Dying for Life

In my early 20’s I went through a season of dying to self (it was actually the first of many)! I can still list out all the situations and pain that I endured through that year. But the thing that sticks out in my mind the most is my reaction to the pain. You see, I was at a crossroads in life. My understanding of God up to that point was that “if I do the right things and don’t do the wrong things, then God was on my side and He would keep evil and pain far from me.” When that year overtook me, I wasn’t sure what to do. All of what I believed had been brought into a courtroom, with plenty of evidence supporting that I had been wrong, but it felt at that point like there was no other direction that was pointed at God. And so I turned away. I spent the next months literally constructing a wall in order to keep me safe from all the things I had understood about Him. I stopped going to church, I stopped reading my bible, or any books about God, I stopped praying, I stopped talking about God. I literally quit religion cold turkey.

stephen santosJanuary 8, 2020

Pieces of Jesus (A modern parable for current events.)

Years ago I wrote a song called ‘Pieces of Jesus’.

It is the story of a small village that was visited by Jesus himself. Once they saw all that He offered they were beside themselves with excitement. The whole village came and listened to Jesus and begged him to stay, and so he did. They built him a house in the middle of the village and would visit him daily. At some point they began to understand more and more about the cost of Him being there. Once they realized that the sacrifice that was required on their part was great, many stopped coming around.