I Am Living Proof

Despite me not posting a single thing about the untimely death of Maria Chapman (daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman), I was still rocked by the news. It become a bit more personal when a few of the people I knew, knew the Chapmans closer than most.

I couldn’t stop thinking about my son, so close to Maria’s age. I swore, if I didn’t tell him “I love you” and hug and kiss him a hundred times a week prior to, I just increased that love twice over since then.

Now I am just finding out about Xzibit’s newborn son, Xavier, born on May 15th (two days before my birthday) only to pass away as his father gives the news this morning on his myspace blog.

Xzibit writes:

AS you all know, I shared with you the announcment of my newborn son Xavier Kingston Joiner on may 15th and also informed you that he was born prematurly. well this week was extremly difficult for him because his lungs were not strong enough to handle regular oxygen on his own. Xavier passed away this morning at 3:30am and I must tell you this, It is unatural for a parent to bury a child. I am telling you this because of the same reason I tell you when im having great times, life is too short to be fake. Hold on to your kids if you have them, protect them and show them you love them everyday you wake up and see them, dont take a second you get to hug them teach them and care for them for granted. You can have all the material wealth in the universe but it is NOTHING compared to having your family. I am thankful for all of my blessings and im not one to question God’s perfect plan, so I leave you with great love and thanks for the love that was sent earlier on my pervious blog to my son. Of course I need to take some time and handle my loss, STAY FOCUSED PEOPLE. Its not promised to any of us.

Xzibit’s words will rock me for a long, long time. What really impacted me is that in the midst of the darkness, loss and tragedy, Xzibit chooses to be satisfied in God.

That makes God beautiful. That gives glory to God and God alone.

I am not sure if I were to lose my son that I would be as strong as the words written today.

But I will not worry about tomorrow.

I will think about today.

I will think about my son.

Using more of Xzibit’s words that he wrote for his son way back in 1996 from his song “Foundation“. I can’t think of a more perfect way to describe my child:

When I look you in your eyes I can see my own
Straight love manifested in flesh and bone

Love you, Yusef. All that I have and forever. My love will not stray.

Been playing around with the greatness of Muxtape and uploaded what I have been listening to up until 4AM in the morning. (Yes, good music, 5 hour nap in the afternoon and two (2) Monsters will do that to you.)

Warning: Explicit Lyrics. In other words, there might be some cussing.

No More Tears by Anita Baker
Next Level (Nyte Time Mix) by Show & A.G.
Mes Yeux Fermis by Zero Noel
When You Say Nothing At All by Alison Krauss
Thinking of You by Tony Toni Toné
I Got A Love by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth
Happy Feelings (Live) by Maze
Lies by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová
Survival by Yes
Barracuda by Heart
These Are Days by 10,000 Maniacs
Can You Rock It Like This by Run DMC

I was born in 1975 so thus I listen to everything my dad listens to which includes lots of Marvin Gaye, Lionel Richie, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. The I grew up during the 80s and 90s so that brought about my love for Rock like Rush and Metallica and Hip-Hop like Nas, Wu-Tang and Eric B. & Rakim.

This muxtape on this site will usually be all worship but from time to time, I will wipe and post up something I am listening to during a late night session. Enjoy.

Written by David Moore

A lot of the songs written at Gateway Church are written out of the things God is doing in our church body. We want our songs to capture the heartbeat of the church and bring a connection point between the people and our message. “Real” is an example of such a song. Our church was in a series called “Real.” This series encapsulated the relevance and importance of being a witness to the world. Together we learned that witnessing is not far off and hokey, it’s simply telling your story of God’s faithfulness in your life. No one can argue with your story and your story can turn hearts toward God.

When our worship team first heard about this series, our executive worship pastor, Sion Alford and I decided to sit down and write a song about it so our church would have an anthem to sing during this sermon series. We wanted to portray a story of how God has changed us and empowered us to change others. In just a matter of a few hours we had a finished song, and within a few days our church embraced it as their own.

I wanted to take a couple of excerpts from this bulletin on MySpace from Gateway Worship on their new album, Wake Up The World, which is released this week nationwide. Lyrics, tabs, chords are available for download at Gateway Worship. A muxtape will accompanying this series of perspectives. - Ed.

Written by Kari Jobe

“You Are Good” is the first piano song I’ve written. The melody came to me first. For about a year, every time I sat at the piano, I would play this melody. It was the melody that I would always have free worship to and intercede with as I was spending time worshipping the Lord. One day, I just began to sing the words, and this time, I felt in my spirit that it was a complete song instead of just free worship. So, I wrote it down.

The theme comes from two scriptures that the Lord was speaking to me during that time in my life. The first is Romans 2:4, which says that His kindness leads to repentance and it’s His goodness that draws us to Himself. The second scripture comes from Psalm 145: “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all He has made.”

These verses say a lot about how good God is. As I played through the melody, my heart just overflowed with this theme. For me, this song was birthed from a season of what God was teaching me and showing me about Himself, and my response was and still is, You are good.

I wanted to take a couple of excerpts from this bulletin on MySpace from Gateway Worship on their new album, Wake Up The World, which is released this week nationwide. Lyrics, tabs, chords are available for download at Gateway Worship. A muxtape will accompanying this series of perspectives. - Ed.

Written by Walker Beech

“We Cry Out” was conceived in my garage/studio during a time of worship one morning. I was running late to go to a morning chapel at Christ for the Nations and about to face terrible Dallas traffic, but just kept staying there weeping as I sang this song to my heavenly Father.

Hundreds of times in the Old Testament you read how God’s people “cried out to the Lord” or “called on the name of the Lord”. Based on the number of times it’s mentioned, it seems to be a primary form of worship, or almost synonymous with the act of worship. Just do a word search on “call on the name of the Lord,” it’s amazing! Then in the New Testament on the day of Pentecost we read that, “Éveryone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” as prophesied by Joel. (Acts 2:21, Romans 10:13, Joel 2:32) Basically, God likes and seems to respond to having His name called, cried, and sung out loud over and over again.

As a father of 3 young boys, I hear my name called a lot. Also, I hear it in every variation possible for children to come up with, dad, dadda, daddy, best friend, hey hey hey, and so on. Mostly I hear, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy. You get the picture.

Everyday I hear my name on the phone, Walker, Mr. Beach, Dude, Bro, and my favorite, “are you the primary resident at this address,” gotta love telemarketers. Sometimes I get the sweet sound of, “hey baby”, or the consistent name of, “honey”, from my beloved wife. All of these either get a response right away, or will eventually get my attention if they are said enough times. So how much more does this apply to the Father who is eagerly waiting to hear His name spoken by His children.

This song is that concept put to music. I wanted to call on the name of the Lord in every biblical way I could (as long as it rhymed of course:). I wanted to call God’s name the way the Hebrews did (Adonai), the way the early church did (El Shaddai), and the name we now call Him every day (Jesus Christ). This song was birthed out of just calling on the name of the Lord over and over again in intimate, private worship (until my wife came and reminded me how late I was).

I pray this song will help inspire you to call upon the name of the Lord in the midst of the congregation, in the middle of a busy day, and in the quiet place when only Jesus can hear you.

I wanted to take a couple of excerpts from this bulletin on MySpace from Gateway Worship on their new album, Wake Up The World, which is released this week nationwide. Lyrics, tabs, chords are available for download at Gateway Worship. A muxtape will accompanying this series of perspectives. - Ed.