Andy Reuter has done an edit of HANDS to help point attention to HAITI and the work of a cool organization called SWEET SLEEP. We know these guys well and believe their doing something truly unique and lasting in Haiti. Please join them in their work by making a donation HERE.
I heard this question posed on CNN this morning as commentators marveled at the worship and thanksgiving that was springing up on the streets of Port-au-Prince this morning. My limited exposure to the hurting and oppressed around the world in places like India, China, Eastern Europe and Southern Africa have suggested to me that the question “where is God in tragedy?” is uniquely American. Perhaps it is a question uniquely asked among the wealthy, the self-reliant.
We who have been given so much struggle to understand how a loving God could subject his children to discomfort, tragedy, suffering, or need. Honestly, I have little stomach for discomfort. I have assumed that surely my best good will be found in the escape of suffering and lot along its path. Surely the love of God would be proved to me in the removal of suffering from my life.
Even a cursory search of the Bible exposes a vastly different worldview than the one by which we in the west weigh our lives. Difficulty and even tragedy are viewed as a path to walk, a journey toward a destination. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful. But later on it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace” (Hebrews 12:11) As the church of the New Testament faced persecution and death, they were instructed to view their suffering as an honor (1 Peter 4). In the same way, the apostle Paul did not hide the myriad tragedies he faced as though they threatened the existence of a loving God. Instead, he boasted in them as a deeper proof of God’s patient shaping presence with him (2 Corinthians 6). We ask, “wouldn’t God keep his children from facing persecution.” The answer of the first century church would surely have been, “please do not remove this honor from us. Please do not rob us of this journey”
Further, when God decided to introduce Himself to the world in the person of Jesus, He did so by trading in crowns and palaces for swaddling clothes and a manger. He came to a persecuted people and was born into poverty. Suffering is not only true to the human condition, it is a core expression of Immanuel, God With Us. Jesus is not God’s removal of suffering from the world (though that day will come – Revelation 21). Jesus is the icon of God’s presence in the midst suffering. The Holy Spirit is God’s avatar with us in all that we face.
Among the urban poor in Mumbai, the rejected Roma of Eastern Europe, the earthquake refugee camps of the Sichuan province of China and even in my own relatively safe and comfortable experience in New Orleans in 2005, there is a very clear sense that God is present in the middle of suffering. God is not present with the purpose of removing suffering from us, not in this brief life. Instead, at our point of deepest dependance, God proves Himself as deeply dependable.
How can the followers of Jesus give him thanks and praise in the middle of such tragedy? How can a loving God allow suffering and tragedy like that in Haiti? Where is God? I’ll allow U2’s Bono to answer better than I could from his sermon at the National Prayer breakfast in 2006: “God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill… I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff… maybe, maybe not… But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.”
I am back home from an amazing songwriting adventure in Mumbai, India. Can’t wait to share songs and stories with you. The One Most High God is drawing people to Himself everywhere I go. It may be months or years before i even understand what God is doing among 1.5 billion Indians but it was easy to see the way God was active with Arif, Samir, Satala, Danielkahn, Jai, and a hundred others.
Before the stories begin I will sleep much and write disgruntled letters to Suntrust, AT&T, and Continental. In the meantime you can see images, videos, and stories at mreport.org. 
Chasen, David and I had a great start to the summer in North Carolina. We are working with a giant staff of creative and faith-filled leaders and it’s been fun to pretend we’re a part of their team this week. The camp pastor was RYAN FONTENOT and we really loved hanging out with this guy. A powerful communicator.
I will be here at Ridgecrest a total of 5 weeks over the summer so I’ve gotten to know the local coffee shop, The Dripolator quite well. Organic, fair-trade, and every cup is a work of art. A great place to listen, reflect, refresh.
We actually received copies of the new record this week. It’s fun to actually have it in my hand. It has showed up early on iTunes as well. 
CLICK HERE to open iTunes and find the record. No big New Release fanfare but if you dig the new record, leave a comment to let others know what songs they should buy. We’ll have copies of the record on the road with us all summer and a proper release will come later. *NOTE* If you buy a physical copy of the new record you actually get 2 records and some other bonus features too. Inside the packaging is a promo code to download the worship record “Make It Loud” from my site as well as other random bonus features (for example a weird remix is posting before the end of July).
Folks were asking this week for some of the songs we’re using in worship and so I put together an iMix in iTunes with most of them. Some of the songs (ie “Open hands”) are too new to be on there but most are HERE: James Tealy’s Worship iMix 09
. We’ll keep live streaming worship whenever and wherever we can so check back here often to join us over the summer.
See ya along the road,
James
I just added some new songs to THE MYSPACE PAGE. This record is WAY more pop than I’ve done in the past. I’m extremely proud of it but nervous too. I kept it cheap and did most the production, engineering and mixing myself. That leaves me feeling a bit self-conscious about “The Hardest Step to Land.” There’s no one to blame but me! The lyrics on this record are really important to me and I’m stoked to share them with you.
“Known” is a challenge to the way we posture and pretend. It’s a call to shine some light on “all the hurt and shame you carry, all the tears and pain you’ve buried, every broken dream and every doubt.”
“Hands” is a response to some quotes that stunned me. Oswald J Smith said “We talk of the Second Coming; half the world hasn’t heard of the first.” Currently more than 56% of the world’s population has little or no access to the story of Jesus. Crazy! Jim Elliot said “He is no fool who gives up what he can not keep to gain that which he can not lose.” Love is the language the whole world speaks!
“Teach Me How to Pray” is one of my favorites on the new record. As a professional wordsmith, I am so often left wordless when I pray. I think I’m learning how to listen.
“To The Nations” is a rich worship tune I’ve been using for the last few years. My friends, the Espy brothers gave birth to this simple gem a few years back and it remains my anthem. “Send us to the nations, to the broken. Lead us to surrender. We will go.”
So I may rotate out the songs as I get a clearer sense of what you want to hear but I at least have started with a few of my favorites. I’m still aiming to have product at shows by June 2nd. That seems less and less likely with each passing day but I’m still trying! HERE’S THE LINK AGAIN.Enjoy the new tunes and spread the word.