Honesty – You Are, Are You, I Am

Posted on May 11, 2012 by admin

I’ve started writing for the next album a little bit, basically a heart beat and then just start writing as the songs come. Sometimes songs are sparked by a passage, sometimes a chord or a sound, sometimes an experience. It’s an interesting thought though as I have been contemplating the idea of honesty in the Christian Life. Some days I want so badly to make sure people think that I am strong and have it all together. Don’t we all? I mean, who wants the embarrassment of our failures, who wants to really learn a hard lesson? So we sweep them under the rug or quietly walk through life never confessing our brokenness. Or how about the times when we really just want someone to notice us and so we share a hurt, that really needs healing and prayer, but then we go so far overboard with it, that we’re really just saying “look at me… notice me” by using the story to just get attention. We’d rather not talk about how we sometimes let those scars be sources of pride. Or how about our own struggle with doubts, you know… the ones that no Christian should have… but I sometimes do? There is a strong desire to hide from these, a strong fear of what others will say and think, possibly even more so for those of us who identify as “Christian” more than we identify as “Son or Daughter of the king”. I want to crack open this tension a little bit in the next album and the idea is based on three things we will hear from the lives and words of the followers of Jesus.

You Are. So often we will say “You Are: Holy, Mighty to Save, Emmanuel, my Salvation, our Rock, The Savior from Sin, the Source of Life, Joy, Peace, Hope… It’s throughout scripture, even creation sings the praise and glory of God. According to Isaiah 43:21 we are “the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” It is a natural desire for human beings – a desire and purpose to Worship. Of course we all worship many different things, but at the heart of True worship is God coming to us and his people responding to him and about him to the world around us, we sing YOU ARE!!!

Are You. But then reality of sin hits and we are blindsided by the resultant pain of the sin of others. Or the realities of a fallen world in natural disasters, or of sudden illness or of long sufferings. In the midst of those moments we ask “where ARE YOU… How ARE YOU… When will/ARE YOU… Even Jesus on the cross cried out “Why Have you (Are you) forsaken me? We wonder “Are You really there?” Recall to mind the father who exclaimed pleaded with Jesus to heal his boy “if you can”. Jesus said “everything is possible for him who believes” and the man exclaimed ” I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief”. Our choices, our words, our bank accounts, our stories and our lives reflect this constant question “are you”.

I Am. The famous name God gave to himself when Moses asked what name he should use when he told the Israelites who sent him. God said “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I am has sent me to you” What a fitting name. When we sing “You are Holy” God says “I Am”, when we ask him “Where Are You”, he says “I Am Here” (will never leave you nor forsake you). And it is ONLY in the power and faith of I AM, that we can even say “You Are” in the first place. Without I AM, there is no YOU ARE… we can’t even ask the question ARE YOU. Jesus said “I AM the way, the truth and the life”.

These three ideas are at the core of our lives as people who call themselves Christ followers. It demands a simple honesty and the story of the Bible and the stories in the scriptures are filled with this tension. So fitting that Jesus says in the second to last verse of the Bible “Yes, I Am coming soon”.

I’ll have more updates on the writing for the new album, but for now, thanks for reading. God’s blessings as you sing of his Great Love in your family, work, church and community!

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The Temple “For My Name”

Posted on May 11, 2012 by admin

I have to still write it out a bit more, but reflecting on New Years resolutions a number of scripture verses have conspired to open my eyes (there’s that Holy Spirit again). We look at our lives and we hope for change and want to work for change, which is fine I get it. But one of the things that hit me in 1 Kings chapter 8 was a spot in the scripture where God is remarking about how the temple in Jerusalem was built “For My Name” He says it over and over. When we lose our identity, or when we want to exchange it for another one, we sometimes look in the mirror and feel quite lost and wonder, what this life thing is all about. But here is where it gets exciting. In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Paul says this ” 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” Because of the work of the Holy Spirit living inside us, we are that temple and we were built for the name. Isaiah 43:6-7 says this “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth – 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”… and 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

I love it, the purpose of life summed up, lived out with such rich history. The temple, that God himself praised because it was built “For My Name”, because of Jesus death and ressurection, we are made into the temple built “For My Name” – a person who is called BY that name, created for HIS glory, that we would proclaim his praise. In Him, Love Him, For Him – in all things Through Him – Isaiah 43:19 says “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Now THAT is exciting and I hope we will be encouraged in our identity in the new year and for all time!

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Encounter

Posted on January 23, 2012 by admin

Hi Friends!
Did you ever see a movie that left such an impression on you that you just had to tell somebody? You got out of the theater (or maybe even during the movie), you had to start tweeting about it, calling people up, facebooking friends about it. Did you ever have a life experience with your family that left you reliving it with a big smile on your face over and over again? Or perhaps someone ripped you off or left you slighted… ever go to a friend and just have to tell them the whole story about what happened to you? It’s interesting that in this culture we tend to wear what happens to us in visual and verbal ways. When we have an encounter it leaves us moved. We have a natural reaction to what just happened, sometimes good, sometimes not so good – but somehow or other, we let people know.

One of the things that we tend to do, living in the crazy pace of December, is just soak up information. What time is the mall open till? When is that basketball practice? If this happens at work now, can I get home in time… Information, helps us make the decision so I can do as much as and as efficiently as possible. While information becomes the driving way to do life, it all too often leaves us failing to have a real “Encounter”… with people and with Jesus. My prayer for all of us this December… this Advent… this Christmas… is that we don’t simply take in the information about Jesus, stuff it away and check it off our list, but that God rocks our world so greatly that we have an encounter with the Savior, our King of Kings, our Redeemer, our Promised Messiah our “God With Us”. The kind of encounter where we just have to tell someone about it, how it moved us, how it gave us peace, how it challenged us, how it rocked our pride and our depression and our busyness.

That there was ONE moment in this time of preparing, that we sat in humble quietness with the God who made us, who holds us, who loves us despite our many imperfections and the sin that can make our lives so ugly… the God who gives us real life… That from that quiet encounter, causes in our hearts a crescendo of praise with an Amen, an Alleluia that overflows into our work places, our families, our neighborhoods, our churches such that the people around us also encountered Jesus, maybe even through us bringing Jesus to them. As we live for a risen and reigning King who has told us “Behold I am Coming Soon – my reward is in my hand”, I’d love to invite you to take a look at John chapter 4 and the Encounter the woman at the well had with her Savior and how she responded to it. May you and I encounter our Jesus now and every day.

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Peace and Change

Posted on September 12, 2011 by admin

Hey All!
Happy Labor Day and just like that welcome to fall at least for us in the north. Even in the south where it’s still way too hot, you can feel it in the air and you can see it when you look at your watch or your phone and realize it seems a lot darker than it used to be at that same time a week ago. Even the hot weather seems eerily different as the seasons begin to turn. And it’s often when change begins, of which we can’t avoid, that we start to really look hard at where we’ve been and where we are right now, trying to understand what the change means for our future. I wonder if God has set the seasons in place to remind us how life on this earth does not stay the same, but that despite that change, the reality of the cross and empty grave… Jesus Victory over sin and death, means that the Love of God does not change.

There are a lot of stories being shared in the wake of an autumn day that changed life in America for many of us. For my generation 9/11 was a defining moment and it says that though the changing seasons remain a predictable occurrence, some things don’t. I remember how in my heart I wanted peace in the worst way, to somehow put aside the pain and disbelief of what had happened and what it would mean for the future. I wanted revenge, there was an anger and nothing I could really do with it, there was a fear and nowhere to hide from it. In the early moments I could say I had courage, but with no enemy to fight and with no real tangible way to help, I could only sit without peace. I recall vividly going to the grocery store in Eden Prairie, MN at about 11pm that night. We lived near Flying Cloud Airport and were pretty close to Minneapolis airport. As I got out of the car, I was amazed at how quiet everything was with all the planes grounded… except one. A loan F16 fighter jet that was flying patrol high over the Twin Cities… could that bring us peace?

When I wrote the song “The Child Remains” I reflected at the idea of change and that no matter how old we get or what happens to us, there is still a child inside each of us that is looking for the peace we felt in the loving arms of a mom and dad, or other loved one. Children were created for that place and you and I will spend a lifetime and millions of dollars to get back there… and we’ll never be able to get what we’re really looking for except when we climb into the arms of Jesus. It was he who told his Disciples, shortly before their own personal 9/11, when he would go to the Cross – “I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace. In this world, YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE, but take heart I HAVE OVERCOME the world”. My faith sort of melted in the days after 9/11, but the steady call of God’s word to my heart brought to life the promises of God who reminds us that because of sin, this world will bring trouble. But while we are in it, he promises never to leave or forsake those who, by faith, trust in him. And he promises that our lives are more than living and dieing, that we were in fact, Children made to be held in the arms of a Father who’s love never changes and in whose arms those who know Jesus will spend eternity. I pray we might all find the peace Jesus talked about… the peace that comes when we are “In Him”.

Mike

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What’s in a review?

Posted on August 17, 2011 by admin

Recently I asked a website that caters to Christian musicians to have a listen to the latest CD release to get something of a more official review. It’s always interesting to get the reaction of other people, sometimes you get some criticism that helps take the next step, sometimes you get an encouragement that confirms a thought or a sentiment and other times you get critical comments that aren’t always that helpful. As an indie, we usually have to pay for people to take their time and write something up so I felt comfortable investing in this site, which seems to do quite a bit of music reviewing.

So for those of you who are now curious, I hope you can take some time to check out the review and the interview questions too.

View the Review Here…

Let me know what you guys think. Honestly, I’m not all that surprised. When I was 27, I knew it all too and every one sounded the same, there was nothing original and most of the “original” music, wasn’t very good (I’ve heard my first album and it wasn’t very good ;>)…). A lot of folks have told me not to be bothered by it and I just want to let you know that I’m really not. Some of you may have the same opinion and others may have different thoughts. It’s part of the rollercoaster of being an artist and putting your “art” on display for people to take it in and also to sit in judgment on, after all I do the same thing to other artists as well.

So here’s my question – how do you handle criticism (constructive or other), how would you like to mature in how you handle it?

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Quick thought on “the Journey”

Posted on July 29, 2011 by admin

God’s been speaking to me a lot lately… A LOT and one of the the biggest ideas came while working out the mission statement at the campus ministry that I work with. The idea that Life is a Journey, not a destination, is probably one of the biggest things for me of late. We tend to see life in a series of destinations… Graduate from High School, Go to College, Get a Job, Get Married, Have a family etc… Even in our daily schedules we see these things we HAVE to do and they become destinations and we lose sight of the journey. Well the same thing happens in our walk as a Christian and I feel that even church becomes a destination, all too often something that we go and do for an hour, then move on to the next destination.

But I don’t believe that’s what real life is about, especially a Christian life. At The Point, we’re fond of saying that our desire is to “Love Jesus More” in everything we do and when people ask us how that happens, our line is “In Him, Love Him, For Him”, because that’s what the journey of real life really is. You can translate it this way “In Him – our personal relationship with him – our time in God’s word, our quiet time in prayer, our praise and worship, corporately and privately… Love Him, Jesus said if you love me you’ll obey my commands – summarized nicely into Love God, Love others – so Loving God often has the component of serving people… For Him – For Jesus name, for his glory, not my own, not my church’s, not my ministry – but for the name above all names.

When we wake up to balancing these things – In Him, Love Him, For Him – I believe God has been showing me that THIS is really the JOURNEY of life when we’re in this place on a daily basis. We start to see the world around us differently. Are we spending time with Jesus, really with him? Are we seeing him in the conversations and situations of our day? Are we quiet enough to hear the Holy Spirit recall to us the scriptures bound on our hearts? We start to see life differently… in fact we start to see LIFE the way it was intended. Even Church no longer is a destination, it’s one of the highpoints in the journey of our life that week.

So God has really been showing me the Journey rather than the little destinations that I tend to focus on.  How about you?

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Reflections after a thunderstorm

Posted on August 21, 2010 by admin

One of the biggest thrills as an indie artist is to have a chance to play on “the big stage”.  Really not much changes in reality and it doesn’t really have a huge impact on your following when you play in these really big festivals, but there’s something about being “back stage” at a major festival – behind the biggest platform on the grounds.  Our chance came this year as a finalist in a band contest and our opportunity to play the Main Stage at Lifest was indeed a thrill.  But like life so often does to us, it came with some surprises.  Our opportunity wound up rushed due to thunderstorms in the area and we had to cut our song short, the last of the bands didn’t even get to play before the shelf cloud and 50 mph winds tore through the festival grounds.  Being on the stage was awesome, standing in front of all Skillet’s gear and pyrotechnics, but a quiet, short conversation with another artist waiting out the rain delay is what I may remember most.

Todd Agnew has been a favorite artist of mine, in large part because of his genuine humanness and his humility.  Yes, he’s got that unique voice and his own writing style, but it’s the way he carries himself in his life.  Online, interviews, music, TV etc… he comes across as the kind of guy we should want to be.  N. T. Wright, a bishop in England, wrote that we were made to be human, which was in the likeness of God.  Sin is something that makes us less human, obedience and living in God’s Grace and living out God’s love, makes us more human – and Todd seems to me to be that kind of guy.

I had a chance to thank him for the way he carries himself and for his artist ministry while we were waiting for the stage managers to make decisions on whether the concerts would go on as scheduled or how things would be moved around.  We’re standing on the steps that lead off the main stage at Lifest while we watch stage hands squeegee off the stage and talk amongst themselves.  The backstage area is basically dirt… now mud and puddles at this point and people are gingerly walking about it trying to stick to whatever grass there is to avoid getting too full of mud.  As we’re talking he sort of casually mentions a comment from one of his bandmates about how they are thankful they are a pretty laid back group of guys, because if they weren’t, they’d be pretty upset about getting mud on their nice shoes and clothes (which I could definitely relate to)

That’s the funny thing about Todd, he’s so laid back that if he showed up in his Pajamas to do a concert, nobody would think anything of it, they’d just say “bring it on”.  Before we finished our conversation a stage manager interrupted us and basically had to get Todd moving onto a different stage where they were moving his concert.  As he walked down the stairs, he stopped, turned around and stepped up a few steps to shake my hand and say thank you.  After that he was gone.  A short time later, I saw him and his bandmates walking through the muddy backstage road to get to the new stage their concert was to be relocated to.

That conversation and image is cemented in my mind and every time I reflect on it I have to ask… “would we… would I, be willing to get my nice shoes dirty… and walk through the mud to get to the opportunity that was in front of me?“  I think it’s part of what human beings are meant to do in the worship of their creator.  It’s nice to walk on the sidewalk, but if the opportunities take you off road and into the mud, be sure that God will bless you as you go in his name for his glory.    Be blessed – 1 Peter 4:7-11!

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When There Are Too Many Words…

Posted on January 24, 2010 by admin

Written 1/24/2010

They say (I’m not really sure who “they” are, but I’ve heard “them” say this), that some people talk to think… and some people think to talk. As a story teller type person, I like words… As a type A personality, I tend to like words A LOT… and too many times, there are probably a few too many of my own words. Believe it or not, it’s not because I like to hear myself talk, I do enough of that to myself as it is and even I get tired of my talking, but there are many times when I can’t put into words the depth of what I mean to say, especially when I am writing something out. There are so many dots to connect and I can see them ALL, but it takes a lot of words to put them ALL together in some way that people can READ without falling sleep… HEY – wake up!

So when this happens, it is good to have someone who understands an economy of words and I have a close friend who is excellent with words. Jason Elkins is the editor of an online Christian magazine called “Transparent Christian Magazine” http://www.transparentchristianmagazine.com/ and it was one of these quirky emails that I got from him a few years ago now. “Hey Mike, this is Jason and you’ve been on my mind a lot lately and I was wondering if there was something that I can pray with you about” That is the FIRST time that a Christian has actually done that, I never forgot it. Last year at the CIA Summit, Jason, Belinda Jane and I were out for dinner talking about some experiences and I shared with him the turning point of my ministry.

Jason has taken my story and pared it down into something that says what I wanted to, in about half the words. It’s a story of being broken and healed in the little town of Murphy, NC. For many of you who have thanked me for my ministry, this is the moment that God really got through to me and put HIS ministry in action. Please Read on and then spend some time with the rest of Transparent Christian Magazine. It’s a place to make you think as you experience the stories and life experiences of others willing to be transparent about their lives.

Here’s the article:
http://www.transparentchristianmagazine.com/2010/01/25/1000-miles-for-an-audience-of-seven-spiritual-lessons-from-the-road-mike-westendorf/

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“Undefined”

Posted on October 28, 2009 by admin

Posted 10/28/09

Undefined is one of those funny words to me.  Maybe it’s because I use the “Undo” button in Word/Excel documents a lot and I just like the “Un” part of it.  Several years ago when I left my first weather company I knew that I was being led to do other things, music being a big one.  I had a great time with that company and I am grateful for the opportunities they gave me at Weather Eye.  An opportunity to grow as a leader and as a communicator.  Like any job it wasn’t always easy and there were stresses and strains and long hours like everybody has.  But in that job I was THE weather guy on about 200 radio stations across the country.  People knew who I was and enjoyed the weather forecasts/information that I provided along with some of the silliness of radio.  But like all things, they run their course and I knew it was time to move on.

That’s where it got interesting for me.  While I was at peace about leaving, I was going to a LOT of unknown.  I found myself working at Target and music as we had the time, all while hoping for an unknown, either work at UW-Milwaukee or The Weather Channel… or… Target…

I remember vividly the feeling that much like a river, my life had been defined by the high ground around me.  I was a river running in a well defined bank, flowing toward whatever was ahead.  The problem is that eventually the river eventually meets the sea – what happens to the river???  That’s what I felt like.  So much of what defined who I was, was suddenly gone.  And it left me sort of trying to figure out who I am and what would define my life now?

I wrote the refrain to this song after a songwriting trip to Nashville, TN on the long ride home, struggling to put the verses into words, while I nailed down the refrain.  The second verse came from a crazy series of events that reminded me how loss can leave us feeling numb… undefined, like we’re not sure who we are anymore.  I woke up from a bad dream, losing a part of my family.  I woke up and went into the kitchen, grabbed a pen and whatever I could write on and just started writing everything that came to mind in the vividness of the memory while it lasted.   I went back to bed.

That morning, I witnessed a car accident on block in front of me.  Everyone survived, but the tear streaked face of the little girl and her mother holding her will be engraved in my mind, while the kid who burned the red light was clearly in another world, trying to fully understand what had just happened.  10 minutes later, another near accident happened right in front of me and to top it all off on our way to visit an elderly couple with my kids that night, a dog ran out in front of my van.  Scream, screech, bump.  Thankfully the dog bounced, but I’m thinking to myself “OK… OK, I got it, second verse, I know what it is, let me get home and write it”.

I was left with how quickly life changes and how in those moments who we think we are, becomes nothing like the person we feel we are.  Hard to recognize the person in the mirror because we don’t feel like that person after experiencing the loss of the things that defined us.  A spouse, a job, wealth, health, family… remove any of those key things and it’s hard for us to feel like the same person.

The message of this song is that we are not truly defined by those things, but rather defined by the love of a God who never changes.  Though we age and we lose pieces of our lives, God’s promise, love and hope never change.  When we realize we were made in his image, meant to love him and be loved by him – when we hold onto our birthright as a child of God through Jesus Christ, we will never lose our identity, we will never be “undefined” – because “By Your Love, I am Defined”.

In all times, be defined by the God who knows you, loves you, empowers you.

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“You Are Amazing”

Posted on September 15, 2009 by admin

Posted 9/15/09

Several years ago, I saw something on a devotional that hit me hard the day I read them.  One a comment, the other a short prayer.  The comment was from John Bunyan who made this remark: “If we have not quiet in our minds, outwards comforts will do no more for us than a golden slipper on a gouty foot.”  The prayer for that day was simply “  Thank You, God, for what you have graciously chosen to give to me”.

These two comments have been sitting on my computer desk for the better part of 7 years when a simple refrain jumped into my head that echoed this simple prayer “Oh Lord, thank you, for what you’ve given me”.  From that refrain, I started thinking about the things that I have come to be thankful for… physical traits, the eyes to see, the rising sun, the light of the new day… for the spiritual blessings, the day we were made new in Christ, the time of Grace that we live and the joy of so many simple things…  for eternal significance and the sacrifice of Jesus that gives us a confident life now, here and the promise of a life after our body’s physical death…

Thanks to the support of so many people who have bought CD’s/shirts, the churches and venues that have sponsored this ministry, we were able to take this song to studio musicians in Nashville, TN.  Some of these guys have played on the biggest names around, they are built to do songs in a radio style and that is part of what we paid for… something that had today’s “sound”.  The end result is what you have heard and hopefully will hear more of.

The cool thing about this song is that it has taken life in three different identities.  As an upbeat live/fun concert song – as a praise/worship/radio type song and later on this year, as an acoustic psalm.

After getting the radio version of it back, I couldn’t help but think that this is a fitting song for all of us, no matter where we are in life.  “O give thanks unto the Lord”… for what?  For so many things.  When I close my eyes for the last time, I pray that I will continue to have the mind to look back over my lifetime of blessing in dark moments and in the joy filled moments and say “O Lord, thank you, for what you’ve given me”

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