Striking the Rock

I've been thinking about the old testament story of Moses striking the rock recently and i've made some connections that have never occurred to me before. It is really easy to look at this story in Numbers chapter 20 and not get it. It appears just utterly strange that God would tell Moses to go talk to a rock and then Moses gets mad and strikes the rock so then God punishes this brilliant leader Moses by not allowing him to enter into the promised land.

Certainly after all that Moses has been apart of with the Israelites doesn't he deserve to walk in the land of milk and honey? I watched a History channel documentary on Moses one time and they were asking the same questions. It went something like this "Why would this God have such an immature response to Moses simply hitting a rock? It appears petty and must be a cover up for a more serious offense of Moses"

When we look at this story with our earthly eyes certainly we would be agreeing with the History channel. I would never question God and what He chooses to do but this scenario seems unfair to Moses and raises some questions.

Now lets look at this passage within the new covenant and what we have with Christ. We know that Jesus is a solid rock, a firm foundation and the chief cornerstone. He is the living water and the well that he draws from will make a man never thirst again. So when God tells Moses to turn and speak to the rock for water God is not simply doing some random miracle. God is showing His people a picture of what is to come with the Christ. He is the solid rock from which the river of life flows.

Moses of course falters and strikes the rock. He is imparting his own selfish will and pride in to the mix and God punishes him for it. I have desperately wanted to impart my will on the rock lately. Trusting in God is tough business and lately if it's a business then i'd be filing for bankruptcy. I am just like Moses, i want to strike the rock and force things to happen. But yet God tells us simply turn to Him, speak and He will provide. - Forrest

Approaching Summer

The school semester is quickly coming to an end and we have been busy trying to promote our new song "Space Between" as well as firm up dates for the summer. We are really loving the way this summer has come together. We will be leading worship for a bunch of different summer camps etc. and we are planning on being involved with the "Extreme Tour" for part of the summer as well.

The extreme tour is an outreach type of event that has a west coast as well as an east coast tour. We would be taking part of the east coast and it should be a good opportunity for us to go out and meet new people and help out with their outreach.

We are really looking forward to the different camps that we are playing this summer. We absolutely love leading worship for summer camps. It makes everything so accessible when we have the opportunity to be with people for a full week and get to know them and where they are in their life.

This past weekend we were playing an event in Quincy, Florida called "Live Love". It was a very cool event modeled similarly to what a "Dnow" is. We led worship for them friday night and then again on saturday morning. The whole point of the weekend was to truly live a life of love in our communities and take the love of Jesus into the world. As we approach this summer we hope that this mission is exactly what Canopy Red will be about.

Hope that everyone is having a good spring and as the temperature is indicating, summer is quickly approaching!

ps: here is a video of us playing "Lead me to the Cross" broken down acoustic style this past weekend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3njT5AWW410

Space Between- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O28j42eJ9dE

I think we all have at least one person that we would like to talk to about God but for whatever reason we have been unable to. We tend to psyche ourselves out with the fear of rejection or we fear the tension that could be created if the person is offended by us. For me this is absolutely the case. I've wanted to share my faith with my dad for so long but have always been unable to. That is the great irony of the situation is that the people that matter the most to us are often the people that are hardest for us to share a spiritual conversation with. This is why we wrote the song "Space Between" it comes out of the turmoil i feel in myself of not being able to share Christ with my dad. In essence this song is everything that i've always wanted to say.

- Forrest

Here is the link to the video that we made about the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O28j42eJ9dE

The Chili Effect

Winter is quickly approaching or depending on where you live maybe it is already here. We got our first real taste of icy conditions this past weekend just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. The thermometer hovered around 35 degrees all weekend and it was nice to put on wool socks and hoodies.

One of the best parts of winter coming around is the good wholesomeness of an excellent bowl of hot chili. Smelling the meaty aroma waft through the house and filling up a bowl with the flavorful chili and topping it with some shredded cheese. One of the secrets inside a pot of chili is that the second time around the chili is even better. After the flavors have had a chance to mingle and mix in the pot for a good day or so.

This past weekend in Knoxville was our second time being with the youth group from Meridian Baptist Church and like chili it was better the second time around! The first time we played for them was at St. George Island, Florida for their summer camp. We got to know the kids really well and build relationships with them while at camp and it was great to see them all again!

We left Tallahassee, Florida (our hometown) on friday at about 9:30am and began the lengthy 9 plus hours up through Georgia and part of Tennessee. We hit up Chik-fil-A for breakfast and passed the hours by watching movies and playing parking lot football at random gas station stops. One of the most interesting parts of traveling from Florida to Tennessee is always the change in terrain. The flat Florida sand begins to compact into rugged stone and elevated mountains by the time Tennessee arrives.

We arrived at around 6:45pm and the plan was to lead worship at 8pm. We are used to quick set ups so in the 40 degree rain we began to unload the trailer and set up our equipment. It was great to see Pastor Dana again and meet the groups newly hired youth pastor Josh. We got in a quick soundcheck before it was time to start and as the lights turned off we started on the first notes of Lead Me to The Cross.

The worship services were done in a cabin type of thing. Luckily it had good heating and lighting. It was fairly small but big enough to fit everyone and it served it's purpose. We have learned in this band that especially when leading worship God doesn't need our perfect sound systems or concert halls. He needs a heart of surrender and a soul bent towards Him.

This past weekend was a great time for ourselves to meet up with our friends from Knoxville as we pursue our Savior together and it was a great retreat for ourselves to spend some time in the beautiful scenery of east Tennessee. Meridian Baptist has been great to all of us and we feel like we are practically part of their youth group at this point.

It's been a very busy month or so for us, we have been playing non-stop and have enjoyed all the people we've gotten to meet and the places we have been. (Wish all of them could be as beautiful as the smokies though :) We are headed to Fleming Island, Florida this weekend to play a concert and lead worship. It will be our second time heading back to this particular church and we are praying that the chili effect will follow us there as well!

Branson, Missouri Trip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiMwpcK9N_0

Canopy Red at GMA Immerse #1

Meet the Band