Well for those of you that may not know, i have a new album coming out. Ill be selling it VERY soon. The camps i travel too will be some of the first to get this album titled "The Bubblegum Tree" in their hands. It will be my third in studio project.
With this project comes a lot questions:
What is my target audience?
What are the songs?
What are my goals with this CD?
How many CD's do i intend on selling?
the list goes on...
One the most intense questions however, is: "Jamie, are you going to 'make it big?'"
Without hesitation my immediate response is - "I have already made it big." My music is not on MTV... im not aired on the radio (yet...), and im not a part of the dove awards. I boldly say this because i first answered the question, "What des it mean to make it big." I would have to say making it big is a mindset. I have recently gone through a book in the Bible called Ecclesiastes. For those of you that arent familiar with this part of the Bible, or if your not fond of the Bible, this particular part is about how "meaningless" chasing certain things in life can be. Ecclesiastes speaks of vanity.
There are plenty of things money cant buy, and the ironic thing is, having money doesnt make you live longer... Now of course, with money one can afford top notch medication and hospitality, but i know plenty of less financially fortunate people that live well over 90 years. Money doesn't make people happy! When you die, your fame may grow for a certain period of time, and people may remember you, but no one can be so famous or so "big" that they live forever.
To bring focus back to my point I'll say this again, I have already made it big. I am a 22 year old male that is engaged to the most stunning woman on the planet, we have our first home to rent lined up, I am working and bringing in funds from several sources(PRAISE THE LORD), I have a relationship with Jesus, I am already making somewhat of a living on my music with future full-time opportunities lined up, and Im loving it! The reason i say "i have already made it big" is because I have the opportunity to share my life with people through my music. I have written a song for my mother, numerous songs for my future wife, and EACH one of those songs goes back in some way to my love for the Lord.
For those of you wondering: Will Jamie Harris make it big? Stop wondering. If my music's not big enough for you then you have missed the message I'm so strongly trying to deliver, so don't waste your time.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Christianity is not religion
You see, Christianity is much different than any 'religion' in the world. As a matter of fact, most Christians would say they are not involved in religion at all. Religion is about man seeking out a 'god', reaching up and hoping to find him, going about rituals and routines every day(or week), and hoping you "meet your quota" of good deeds so that you may speak with your 'god'.
Many would use the analogy of a mountain and say a 'god' is at the top of a mountain, and all Religions are pursuing the same 'god', they are just taking different routes up that mountain. David Platt mentions in his book titled Radical that Christianity is about our God coming down from that mountain and reaching out to us.
There is absolutely nothing we can do in and of ourselves to reach God. People have this idea that the better life they live the further up the mountain they will get towards God. This is not true at all, God himself says from the beginning "..every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.." (Genesis 8:21b NIV). We as people are all evil. Another time in the New Testament Jesus says to a pharisee that approaches him "No one is good—except God alone" (Mark 10:1 NIV). We are all evil. This would mean that trying to reach Him by doing a certain amount of "necessary rituals" or "needed prayers" is pointless! We are evil, and nothing do qualifies us to reach the top of the mountain.
The beauty of it all:
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Romans 5:8-9 NIV)
lets go though this piece by piece:
(Keep in mind this is directed towards a group of Christians)
1 - God demonstrated his love by coming down to earth.
2 - We were sinners. We were evil, we did wrong.
3 - We are JUSTIFIED by Christs blood
4 - We are free from God's wrath
I myself, as well as all other Christians are justified - NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING WE HAVE DONE - but because of Christ. Our relationship with Christ begins here. It doesn't stop here, as some Christians may think. We have a relationship with our Lord, this is not some silly religion folks. This is a true opportunity we have.
In Religion, people do good to try to earn something, or to reach something. In a relationship however, there is love. We need to love our God, and love our Lord, and thank Him continually for what he has done. He exchanged his righteousness for our sin. We are JUSTIFIED.
So where do the good deeds come in? Why pray? Why take communion? Why worship God? Why follow the principals of His Word?
Here is it:
"If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15 NIV)
We are to love God, and love others.
My hope with this is not o get attention, as a matter of fact, i encourage you to research this topic yourself because there are so many people that explain things things much better than I. My hope is that those who think we as Christians are part of some religion that is tryingto be "good enough for God" would see the truth: No one is 'good enough for God', He offers himself because He is whats best for us.
Many would use the analogy of a mountain and say a 'god' is at the top of a mountain, and all Religions are pursuing the same 'god', they are just taking different routes up that mountain. David Platt mentions in his book titled Radical that Christianity is about our God coming down from that mountain and reaching out to us.
There is absolutely nothing we can do in and of ourselves to reach God. People have this idea that the better life they live the further up the mountain they will get towards God. This is not true at all, God himself says from the beginning "..every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.." (Genesis 8:21b NIV). We as people are all evil. Another time in the New Testament Jesus says to a pharisee that approaches him "No one is good—except God alone" (Mark 10:1 NIV). We are all evil. This would mean that trying to reach Him by doing a certain amount of "necessary rituals" or "needed prayers" is pointless! We are evil, and nothing do qualifies us to reach the top of the mountain.
The beauty of it all:
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Romans 5:8-9 NIV)
lets go though this piece by piece:
(Keep in mind this is directed towards a group of Christians)
1 - God demonstrated his love by coming down to earth.
2 - We were sinners. We were evil, we did wrong.
3 - We are JUSTIFIED by Christs blood
4 - We are free from God's wrath
I myself, as well as all other Christians are justified - NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING WE HAVE DONE - but because of Christ. Our relationship with Christ begins here. It doesn't stop here, as some Christians may think. We have a relationship with our Lord, this is not some silly religion folks. This is a true opportunity we have.
In Religion, people do good to try to earn something, or to reach something. In a relationship however, there is love. We need to love our God, and love our Lord, and thank Him continually for what he has done. He exchanged his righteousness for our sin. We are JUSTIFIED.
So where do the good deeds come in? Why pray? Why take communion? Why worship God? Why follow the principals of His Word?
Here is it:
"If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15 NIV)
We are to love God, and love others.
My hope with this is not o get attention, as a matter of fact, i encourage you to research this topic yourself because there are so many people that explain things things much better than I. My hope is that those who think we as Christians are part of some religion that is tryingto be "good enough for God" would see the truth: No one is 'good enough for God', He offers himself because He is whats best for us.
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