Love and Death with Brian Welch

I went to a concert with my son Brandon last night at the Cannery Ballroom here in Nashville. He wanted to see "Red". He listens to their songs on Way FM all the time and has their latest album. Little did he know just how heavy they can get live. It was actually quite a comical thing to see. Other bands playing were "Icon For Hire", "Love and Death", and "P.O.D.". If you don't know who these last two are in particular, it's gonna be hard to explain. P.O.D. stands for "Payable On Death". They are a Christian heavy metal band based out of southern California. Now before anybody thinks of flaming me over the word "Christian" paired with the phrase "heavy metal" let me say this...don't even think about it. I've been a "metalhead" since I was a young teen listening to the secular stuff like Iron Maiden, Dio, Metallica, etc., as well as the Christian flavors of REZ, Jerusalem, Stryper, Bloodgood, Whitecross....it goes on and on. The message of REZ in particular, helped solidify my beliefs as a teen. If there is one thing I am absolutely convinced of, it is that the body of Christ is infinitely diverse. So long as the message they present is redeeming, reconciling and Christ-focused, I'm in. Let's not kid ourselves though. There are posers. Even in church. Shudder the thought. I know. Now to push on and make things even more weird for those suit-and-tie people among us, let's introduce "Love and Death". This band will make Mrs. Miller in the front pew of the First Church of The Frigidaire pass out cold in the isle. There is a back story here that is second to none. The front man is Brian "Head" Welch. Those of you in the know...already know. He's the former lead of "Korn". Brian had a conversion to Christ and an immediate deliverance from crystal meth as he was at the end of his rope and near death. His conversion caused him to quickly walk away from fame and fortune and focus on raising his daughter and taking the message of Christ to a group of people that most just want to discard. Say what you want but I pray that Brian's new direction will be an effective method of reaching those lost whom only he can relate to. Check out his short video from the "I am Second" series here.


http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/brian-welch/

In One Peace, Eric

God help me see past the trivial.

Sunday afternoon, I was sitting in a lawn chair in front of one of the open bays of my shop dwelling on stressful things in my mind. Moving to a new house this week, moving the shop this weekend, getting these big projects done and out the door just in time, getting paid on these projects, cash flow, expanding the shop, capital equipment purchases, investors.........the list went on and on. I spoke verbally "God help me see past the trivial". A few minutes went by and the neighbor's son came over asking if I had a particular tool he could borrow. I happily obliged and returned to my chair and mental state. Then it hit me. Here I am sitting in front of a shop busting at the seams with tools, time enough to wallow and a neighbor that I know doesn't have much of any tools or financial resources to fix his car. The father works hard at two jobs to put his kids through school, provide for his family and just survive. What in the world am I doing sitting here? I asked myself. So, I hopped up and went over to lend a hand. I helped diagnose that his problem wasn't the radiator fan for which he had purchased a new one but simply the fan switch. My stepping up saved him a lot of time and a significant amount of money. When I got back to my chair, I realized God had responded to my prayer by presenting me with a situation of another individual and allowing me to look past my own. The next time you find yourself wallowing in your own self-induced pity party, crash that party by going and helping somebody else.