this. THIS.

"i think that there's a growing consciousness that our priorities as a nation are wrong.  that our priorities within our culture and the church are misaligned, and my heart aches to be apart of something different... a shift in culture, a rebirth of purpose and dreams, a redemption of identity.  i want to see greed replaced with brotherhood, and the pain of injustice replaced with love and forgiveness.  i want to be apart of the restoration of the earth, and i know i'm not alone in these yearnings.  i think that as human beings, we're overwhelmed with where to begin and which battles to fight.  we want powerful solutions, and to find our place within those powerful solutions.  as a songwriter, i believe in the power of music and creativity to shake the earth.  but i believe that how i live is more important than what i create, and that the two need to work together.  Jesus once told His disciples that whoever can be trusted with very little can be trusted with much.  to bring forth a culture of forgiveness, i must forgive myself and my shortcomings.  to show the world love, i must fiercely love my wife.  i want to loose the grips of greed and injustice by planting a garden, and sharing meals with friends.  i want to fight hypocrisy in the church by confessing that i struggle daily to walk out what i believe to be true.  i want to change the world by one day being a father, and i want to nurse the dreams of my future children.  i want to be a voice for my generation through the songs that i write, in a spirit of honesty, and i want to sing them with boldness.  i want to shift culture by being faithful in the small, but i want to be brave enough to dream the wild and the impossible.  because we are caged by the fear of the unknown and what we believe to be unattainable, but our wildest dreams are but shadows of the ultimate Creator.  there's a simple, but i think profound line that's been echoed inside of me for the past couple of years: Your heart is my promised land.  i believe that it's a line from the Creator to the creation, and from the creation back to the Creator.  i think it's easy to become cynical and overwhelmed with the current state of our home and our hearts on this earth.  but deep in our bones we are called to rise to something greater.  to pursue love and creativity through our own limitations and the turmoil of this earth, i believe to be the purest of all beauties.  it takes sacrifice, and it reminds us of who we truly are and what we're becoming.  it leaves a name for a land, a home, that we have claims but haven't fully entered.  the earth itself begins to heal."

-the great john lucas.

​IF YOU'D RATHER WATCH THIS THAN READ IT, CLICK THIS AMAZING VID HERE.

^^ (the amazing anna mateffy took this pic of me) ^^