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COMPASSION EXPOSURE TOUR - ECUADOR '08

PODCAST 12

DEVOTIONALS

BALLOONS

Romans 15:13
13 May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!
(The Message)

Here's what's on the take. Ever feel like you’re running out of air? Ok, no I'm not a balloon and I don't blow myself up every morning before I head off on my daily routine… but spiritually speaking, ever feel like you have a leak; that all the air that keeps you a float is slowing seeping out? Well to be honest, I certainly have. For a time I seem to have enough "air" to make it in my day-to-day, but over time that "air" starts to expire. I begin to suffocate. I find myself gasping as if I can't breathe, sinking fast in this ocean of life.

A cool time I had with the Lord a while ago…I sat down to pray for our group at our university and the 48-hour Prayer Marathon of which I only signed up for one hour and wow!! The Lord was there in a real way, there to fill my spirit again. All I had to do was go to Him… it was that easy. I wasn't even going to Him for my own needs; He just knows what's up. I'm discovering that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the air we need and the "Air I breathe"!

Much love,
Rob

BIG ENOUGH FOR ALL OF US

Job 36:26
26 Take a long, hard look. See how great he is—infinite, greater than anything you could ever imagine or figure out!
(The Message)

I read something the other day that got me thinking about the vastness and endlessness of God. Ever think why God is this way, so big? Like why is there no end to God or who God is. Well I started pondering it and think Jesus has given me some sort of resolve. Think about how many people are in the world (6 588 772 413 people at the time this was written, it keeps going up). Now think about how each person's life is so complicated with different needs, situations, and predicaments… multiply these by the earth's population. My life is complicated enough. Now think that God said He can meet and will meet all our needs. His character and supply has to be big enough for all of our unique situations. Wow that's intense. Maybe it's all just obvious.

Much love,
Rob

BAND BIO

Life Support is a worship collective / “art rock” ensemble whose passion is to lead people into God’s presence. The band’s second album, “Roar of Heaven” is a thoughtful and compelling call to worship that pushes the musical and lyrical boundaries of the genre.

The bands journey began at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish N.S. when a few friends decided they wanted to change the atmosphere on campus. With a handful of instruments and an abandoned chapel, they began to gather for worship. Within two years the small group of ten exploded into hundreds of students. Many lives were radically changed; God’s Kingdom had begun to invade.

Life Support consists of Deanna Leil (vocals/synths, Alex Stephen (vocals/synths), Chris Lively (bass), Jordan Mattie (guitars/vocals), Rob Reid (guitars/vocals), and Matt Stride (drums).

Life Support has been together for five years and has since moved beyond the walls of St. Francis Xavier University to become missionaries to Canada. The band has been touring their country full time for two years, partnering with organizations for major conferences such as Toronto’s Mission Fest, Global Day of Prayer, BCOQ's Blizzard, Jesus To The Nations, Maritime Youth Convention, and East Coast Convention with Franklin Graham. They are also actively involved in ministering to churches, youth groups, camps, and retreats.

Life Support released their full-length debut in April 2006. Mixed and mastered by Tim Abraham at the Hive in Toronto, the album picked up a nomination for a 2007 East Coast Music Award under "Gospel Recording of the Year." Their song “Out Of Order” was also nominated for a 2006 Canadian Gospel Music Award for “Rock Song of the Year”.

For their second album the band joined forces with Tim again. This time he took on the role of producer, engineer, and mixer. They also teamed up with Craig Douglas (The Craig Douglas Band / The Meeting House) and both Tim and Craig lent a hand to composition. The band spent the spring and summer of 2007 writing and reworking material for their sophomore release. Through the pre-production process, the band began shaping a new, experimental sound with more complex compositions, atmospheric sonic textures, and extended instrumental explorations. The result could be called “art rock” worship, and draws on the influences of Mute Math, Switchfoot, and Hillsong United.

It was Life Support’s desire with this album to capture the sounds of Heaven, creating music that will be an expression and extension of the Kingdom, and ultimately bring glory to God!

The album was recorded between the Hive and Metalworks Studios, Toronto and mastered by Phil Demetro (Our Lady Peace, The Trews) at Lacquer Channel, Toronto. J.T. Daly (Mute Math) of Nashville took care of the album artwork and design.

CHRIS LIVELY

Hey. What's up? My name is Chris and I recommend that you read Brian "Head" Welch's book, "Save me from Myself". Personally, I can't relate to it in the slightest, aside from the love of music. But that guy has one crazy story that is real, open and honest. When it comes to Christianity, I sometimes think that a few of us miss the part about being real and just follow the ideas of what we think a Christian should look and act like. Anyway, I think that Welch paints a really good picture of honest growth and struggle in walking with Christ. Check it out. I was blessed by the book when I read it. I hope that you will be too. Got a book you think I should read?

Most people seem to introduce themselves by defining what they do for a living. I'm gonna try to not do that. Yes, my job is playing the bass, but I hope that there is more to who I am than just music at the end of the day. I hope when people meet and interact with me, something greater than playing a mere 5-stringed instrument radiates from my character. Loyalty, Integrity and Truth are three character traits that I highly value in people. They are traits that I try to daily express in myself. It's a challenge to keep yourself in check with how you want to be presented. Sadly, both people and myself will fail you. There are wonderful intensions made by everyone all over this earth, but selfishness, immaturity and lack of true sincere love has taught us to be focused in one direction. Inward. There is only one person that I know of that takes this worldly fault and puts it to shame. That person is obviously Jesus Christ. I want to be defined by Him. Not by a 9-5 daily routine, or by materialistic possessions or by achievements. All of these things will pass away and be forgotten. But your character and the essence of your being and soul will continue on whether you believe it will or not. The more I learn about Christ and the more I talk with Him, the more I desire to be shaped into His likeness. Seeing the difference of his character compared to mine has overwhelmed me with how much more work has yet to done in my shaping. At the end of the day, I hope that people will physically see Chris, but my actions and character of my lifestyle will be defined by that of Christ's.

Something I've learned, is that it seems like there is always some kind of sacrifice that comes along with doing what you really feel called to do in life. The life that we in this band had to drop in order to follow this calling doesn't even compare to what we’ve been blessed to see and be a part of. We always have to keep re-adjusting our dreams and desires for this band because God always comes through and delivers above and beyond what we expect. We never thought we’d get to do certain things or travel certain places with this music. It’s a continuous wild ride with this family of friend. Worshiping God with them every night truly is an honor. It feels like it's been one extremely long day of adventures and I'm amazed at how much we have already seen and done in this one day.

Looking back I can see how God ordained times of training in my life to set me up for where I am now. Whether I knew Him or not, for some reason He still chose to have certain events take place in my life that gave me (and continues to give) a wider perspective of Him and of this life. He daily blows my mind with why on earth He chose me for such a time as this. But then again, I know that God doesn't make mistakes. So I take this life direction He gave me as an expression of His love onto me.

I hope that the music we chose to play allows the Kingdom of Heaven to invade into your groaning soul and causes you see this Christ I speak of in a new resounding way. After our music has finished, I pray that the love of the King will roar so loudly out of your deepest being that it will challenge others to investigate and experience this love of Christ.

Thanks for the support and reading. Much Love.

Chris

DEANNA LEIL

I remember being a young girl knowing that there was a God and that I could talk to him. One significant memory I have is when I was nine years old and I had gotten in a fight with my best friend. She and I were inseparable, but during this particular fight, we had gone a period of days without speaking. I remember one day after getting home from school being so upset about it that I ran down to my back yard and fell on my knees and poured my tears out to Jesus asking him to fix things between her and I. The following day, I offered to share my recess with her and we became friends again. I won't ever forget that because I knew even as a child that God loved me and that I could go to Him.

My grandmother was a believer and although she passed away shortly after I was born, her faith had a significant impact on my life. Because of her my mother knew that when she had children that she wanted to raise them in the church just as she was. So growing up my family and I attended a baptist church right down the road from my house. Sunday school was always before church but my family would always stay for church as well. Most parents picked their children up and then went home. As we got older there weren't many people our age who went to our church and as a teenager there wasn't a youth group for me to attend. I had a cousin that went to youth group in the city so this one weekend she invited me to go on a youth retreat with her. During that weekend, both my cousin and I commited our lives to Jesus and I realized that there was such a big difference between knowing about Him and knowing Him. When they gave the invitation to go to the alter, I couldn't get there fast enough. My eyes were streaming with tears as I was completely overwhelmed at the realization that Jesus died for me. That moment with God messed me up for days, and I became passionate to tell others about him. A year later at the same retreat, another one of my best friends also gave her heart to Jesus and our friendship became and still is one of the most important in my life. During high school I began to make a lot of wrong decisions and my area of greatest weakness was boys and dating. Many times because of a boy I had a crush on, I would compromise my beliefs and end up doing things that I knew I shouldn't have. I remember as a teenager wanting to be in love so badly. More than anything I wanted a boyfriend. And when I didn't have one, I felt unattractive and unsatisfied. If only I had known then that it wasn't what I really needed.

By the time I started my first year of University I was no longer serving the Lord. By that point I had totally begun to do my own thing in almost every area of my life. Because I was filled with so much guilt about it I stopped praying, and stopped going to church. I knew the Lord was asking me to give up a particular relationship that I just didn't want to and ultimately I chose Him over the Lord. By the end of my first year, everything for me seemed to be falling apart. I was so unhappy with myself and who I was becoming. I realized that without Jesus in my life I lacked the ability to love people the way I wanted to love them. I became a terrible friend, a terrible girlfriend, and terrible sister and a terrible daughter. Starting my second year, I knew I needed a change, I missed Jesus.

Since then, God has done the most amazing things to draw me back to Himself. What a good God He is! Despite all the times I had sold him out He took me back. In every area of my life, where I felt ashamed and ugly, He has spoken of His redeeming love for me. I feel like the woman in Luke chapter 7: 36-50. When you have been forgiven of much, you love much. This is so true. That year I began to meet other christians and started going to a bible study on campus. I also found a church to go to. I had so much to learn! The following three years, I feel like God did a major overhaul on my heart and my mind. He reminded me daily to come to Him open and let Him teach me. One verse that really spoke to me that year was Isaiah 55:8-9. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Boy did I ever know that was true. At that point I knew exactly where my ways got me and it wasn't to good places so I became so desperate for Him to show me His ways. And He did. In every area of my life. I was constantly on my knees asking Him to make me into a woman that pleased Him. I didn't care what it meant that I had to give up, I didn't care what I had to lose to gain Him. I just wanted Him. I am not sure who said this but he was so right. "He is no fool that gives up what he cannot keep to gain what He cannot lose."

It was really cool to be a part of what God was doing on our campus. In the six years that I was there we saw Him touch so many lives. It was incredible!! We started a service called LIFE and put together the band as you know it (minus Matt) and invited people out to hear. Students would share their testimonies about what God had done in their lives and we would just tell the truth about Jesus. We have realized that so many people only know lies about God. But we have seen the truth of Him set them free! It's been incredible. It's almost been two years since I have graduated and we have been touring Canada since with the same message. God is doing awesome things in our country especially in our generation! I am so excited! I know that although He has done so much in me already that I can never let my self think that "I've arrived" or that that's it. He reminds me often to still stay before Him on my knees and let Him teach me and show me new things. Jesus himself said that He did nothing on His own but that He saw what the Father was doing and did it. I am learning how to wait and see what the Father is doing just like Jesus did. It's so easy to want to do your own thing "for God". But I need to learn to do God's thing through Jesus. It's such an adventure serving Him and I am excited for what is still to come!

MATT STRIDE

My first real memory of being in church is when I would conduct the brass band with my wooden baton from the front pew of the Salvation Army church in Halifax, Nova Scotia. My parents were officers in the Salvation Army, and at that time, were the pastors of that church.

Growing up as a Christian was tough, but being a pastor’s kid was even tougher. Even though my parents weren’t pastors for my entire childhood, just having them involved with ministry made it seem like I was supposed to be this perfect child. Quite honestly, I remember very clearly how much I thought church was boring. Thinking back now, it seemed as though I was almost forced to go because of my parent’s position. As a child, it was hard to understand what being a Christian was all about. Sunday school was a nice time to do kids things before the service (coloring etc), and while we were taught bible stories, I couldn’t really see how that applied to my life. It was just like hearing any other story except these stories seemed like they were supposed to be something good or perfect, just like a child’s viewpoint on church.

My life was kind of tough growing up because of the number of locations we were appointed to. I’ve never lived in one place for more than 3 years. I didn’t have these Christian friends from elementary school that everyone I know seemed to have. I always had to meet new friends in every town we moved to.

It wasn’t until junior high when my parents resigned from the Salvation Army that I started to take Christianity somewhat seriously. The promise from my dad was that we weren’t going to move again because he had a job in Ontario working at a hospital with his medical background. We wouldn’t have to be appointed again. I was really happy living in Ajax, and loved going with my youth group to events like Acquire The Fire. It was one of the best times in my Christian walk. In our third year living in Ajax, my dad sat us down and told us that he was being let go from his job, and that there was a potential for moving again. It seems like my family has a 3 year curse no matter if we were forced to move or not. I definitely wasn’t happy about that situation.

We ended up moving to Truro, NS where I am currently residing. The first year was a struggle until I made some friends, and yet again started a new life. I’ve been living there for about 4 years now and I know now that God wanted me to move there for a reason. Living there and having a great group of church friends really enhanced my spiritual life and relationship with the Lord. I was able to use my gifting and passion in music at the local church, as well as be on leadership for an outreach ministry.

When I joined the band in June of 2006, it was definitely one of my wildest dreams come true. Never did I expect that I would have such a great opportunity to travel and worship with people all over Canada. It was a real answer to prayer. I had always been playing drums with secular bands, but I never had the opportunity to use that gifting in a Christian band other than a church worship team. Being in the band has continued to enhance my spiritual walk. It is such a blessing to always be around other Christians who all are in this for the same reason, which is to let people know about Jesus.

I continue to thank the Lord everyday for his blessings in and through my life. Without Him, we are nothing. I encourage you to keep seeking after him. Don’t be ashamed to make his name known to the nation!

JORDAN MATTIE

I'm Jordan from Antigonish, an amazing little town in Nova Scotia. I play guitar in the band Life Support, and sometimes I sing. My favorite band is Switchfoot, and I have a chocolate Lab named Riley, whom I love very much. I have a sister, brother-in-law, and two parents whom I also love very much.

Around eight years ago, I was skateboarding with some friends when I tried to do a trick over a grass hill and cracked my head on the pavement. I woke up in the hospital with a concusion, and realized that I had to take a break from skateboarding. I had already been playing guitar for a few years, and now was the perfect time to get into practicing a little more than I had in the past. I was really enjoying it and started playing with a few buddies in my garage as often as they would agree to.

I ended up going to St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, and studying in the jazz program. It was alright. I was never too pumped about jazz, but I learned a lot of great theory which still helps me immensely in whatever type of music I need to play. I started meeting some good people there too. In my first year, around Christmas time, I remember my dad telling me that there were some students who were using our church to practice once a week because they wanted to start a band. I was so pumped about this. Ever since youth convention in Sackville, NB five years earlier, I wanted to play in a worship band just like the one I saw on stage with the shaggy haired guitarist playing "Everybody Praise the Lord". And now, a few years later in my first year of university, Alex was asking me to join the band consisting of himself, Deanna, Darryl (original bassist), and that same shaggy haired guitarist, Rob Reid. It was a dream come true.

Since then God has blessed the band more than any of us ever thought was possible. We got to play on big and small stages throughout the maritimes, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, and have met so many amazing people. This past year another dream I had came true when we got to write and record a full album in a professional setting complete with the producer and the $11,000 dollar microphones.

This brings us to the present time, where our album "Roar of Heaven" will soon be released. I'm anxiously waiting to see how God uses the album for His glory, and where He'll take the band next. My prayer now is that I will continue to grow in new ways, just as I have been over the last five years the band has been together... in greater faith - that God will provide everything we need as a band, in obedience - the strength to obey God no matter how I feel, in every situation I face, and lastly, in love - for God and for one another, especially when people drive me crazy and I want to live by myself in the woods.

ROB REID

I came to the Lord at a young age… about 5 or so. I can remember my mom taking me to Sunday School and the teacher talking about Jesus as our shepherd… Jesus is standing at the door of our heart wanting to come in and live inside of us and forgive us for our sins… I accepted Him then, and believe I was saved at that time.

A lot has changed and life began to set in as I grew up. I was on the search for Truth and what it meant to be a Christian; what a Christian life looked like. I figured that if I just read the "red words" in the bible and copied them, then I’d be living as a Christian. Well It didn’t take long to figure out that wasn’t going to work. I discovered there were so many commands there that I couldn’t read them all let alone live them!

I have realized that Jesus is alive and living inside us who receive Him. I must surrender to His life and let Him live all the “red” words through me.

It is my greatest desire and passion to express the heart of the Father with this band and my guitar. It is my prayer that God's Kingdom would invade earth through every note, chord, and rhythm.

ALEX STEPHEN

All I can say is that God is so faithful. The verse that says that he never leaves us or forsakes us" has been proved over and over again in my life. I grew up in an amazing Christian family in Toronto with parents who loved me to bits! So every Sunday growing up I would be in church. Through those years God placed some amazing people in my life to mentor me and help me grow in my faith. One lit a spark in me for the game of basketball which ended up taking me to Nova Scotia. I can clearly remember learning about the Maritimes in school but never imagined that God would end up using such a small place to change my life in such a big way.

So,I showed up on the St. F.X. campus not knowing anyone, and almost for my whole first year of university I didn't have any Christian friends to hang out with. Although it was a very difficult year, I grew more spiritually than ever before. There was nobody there to push me or pull me to church. Nobody there to make sure I was spending time with Him everyday. Nobody there to watch over me to make sure I was doing the right things. But I knew that I needed Him more than ever, because all the things of the world were at my fingertips trying to pull me in. So everyday God an I would hang out! It’s cool because in Jude 24 it says, that he "...is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy." And that’s exactly what He did for me first year. Though it was tough, it stretched me more than I can know and brought me to a place where I learned to rely on God alone.

After that year my Jesus journey continued and I went on a mission trip to Africa. Once again God pushed me out of my comfort zone and brought me into a new level of understanding of how awesome He is. I got to see firsthand how God moves miraculously and was overwhelmed by the extreme generosity of the Christians, who were strangers to me. After seeing the Lord change so many lives in Africa it became clear to me that He could do the same on my campus in a little town in Nova Scotia. So I returned from that summer to school with the greatest passion that I have ever experienced to see my generation meet the true Jesus Christ. From there a few people on campus just began to pray for God to move. During this time my mom also passed away and then six weeks later my uncle suddenly died. It was the toughest time in my life. It felt like, no matter what people would say and do, they couldn't comfort me in the place that I needed it. All their sympathetic and loving efforts couldn't reach where it hurt the most. Amazingly, during this painful time I came to understand God’s love in a whole new way. I cannot explain it, but it was almost to the point where I could physically feel Him carrying me through each day. To this day, I cannot explain why these things happened but there is one thing that I know for certain that God is good.

So we continued to fast and pray for our campus and get on our faces before God crying out for him to move. And slowly He began to show us exactly the ways that would be most effective to reach the campus. And though I had no clue as to what I was doing, I ended up singing in a band which became known as Life Support. And to this day I'm just continuing on that journey to see my country and my generation mightily impacted by the compassionate love of our Savior Jesus Christ.