Sadly, I feel, in the Church we tend to hide our mental and physiological ailments as if they are more embarrassing than other problems like a broken leg.  However it is an illness like any other.

Dear Church…Dear bride of Christ:  Your struggles are real and worth sharing.  You are not any weaker than anyone else.  Many of you take anti-depressants.  It’s okay.  Christ can heal you but your doctor can help too.  Please do not be ashamed.  Please do not draw away from others.  Draw closer to the church and share.  You will find if you have the boldness to share, there will be others who are emboldened by you. 

A pastor friend at a Church in California once shared his annoyance with this issue.  He often counseled people who were on anti-depressants yet they asked him not to share.  Ironically, he would look out on Sunday and see several people sitting next to others with the same struggles who were unwilling to share with each other. 

Let’s erase the stigma of mental illness.  Many people struggle with it and are still beloved of God.  Till then, I will keep praying. 

                    Amen,

                         -Dale

PS- There is some cool stuff going on right now with our worship band, Shine Like Stars.

A) So far we have booked several gigs for our Summer tour in California, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona. 
We will still need to book New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Utah and probably more in California.  If you can help us find a place to have a worship concert, please send us a shout at booking@slsworship.com .

B) Our music video for “The Overflow” is still gaining traction and has been added to JCTV along with GMCTV, NRB, CMV and ShineTV.  We have slowly been added to radio stations but not as quickly as we had hoped. 

C) We are hoping to film our music video for “Victory Anthem” fairly soon.  We are hoping to give everyone a chance to participate.  Yay. 

D) We have new shirts coming!  Email merch@slsworship.com if you are interested in pre-ordering one in your size. 

E) Seth has a baby on the way very soon!  (Surely he will have a post dedicated to this.)

Two weeks ago I was having stomach pains.  I know you know how this ends so you probably think they were really bad.

Nope.

Just uncomfortable.  However as the days progressed, so did the pain and eventually I awoke Tuesday morning with a new pain in my lower right abdomen.  This was not a gluten pain.  This was not, I ate 3 servings of China-Go, pain.  This was a call the doctor pain.  After a few tests it was confirmed that my appendix was unhappy with me and he wanted a new home.  I was rushed to the hospital where they prepped me for surgery.  When I woke up without my appendix I was not happy but I fell asleep quickly.  When I woke up the second time I apparently told everyone how awesome I felt and I also told some visiting friends some rather awkward stuff.  That night my wife took my phone so I couldn’t post anything on Facebook in my “drugged state.”  I think a nurse gave me my computer and I ended up sending a bunch of emails on behalf of shine like stars for our Summer tour.  (Jeez, I should probably look back and see what I wrote.)  Anyway, The next day I felt a little bit better and thought I would be on the quick road to recovery.

However as the day dragged on I started to feel worse and worse.  When meeting with the doctor I was told my appendix actually burst while in surgery filling my body with a level 5 infection.  D’oh.  So close yet so far.  Soon my body was draining out all kinds of awesome infection and I was beginning to go to a terrible, dark place.  If people were talking in my room it made me sick.  If someone bumped my bed it made me sick.  If I turned on the TV I felt sick.  If I moved I felt sick.

Tell that appendix who’s boss

This was feeling dire and it lasted at it’s very worst for about four days.  Four days of no hope.  Four days of agony.  Four days where I could not and would not talk to my children on the phone.  Four days where the very sound of music made my eyes shut.  I screamed and moaned away everything including food and even my friends who came to visit. (Sorry!)  Despair was the only way to describe it.  I knew not when it would end and I felt like I was only getting worse.

There was no way I was reading my Bible during this time.   But I DID get better and eventually went home.

Once home I was struck by this revelation:  If the Bible were not already hidden in my heart, this would have been a much worse trip.  Many of us take God’s word for granted and believe we can read it any time we want.  I am here to tell you that may not always be true.  The Bible is God’s word to us.  Read it now while you can.  Read it whenever you can.  We live in a society were we are free to read it. Take advantage of this gift.  There are people groups in the East who cling to one hidden piece of scripture.

Without having read the Word many times I am not sure how would have interpreted those beautiful lights breaking through my hospital window.  Would I have seen them as beautiful and continued to agonize?  Would I have shut the windows?  Probably.

Tonight you have the ability to hear from the Creator Himself.  Take advantage and enjoy.  You never know when you will need it.

-Dale
P.S.  We are stoked to be playing the Of the Rescue CD release party this Saturday night. (2/9 at 7pm)   Most likely I will still be sitting because of my infirmity but we are still going to have an awesome time!   Please check our tour page to see more information about this gig as well as a few awesome ones coming up.  This is an exciting time for our worship band and we hope to see many of you out at the next Shine Like Stars event.  You are great fans and we love you.

Updates:

#1- Our music video for “The Overflow” is doing super well.  We have over 15,000 views on youtube.  We also are on the rotation for the NRB network, ShineTV and The gospel music channel or GMCTV.  Our fans have been requesting like crazy on GMCTV and they have told us it is one of the best responses they have received for a music video. Please continue to request it on their facebook page!!

#2- The CD “Beauty in the storm” has been selling well and we are getting close to having to buy another 1,000 CD’s.  We have about 300 of our remaining 1200 originals left.  That is good for a few months.

#3- The Overflow single is starting to gain some traction in the radio world.  It was picked up very quickly by KBCU 88.1 in Newton, KS but that was the only one for a while.  Yesterday it was picked up by the Prayz network of Christian Radio stations, giving us 3 more Adult Contempory radio stations in Wisconsin: WTPN-103.9 fm in Westby, Wisconsin, and translator station K250AX-97.9 fm in La Crosse, Wisconsin. A second full-power station and WEQS-89.3 fm, Sparta, Wisconsin   Also yesterday it was picked up for a station in Montreal, Canada.  Yay!  Not bad for a little worship band in Kansas!  Please keep requesting it on the radio.  At some point they will have to listen to you guys and play it!

Leading worship to raise money for orphans in Swaziland.

Prayer requests:

#1- Finances are always on our mind.  We just invested more money in our touring rig and are back down near zero.  We desire to make a music video for “Victory Anthem,” replenish our supply of “Beauty in the Storm,” and we will need a surplus for when we go on tour.   God has been generous with us so far and we are thankful for what we have.

#2- We could use your prayers and your help letting people know about our tour coming up in July.  We are playing June 30^th- July 15^th through TX,OK,CO,NM,AZ, KS and California.  We need God to provide venues and Churches that would want us to come lead worship.

#3- We need to trust God with this whole process.  We need to trust him that he will send our music to who needs to hear it.  We desire to be on lots of radio stations but please pray that our hearts are right in all of this.

Thanks for your love and support.

-Shine Like Stars.

This was a hard trip.  Not because our daughter barfed…as usual.  Not because our son’s health challenges caused us trouble in travel.  Actually, only a few days into the trip we learned my grandmother was dying.  She was 94 and she was due.  Ruth had lived a long full life and had a lot to show for it.  However, she was clinging to life, long after she could no longer eat or even drink.  Talking to her caregiver and others in the family, I heard of a lot about fear as she got closer to passing.

Matter of fact, I am the crazy nut they ask not to proselytize at the end.  So how am I to respond when a beautiful, amazing, caring, woman is about to “go to hell?”  Biblically, all I see is that she must accept with her mouth and believe in her heart that Jesus is Lord, He died for her sins, and conquered death so she might have life more abundant.  So how do I respond to this?  I guess my response should be to continue to share good news with everyone I come into contact with every day.  I don’t believe this should cause me to despair.  The “Gospel” is in fact good news to those who are being saved.   And yet…

There is an undeniable sense of loss when a family member considers the cross foolishness.  How can I blame her?  As a child, my grandmother was abused by nuns.  My grandmother lived through bigotry against blacks in the name of Jesus.  Would you have sided with Christ if this was all you knew of Him?

Now those of you who might quickly call me unbiblical have every right to be on guard.  This is not Scripture and thus, sadly, only conjecture.  The fact is that God is just and follows through on His word.  However, he is also unceasingly merciful, kind and grace-filled. 

Grandma Ruth having fish taco’s with our daughter this Summer.

Lord, have mercy on my grandmother.  Reveal to her your truth.  Please don’t let it be too late.  She unknowingly did much work for you, even the way she helped to raise me.

Yet, I narrowly cling to a fools hope that God might have a few more surprises in store for those who might reject his stupid followers.  (Yes I count myself as one of them.)  After all, Jesus was quite unexpected as He was and when He returns He might just surprise us again.

-Dale

P.S.
On the way home I learned that our music video for the worship song, “The Overflow” is doing quite well at GMCTV because, you, our fans are requesting it.  Thanks so much for your help.  One day radio will let us in and with your help we may never get out!

Thankfully, with the help of modern science, my son lives on.  I remember about 9 months ago when Frederick (FX) was only 3 months old and was admitted for another lengthy stay in the hospital.  He was skin and bones and dipping down toward his already low birth weight.  Our poor son was starving and refusing food.  Often when able to get food down, the texture would prove too much for him and he would barf it up, usually all over my wife.

Skin and bones

Big fat cheeks!

This is the life of a parent of a William’s kid.  Many children who have William’s Syndrome suffer with eating difficulties.  It is a rough burden, but we are also blessed by FX’s awesome temperament and love for everyone around him.

I don’t eat well either:
The Bible often describes scripture like food.  It is necessary for life and life more abundant.  Often I treat it like FX treats his non-dairy, non-soy based, disgusting formula.   I certainly don’t crave it.   How can something so important to my health be so readily cast aside for a re-run of “Arrested Development?”  How can the very words of God feel like a chore?   This is steak dinner with the president and I treat it like gruel with my neighbor’s cat.

I need a feeding pump too:
What are some ways we can inject the word into us?  One is to read the word constantly.  Every day I read, whether I would like to or not.  I have noticed with scripture and with food if you have a little it increases your appetite for more.
I have also begun to study the Scriptures with a group of men.  Every week someone emails the readings out and we respond throughout the week with the dreaded “reply to all” button.   It is encouraging, sharpening and often hilarious.

Let’s together crave the Word of God.  I am sure we will find satisfaction and fulfillment that only a fat steak dinner provides.

“How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Psalm 119:103

Amen

-Dale

A couple weeks ago at city group, we got into a discussion of favorite Christmas songs.  This inevitably led to my stance on Christmas music: not until December 1^st.  Somehow in the course of the discussion (read: argument) I came across as a Scrooge because of this.  Let me set the record straight:

I love Christmas.

Love it.

My disdain for carols prior to December 1^st stems from two things. First, my birthday is in December, and even at 32 I have a hard time sharing my birthday with the birth of the most important person ever born.  I gladly admit my own human frailty.

The larger reason is that I believe stretching out Christmas to the night of Thanksgiving trivializes its real importance. I like getting presents…a lot.  As a kid I got so excited I would wake up insanely early (3 am, which is probably the time Liam and Owen will start waking up once they actually know what Christmas is) and have a complete meltdown when my dad made me wait until 6 am to start opening presents.  I understand the symbolism of gift giving at Christmas, God gave us His only son Jesus, and so we give each other presents.  That sentences exemplifies everything that bums me out about commercial Christmas, the part about Jesus is just sort of lost in the middle.

In reality, Jesus’ birth is the beginning of the most important event in human history. In His  desire to save the humanity that He loves, God sends us part of himself to enact a rescue plan. It’s a plan so daring that Satan doesn’t even know the full extent of the plan.  It’s an arrival so important that angel choruses show up, wise men travel to see this miracle, and even the heavens are transformed to announce His birth.  That is what is worth getting excited about.

I can remember awesome gifts that I have been given over the course of my life. I am lucky to live in a family that loves surprising each other with gifts, but my true love of Christmas isn’t about any of that.   Christmas Eve and Christmas Day followed a very familiar pattern for me: go to candlelight service, head to my Aunt’s house for extended family presents and food then home to bed for Christmas morning to arrive. We wake up, mom starts cinnamon rolls, we go through our stockings, Dad turns on some Christmas Radio music, we sort out gifts and then open them one at a time, extended family comes over and we eat…more.   That pattern has only changed with the addition of in-laws that live halfway across the country.

My favorite part of the Christmas Eve service was always “Silent Night.”  The lights of the church go out, candles are lifted and everyone sings.  It gives me goose bumps. I love worshipping and hearing others sing.  Singing that song on that night is my glimpse of what heaven is like.  There are no distractions.  I’m surrounded by friends and family.  We are all enveloped in the glow of the candles and the worship of our God.  If I could have that every day, I would love it.  I love the parts of Christmas that bring out the best in humanity, the parts that point us to the divine, especially during the time when the divine reached down to us.  I don’t like hearing about Black Friday shopping starting Thursday night, or people arguing about who gets the latest stuff.  I love listening to Christmas music where the goal is to celebrate Jesus.  There are Christmas albums that I love and there some that just makes me sad.

I want to celebrate getting the best gift ever, not whether or not I got the best deal on the latest gadget.  There are all sorts of clichés and analogies I could throw out about the “great deal” we got when Jesus came to Earth, but that just feels disingenuous.  Christmas is the time to celebrate Jesus coming to Earth so that ultimately he could die for our sins and reunite us with God.  I like to focus on that aspect of Christmas and not whether or not Grandma got run over by a reindeer while mommy was kissing Santa Claus who was putting a hippopotamus for Christmas into my house.

Once in the on the Doctor’s table they put her in a little papoose to hold her down.  Then they gave her a numbing shot and began to stitch her up.  My poor girl looked up to my wife and I as to say “Why are you allowing this to happen?”  I could only sit there and encourage her that she was nearly done.  Twice I have done this and twice I have left feeling as if I were receiving the stitches.

I can not fathom what God the Father must have felt.  Even at the birth of His Son, Jesus, he knew Jesus would die a slow torturous death.   He knew His Son would scream out “Why have you forsaken me.”

Since I have become a Christian I have had a deep respect for Jesus and his willingness to be tortured unto death for the sake of us.  I have not much thought about what it must have been like for the Father to witness His son being beaten, mocked, bruised and killed.  I am thankful for a God who was willing to endure everything for us.  Amen.

-Dale

In less religious-y news:
Shine Like Stars’ music video, The Overflow, is being featured on The Gospel Music Channel, NRB, Shine TV and CMV.  Not bad for a little worship band out of Wichita, KS.

We are also going to have the Overflow available to National radio starting December 26^th!  How Exciting.  Hopefully we will be able to tell you where it is and who picked it up.  Pray for us, please!

Finally are touring this Summer through, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, California and Colorado.  We already have a few dates booked.  If you have any connections to Churches or venues in these states please consider letting them know.  Contact booking@slsworship.com for more information.

Tonight we were at a friend’s house and saw a boy about a month younger than FX.  His grasping skills were much further along.  His language proficiency (babbling) was further along as well.  Matter of fact, he was past FX in probably every skill.  Seeing this young “normal” boy made me a bit sad.  I was so caught up in my boy’s maladies that I failed to notice he was behind.  (What a gift from God)   Tonight I was reminded how behind he is.  Then the thought struck me.  My son is going as fast and as slow as he should.  He is a beautiful creation of God.  I didn’t really notice the speed of his development till I started to compare him to others.

I am notoriously competitive.  If you pull up next to me at a traffic light I will try and get off the line quicker than you.  I don’t burn rubber.  I just like to win races that you didn’t even know you were in with me.  I am sure the Corvette thinks my Honda-toaster-car is hilarious and slows down to taunt me.

The fact is, I like to win.  I don’t like to be second fiddle or second anything.

I am the same way with our band.  Often I will look on with envy to another musician who is younger with more success.  I will openly admit that I feel competitive with bands that succeed.

Yet, God has me exactly where he wants me.  We are going as fast or as slow as we should.  We are exactly where God wants us.

Our band is leading worship in the Midwest more than ever.

Somehow I still compare myself with others.

We have made an amazing record and have an incredible music video.

Somehow I still compare myself with others.

Our song, “The Overflow” is going to hopefully hit radio stations across the U.S.  at the end of December.

Somehow I still compare myself with others.

God has us in a Biblical Church that is growing like wildfire.

Somehow I still compare myself with others.

At the end of the day, God has called Shine Like Stars to be Shine Like Stars and no one else.  As much as I love Tim Hughes, Matt Redman and the City Harmonic, we are not them.  So like my son, FX, we need to look ahead for what God has for us.  We need to push forward to that couch and slowly pull ourselves up.   Hopefully once there, we don’t throw up on the couch.

-Dale

I am not so sure it is a black and white issue but here is my take.  Listening to Christian music is a good thing.  All of us who call ourselves believers should do it.  If you don’t have any worship music.  I would buy some post haste!

Around January of 2012 we were going through a firestorm with our newly born son, FX.  We felt like nothing could go right in our home.  We truly believed there were darker forces working against us.  At the time I listened to all kinds of music.  I loved Sigur Ros, Muse, Mumford and Son’s, Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie and a bunch of other stuff.  However, at that point in our lives we could no longer just keep listening to whatever.  So I decided we would only listen to worship music for that month.  I came to this decision because I had a pastor friend who said he liked to leave worship music on in his house all day and night long because he figured if evil were present, they would hate it.  Good enough for me.  The month of January we played worship music all the time in our home.  We also noticed our attitudes improved.  In February we switched back to a mix.  When my son was hospitalized in Kansas City, we switched back again for a month.  During those challenging days worship music continued to speak truth into our lives.  It was good.

If you find yourself in a rough place or a place where you have to make a big decision, why not switch off the secular music for a while?  Why not switch to worship music for a month? It can’t hurt, right?

If you don’t have much worship music I would suggest getting a few of these artists:
Tim Hughes, Matt Redman, The City Harmonic, David Crowder, Phil Wickham, Chris Tomlin, Hillsong United, oh and of course SHINE LIKE STARS.

-Dale

By the way I totally still listen to everything, but need breaks sometimes.

Even more exciting we are happy to announce we are going to be touring through OK,TX,NM,AZ,CO and CA this Summer.
If you have any connections in these cities please let us know as we cannot do this without your help!