The Uncertainties

If there's one thing the tragedies in Haiti have taught us, it's that life is full of uncertainties. A natural disaster is something no amount of money, power, or anything else can save anyone from. Josh Havens, lead singer of The Afters, has been a little closer to the Haiti situation than perhaps most of us have, as his sister flew there last week to help. For Josh, uncertainties are one of the few certainties in life. In our interview with him, we learned of many of the faith-testing experiences he has had. Getting married at age 19, having children, and even being in the band are all situations where, at times, I'm sure he was scared out of his wits. But he trusted in God, and it has all turned out well for him. The one thing he was always very certain of was his desire to be a musician. He knew that from the age of 3. Still, he talked about the uncertainty of the music business; there are a lot of fields where you can go to college, get a degree in that field, and basically know you'll have a job (barring economic crises). The world of music, especially music performance, doesn't work that way. But Josh felt God calling him to music his entire life, and he never doubted it (having a very supportive family helped, too). The Afters have become quite popular and are able to touch many lives with their music, and personal interaction. Josh realizes "the life of any band is limited, unless you're The Beatles," but is just following God with 'tunnel vision,' in a manner of speaking, as we all should. We can't let our doubts or fears of the uncertainties in life hold us back from the amazing things God wants to do with us. Thanks for your brave, bold advice, Josh!

The Reason

In light of the recent tragedy in Haiti, I've chosen to write about the band Willet. Kathleen Willet, Jeremy (lead singer) Willet's wife, is currently serving as a missionary in Haiti, working as a "mom" to the parentless at an orphanage there. The early days of this week were filled with fears I'm sure I cannot describe for the Willet family, as they could not establish contact with "Kat" or the orphanage. Thankfully, yesterday they found out she is alive and well, and the children are also. I have been amazed this week by Jeremy's attitude about the situation, as displayed on Twitter and Facebook. He kept saying things like "Kat would want us to pray for the children in Haiti," even as he had no idea of her safety. He obviously gave the whole situation to God, in a very dark hour. Today, I am just as inspired by his wife's words- a text she sent to him that he posted on Facebook- "Im ok... just being there for those who have lost... God is so amazing!" We can all take something away from this wonderfully God-centered perspective in the midst of horror.
I believe I have already said enough to describe Willet's entire vision with their music ministry. They are passionate missionaries who know the real reason for making Christian music. They tour internationally quite a bit, because they have a heart for working with those in need. They're partnered with Food for the Hungry, have adopted several villages overseas, and plan to adopt many more. Their music reflects their heart. They are very kind people. They are selfless givers. They love. They are disciples of Christ.

Please, take a moment to say a prayer for all those effected by the earthquake in Haiti, including the missionaries, rescue and medical teams who need strength and resources. And thank the Lord for how good you've got it.

The Weekend

... that changed everything. Ha ha, maybe. It certainly impacted us a lot. This past weekend, my mom and I were at the Forest Lakes Districts youth conference in Green Bay, WI. This is the same conference where I met and was inspired by Dango (of Amber Pacific) last year, who I eventually interviewed for this book. He was there again this year as part of the worship band for the weekend, Floodgate Alive, as well as to talk to kids through his ministry, Resound Living. My mom and I are both middle school youth leaders at our church and went to the conference as leaders. However, a few weeks prior to the conference, I had a dream one night that Dango promoted our book from the stage. I now realize this was most likely a God-sent dream. I ended up e-mailing the guy who heads up Districts, simply asking for permission to pass out some fliers with a little information about our book and this blog on them. A few hours later, he e-mailed me back saying he'd rather give us one of the few ministry booths in the conference center, and waive the usual (substantial) fee for it. Wow!
So then we had to get our act together. They needed a name for the booth, so that led to us finally coming up with a title. We had graphics and cards made with "Don't Freak Out!", "www.dontfreakoutbook.blogspot.com", and a few other things printed on them, and gathered together some posters of the bands we interviewed to deck out our booth. We also made 1,700+ clothespins with "Don't Freak Out!" on one side and the blog URL on the other. This was an idea we stole from the band Hyland. The idea is to go around and sneakily put the clothespins on people so they would find them later and be intrigued.
Friday, my mom, sister, and her friend drove up early to set up the booth while I took the bus with our church group. We went to Districts first and foremost as leaders. The booth was a huge blessing, but something we only attended to if we happened to have a free moment. Our kids came first, and seeing their lives and hearts change through this conference was wonderful. But I'll share with you the awesome experiences we had with our booth in the times we were there.
There were 3,200+ students at the conference,not to mention all the leaders. Even so, we figured we'd have plenty of clothespins left over after the weekend. We have never been so wrong in our lives. We ended up having to ration them out to last us through the weekend! Sunday morning, comedian Daren Streblow wore one during Prime Time, in front of everyone! They were a huge hit, and we saw them everywhere on kids the whole time. The word definitely got out. We even heard that someone actually clothespinned Dango when he was greeting fans!
Friday in the late afternoon, people were coming to the booth, asking questions, and getting interested. One woman came over and introduced herself as Dango's mom (his parents live in Wisconsin). She said Dango had sent her the material from this and she thought it was great. We were so flattered! Later, in the evening, I saw Dango's wife Brynn, who is also in Floodgate Alive (I recognized her because this was after the main teaching/worship time so Floodgate had already played). She came over and also introduced herself to me, AND complimented our work! I was very happy. It's a huge compliment that they even knew about the book, that Dango shared it with them, because then it feels less like it was "just another interview." Then for them to say such nice things was absolutely wonderful.
Saturday afternoon my mom and I both finally actually had the chance to say hi to Dango, and he thanked us for including him in the book. He really is an awesome guy, with a Christ-like heart (and a family who are the same!). I was thrilled to see many kids impacted by his ministry over the weekend.
Floodgate Alive was wonderful in bringing us into worship. Their fire for God burst out from them on the stage. I've even heard that the lead guitarist suffered through an ear infection and pink eye, but no one knew it through the weekend. We were already impressed by his guitar skills and sincere worship; that was very selfless and cool of him. And I'll bet any of the other members of Floodgate would've done the same- they really seemed to be passionate about bringing the kids into worship.
All of the cool book-related stuff was just a blip on our radar, really, that weekend. It was an incredible time of God moving and changing hearts! I am so glad to have been a part of it, and being there as a leader, after 5 years of going as a student, made it ten times better as I grew closer to my girls and saw them interacting with God. It was a fantastic weekend!
Give us a shout out if you're one of our Districts/clothespins friends! Through blog comments, or:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-Freak-Out/246781471372?ref=ts
E-mail: dontfreakoutbook@yahoo.com
And you can always chat us up on our individual Twitters (in the sidebar)!
Thank you for all of the support!