Sometimes we get so busy being a human doing we forget how to be a human being.

I heard someone say this one morning visiting some friends in radio.

I am so convicted and challenged by this statement!

The greatest currency I have in life is time, not money. Time is our most precious asset.

Sometimes I get things turned upside down and end up focusing on doing more that being.

My prayer today is that I would Be a better child of God, Be a better husband, Be a better dad, Be a better friend.

I have been guilty of being at home with family physically while my mind was still at work doing the busy stuff.

During Christmas I would encourage folks to make sure that we stop and enjoy family, friends and life in general.

Let the busy stuff have its place but simply enjoy the gift of being.

Revelation 12:11 lets us know that we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.
Over the last week, I have heard so many powerful testimonies from different people about how the song, Stronger in the Broken Places, really spoke to the heart. Many have said that it is Their Story.
If you have a story of a broken place that God has brought you through, would you tell Your Story, Your Testimony.
I believe when we hear one anothers testimony,then it builds our faith.
The bible does say this is how we overcome!!!
So here goes!!
Lets talk about what our Great God has done in our lives!
Whats Your Story?

I long for the day when I get to hear the song that the angels sing. I can just imagine here on earth what that must sound like.

An even more amazing thought is that somehow we are joining in with their song as we worship God here on earth.

Worship is happening 24/7. Whether we lift our voices or not, there is a song being sung in heaven. That is what the book of Revelation tells us.

Sometimes I imagine that my voice is being heard at the throne. As I lift up a “Holy,Holy,Holy” I simply dream about the fact that God can hear it through all of the chorus of Angels and Elders that are surrounding the throne.

Never Ending Song was written in one of those moments when I was sitting out under a star-filled sky, thinking about what it must sound like in heaven at the moment.

I think we as humans have never heard a song as beautiful as what we will hear in heaven. The song that is sung in the presence of Almighty God!

I am certain that it must be perfection, maybe even notes that we have never heard before. I want to be a part of that choir..and join in with all of creation and sing the Never-ending Song

The new movie “Courageous” released 2 weeks ago. I believe that this movie is going to change the lives of many. It is filled with so many great truths. Each time I’ve seen the movie, I have been moved and challenged in different ways.

One of the real exciting things about the movie for me personally, is having the opportunity to co-write and sing 2 of the songs in the movie. The soundtrack for the movie comes out the same day as my new album, Oct. 18.

As a writer, certain things inspire or cause a song to be written. Such is the case with “Fearless”. Tony Wood and I wrote this song as an option to be used in the movie “Courageous”. Though it didn’t end up in the movie, I really wanted to be able to sing this message and for folks to hear it.

I am a father of two great kids, Matthew and Maddison. I am also married to the love of my life, Jodie. Being a husband and father means that sometimes I have to fight battles on behalf of my family, that no one knows about, but God and me. There are moments when fear tries to control my mind and speak defeat over everything that God has entrusted to me. If I let fear get the best of me, then the enemy has a door into my home and my family.

It’s waking up at 2:30 in the morning, with thoughts of panic and fear. These are thoughts that the enemy would love to make us believe are true.

If you are reading this and that’s never happened to you, then thank God, however, I think most of us, have been right there. This is when, we must find the courage, to stand strong and be “Fearless”. In the face of all the devils accusations, to stand upon all of God’s promises.

God’s is sufficient! King David writes in Psalm 27:1, The Lord is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

If we have nothing more than these words in the middle of the moments when fear says, all hope is gone, just quit, it’s over, then these words from the Psalm are enough!

The challenge for all of us is to be fearless. To stand unafraid. To dare to believe regardless what the enemy throws at us. To trust in Him.
For greater is HE that is in us than he that is in the world.

No matter how chaotic life gets, God is in control. Anything less than complete trust will fail.

He is either “Really God” or he isn’t.

So many times, when life’s noise and busy-ness grow to the highest pitch, we tend to jump in and try to fix life in our own power.

A much better option is to let the one who is the “Maker of the Day”, take care of what we can’t take care of anyway. Finances, relationships, health, family and on and on…..

How awesome is it to be able to place our very existence in our makers hands. His words says that his thoughts towards us outnumber the grains of sand in the ocean.

He knows us. He loves us. He has a plan for every day of our life. He is the great creator, the maker of this life, the maker of the universe….The Maker of The Day!

One of my dad’s big rules growing up, was that once you commit to something, follow through. If I started a football season, I had to finish the season. Same rule applied in every thing else.

I have always tried to live out that teaching in my life. But I have to be honest, when it comes to living out my commitment to Christ, it’s easier to say than do.

It is so difficult to truly give God complete control. To literally say, here it is God, you take everything.

I have heard it said that the only thing that’s bad about being a “living sacrifice” is that we have a tendency to want to crawl off of the altar.

I was raised in the church. I made a commitment at a young age. Little did I know as a 7 year old boy, how hard it would be to live it out.

But I have realized that if I truly look at all that god has done for me and given to me, I can’t help but give everything to him.

My life, an offering, surrendered to God.
Holding nothing back.

The song, “An Offering” on my new project, is an honest lyric that came from an intimate worship time one night. I always feel unworthy of what God has done for me and am amazed that he truly wants me.

Wow, what a thought, God wants me.
How can I not give him my life. To simply lay my life down, as an offering.

One of the things that I love about this song is that my daughter, Maddison, is singing with me on this song.

Many folks that have heard the album, have labeled this song a favorite.

To worship God is to serve.

So often I sing a song of worship with lifted hands or in a quiet moment I give thanks for all that God is.

I truly believe these are forms of worship. These are physical acts of praising and honoring God with my lips from my heart.

However, I have come to find that one of the most beautiful forms of worship is getting involved in the act of serving others in Jesus name.

If I say that I love the lord with all my heart with my lips, then with my life, through serving, I can show it.

A cup of water given in his name. A visit to a friend that needs prayer or comfort. A trip to an orphanage. A night of encouragement in a prison ministry.

In Matthew chapter 25, scripture tells us that whatever we do unto the least of these, we have done it unto him.

It also says in Matthew 4:10 to “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only”.

The final cut on my new album ” Cold Water” is this thought put to song.

I co-wrote this song with Tony Wood. He pulled this idea out one day and showed it to me. Immediately, it convicted me.

Sure,I have led the big uptempo praise songs with a room filled with people singing to the top of their lungs.
I have worshipped in silent adoration, pouring out my heart.

But the question that I can never get away from is this….How long has it been since I rolled up my sleeves and worshipped Christ through serving?

If nothing more, than a simple cup of “Cold Water” in his name.

He who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. Psalms 101:6

All Things New
(2 Corinthians 5:17)

I love a good mulligan. Being a duffer of a golfer, or a hacker, I really count on grace when it comes to my golf game. At times I play pretty good, but there are days when I struggle to play well at all, but a mulligan can make a bad game of golf, all of a sudden get a lot better.

A mulligan is a fresh start, a chance to begin again and get it right. God is all about a mulligan, matter of fact, he invented the mulligan. We were all born into sin, and without God’s unmerited grace, we were doomed.

But God gave us the ultimate do-over, when he saw us in our sin and hopelessness and said here is mercy, here is grace. Sometimes I take for granted the amazing grace that God so freely gives to me. But if I just stop and remember what he saved me from and what I would be without him, I quickly realize, just how blessed I am to be walking in the newness of life that he gives.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ that they are new! All of the old is gone. “The ultimate mulligan”. Our past is gone for good and we have been given a fresh start. How awesome is that?

“All Things New” is a Song about a do-over, a mulligan. I am in awe of the fact that in Christ, “what is old can be made new”, “what’s lost can be found”. The bridge says “I have been a captive of the old, but let the new awake within my soul”. That has been my prayer for quite some time now. I want to walk in the newness of life that God has called me to. Letting go of all of the baggage that weighs me down, so that I can truly live “life” and life more abundantly!!

“All Things New” chorus sums it up:

All things new I’m beginning to breathe
Letting go of everything
Gone is the old man, I am born again
All things new I can finally see
I love what you’re doing in me
I am changing, God you are making
All things new

I encourage all of you, to live in the newness of life, to not live in the old shell, but put on the new shell. No matter how old or young you may be, God is always calling us to a new adventure in him.

I remember what I was doing 9/11/01. I was in Nashville, the night before,4him had premiered the new album “Walk On”, for the Word sales reps and many of our friends in radio. I remember getting up that morning at the Hampton Inn and turning on the television and calling the other guys in astonishment. We all were flying home that morning. Instead of flying, we kept our rental car and we drove quickly back home to be with our families. I remember, my immediately thinking, this world has changed forever, because of what just happened.

Over the following months after 9/11 it seemed that our country was more united than ever before. It seemed to me that the freedom that we had taken for granted, was now greatly treasured. What our enemy meant to harm us, in a way, made our resolve stronger.

With this year being the 10th anniversary of that horrific and heroic day. It seems that the song, “We Will Not Forget” is a fitting tribute for those who lost their lives that day and those, since that day, who serve and have served in our military, on foreign soil and at home, protecting our freedom.

May we never forget the price of freedom, may we always pause to say thanks to those who gave so much, so that we could live freely. Many gave their lives, shed their blood, leaving behind wives, husbands, sons and daughters.

I personally want to say thank you to the families that lost a soldier in wars fought for our freedom. And to honor them, may the song “We Will Not Forget” in some small way remind us all of the sacrifice that was given for us.

You can get the free download of “ We Will Not Forget” at www.markharrisonline.com.
Spread the word to anyone that might want to receive this fee download.

New Album comes out Oct.18. This song is one of 11 new songs on the album “Stronger in The Broken Places”.

Blessings-mh

Stronger in the Broken Places

Doctors say that it is unlikely that a bone can break in the same place twice, because when it heals, it is stronger than before.

We all get bent by the storms of life, at times we even break, and when we are broken, God is there with us, always there to mend us, to heal us, and when we heal, we find that the trial and the storm has made us stronger…. stronger than before!
Stronger In The Broken Places.

Now I wouldn’t typically quote Ernest Hemingway but he wrote, in ” A Farewell to Arms”, The world breaks everyone, and afterwards some are stronger in the broken places,”
I think there is so much truth in that statement

Here is part of the lyric to the new single Stronger in The Broken Places:

Light shines the brightest
In the moment of our desperation
Hope somehow rises
Through the rubble of our desolation

There’s a calm in the storm
Though the winds around us rage
So I hold to the truth
You will bring me through
The darkest of my days

There is beauty in the suffering
Hope can heal what hurt embraces
Through it all I know your making me
Stronger in the broken places

The single is now at Christian Radio
Album comes out in October