I always knew I wanted to run my own record label and design product, but I never knew how hard it would be. I remember standing before a crowd of over 1000 people and hearing them sing along to He's My King. As I'm walking off stage to the roar of a packed venue, I'm thinking to myself, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Heart pounding; adrenaline rushing...what a feeling.
Then it all fell apart. Getting emails from a teenager explaining how a song you've written helped them rethink committing suicide, or a mom thanking me for providing good music for her kids. The early mornings spent discipling...all of the compliments became a source of bitterness for me. I became ungrateful.
The story behind WRSHP is a common one rarely expressed out loud. I was drowning. My company was dying. I had went from running a record label into the late hours of the night and touring with a band, to the everyday grind of just my day job. I've been a banker for 10 years now. A month after I finished college I landed the job at a small bank as a way to fund my band. I figured I would be there 3 years max...ha! Boy did God have different plans for me.
TAKING THE LEAP
On the cusp of taking our record label and non-profit full time, we moved to Dallas, a much larger metropolitan area in Texas than the small town of Nacogdoches. Upon arrival, we faced a slew of roadblocks that hindered the label from growing. I watched my peers who started around the time I did excel while we kept hitting dead ends. I became extremely angry with God...
I remember the day I packed up all of my equipment and closed the door to my home office for what I thought was the last time in an artistic capacity. I had just released Red October in 2013 and in January, I started emailing and calling every venue I had booked to cancel them all. That was tough. There was one city I was looking forward to flying to in particular that year.
Then I spent 2 years searching for happiness and relief from the pain of it all in the darkest corners of my heart. Needless to say, that didn't work. In fact, it made things worse. I found myself entangled in sin that I'm still working to undo. My life looked great on the outside, but internally, I was dying...insert WRSHP.
WRSHP
1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
In the middle of being completely lost in regards to direction for my life, God gave me direction. Give thanks in all circumstances. From my view, my circumstances were not great. I had a home, great kids and a loving wife, but no sense of what to do next with my life. So I started working to be grateful. I was complaining way too much...still do. God's grace on my life was extremely visible but I was blind to it. All of the bitterness, jealousy, and envy was crowding my judgement. God used Drew Weeks to inspire me...
And that's how WRSHP was born. Less complaining, more WRSHP. So here I am, building my new lifestyle brand, Art of Homage, around inspiring others to be grateful. I love it because everyday I'm thinking of ways to help people and continue to be grateful myself.
So whatever you do, in whatever business you're dreaming of starting or pursuing...you can do it! You may fail miserably, you may succeed beyond your wildest dreams, but either way...you'll find yourself trusting God more deeply if your life is set on praising Him with your life. He has to be your anchor. I'm convinced that you can be great. You just have to get after it...wrestle with your comfort and go get it.
Do me a favor and write your goals down this week. Don't let another day go by without taking action; you can't get where you're going if you don't start taking even the smallest steps, daily! and secondly...share this post :))