. I don't know when I'll be able to visit Virginia's best kept secret again, but until then, they will forever be in my heart and also in my prayers.

Until my next heartbeat,

K.B.