Stone's Throw

Dear Jake,

Did you know that I sort of have a rock band?  I mean, we are a band and we are pretty good and you would probably describe our music as rock.  All the members of the band are Christians.  There are four of us.

Dan Twigg plays guitar.  He's the best electric guitar player I've ever played with.  He's really good.

Kurt Bush plays bass.  He works his butt off on the bass and we should probably call him dad because he's the most mature of us I think.

Luke Jansen plays the drums.  He's a stud drummer.  He can play any style of music you would want.  He can even sing, even though he doesn't usually do it.

I play the keys, vocals, guitar, etc...

We do quite a few gigs in the summer time and we sometimes even get paid for them.  We are in the middle of recording our first "album" even though it is only 7 songs.  We wanted the experience of it.  We tried to record ourselves with our own equipment and got stuff recorded, but it isn't professionally mixed and mastered.  So we went to an actual studio and will be releasing a CD here in a bit.

The band's name is Stone's Throw.  If you haven't guessed, the name comes from the true story of David and Goliath.  It might seem cliche' but that story is one of my favorites in the Bible.  It's because this kid wasn't just confident in the Lord.  He was almost cocky on behalf of the Lord.  He was so sure of God's power that he smack talked a guy that was much bigger than him and intimidated an entire army of full grown men.  Even a king wouldn't stand up to him, but David was like, God can take him.  One of the best dialogues in history is in this story.  I know you've read it, but read it again.

1st Samuel 17:43-49 (NIV)

[Goliath] said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
  David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
   As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.       Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

So the Bible doesn't bold type and underline that line, but I do.  Why?  David shows here that there was not even 1 iota of doubt in David's mind.  To him it was a done deal.  The battle was won before it was started.

Our band likes that story.  There is a part of one of our songs called "Fight" that talks about this.  The lyrics go:

A giant’s challenge doesn’t put the fear in me
Instead my soul stirs deep inside 
And with a stone’s throw I will bring him to his knees

My God’s already won the fight

We have a recording that we did on our own that you can listen to of "Fight".   Keep in mind that it is a real rough cut.  I was mixing it and I have no idea what I'm doing.  Anyway.  I've done the lyrics on all our songs with help from the band.  This song was born off the guitar lick that you hear throughout.  Dan was messing around and came up with that and I thought, "Cool!  Rock anthem coming up!"  Wrote the lyrics and boom, we had "Fight."

So I guess that's what I'd name a rock band.

So what artists/album/song do you find yourself listening to a lot lately?

Sincerely,
Joel