What Race Will You Run in 2015?

January 6, 2015 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Freedom from the album The Voice (recorded at the George Lucas Skywalker Sound Studio). If you enjoy, consider purchasing the CD, MP3 Album, or Sheet Music at stantonlanier.com (the song is also on iTunes, Amazon , Spotify, Pandora, and more).

As I was jogging this morning, this idea came to mind… What race will I run in 2015?

What race will you run in 2015?

Then I thought, “What kind of races are there? There is the human race, which we are all “running.” There is the rat race, which we can choose (or choose not) to participate in. Can you think of others?

Then I asked, “What if in 2015, I run the Freedom Race?” Here is what I mean…

I believe in freedom for all. My heart has been moved by organizations like the International Justice Mission www.ijm.org, rescuing and protecting the poor from oppression and slavery, and the End it Movement www.enditmovement.com, raising awareness for the 27 million men, women, and children trapped in slavery today, and helping END IT. However, with the phrase “Freedom Race” I am referring to something that drives our hearts from the inside out.

Psalm 119:32 says, “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (NIV, 1984 version). When I was composing the Scripture inspired piano for this song in 2004-2005, the music had “running” parts and a “pausing to listen” section, to illustrate the importance of reflecting in the midst of the “race.” As I grow in my desire to know God, to know His Word, to have faith, and to listen for His still small voice (the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit), this “Freedom Race” becomes an unparalleled life adventure, filled with moments of marvel and wonder.

Will you run the “Freedom Race” with me in 2015?

Day 31, 31 Days of December Peace ~ Confetti Moments

December 31, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring as you read. This unique arrangement is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Even though I have played the piano or keyboard over 500 times for concerts, events and groups of all sizes, I haven’t been to that many concerts in my life. On July 2, 2012 I got to go with a friend to see Coldplay live in Atlanta. The audience was captivated from the opening moments. Confetti was blown in huge volume from the stage to the ceiling throughout the second song. Then, it floated back down over the crowd in millions of pieces. This was followed by huge, colorful, air-filled balls being hit into the air across the arena. All kinds of celebration symbols were lavished on everyone like it was New Year’s Eve. It was magnificent.

Here is what I learned…

1. Humankind Loves to Behold Beauty. Rainbows of colors and lighting illuminated the stage, the band members, the confetti, and the computer programmed sparkling wristbands (that everyone in the audience was wearing). These experiences illustrated C. S. Lewis’s words that our greatest moments of beauty, adventure and intimacy in this life are glimpses of heaven. Also, that God planted eternity in the human heart. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

2. Humankind Longs for Hope. C. S. Lewis once wrote, “All joy… emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.” Pleasure, comfort, safety, security, good health, provision, enjoyment, seeing the world, loving people… these are some of the ways in which we look for and long for hope. The list could go on and on. G. K. Chesterton adds, “I had always felt life first as a story; and if there is a story there is a storyteller.” The idea that my life is part of a greater story gives me hope.

3. Humankind Loves Moments of Wonder and Adventure. C. S. Lewis also said, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” There is this hard wiring we are born with. One part says guard your life, another part says go for it – “it” being experiences of wonder and adventure. Life moments that make our heart race – like being mesmerized by nature, taking a faith risk, or serving others in love – are worthy pursuits.

What beauty are you beholding today? What hope are you longing for? Where are you feeling nudged toward wonder and adventure in the New Year? Watch for life’s confetti moments…

31 Days of December Peace: Day 27 ~ Where Did All the Time Go?

December 27, 2012 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

The new 31 Days of December Peace eBook is available for only $4.99. Download at stantonlanier.com or the Amazon Kindle Store.

On the one hand it is just another month. Through the demands of other’s expectations and crowded calendars, the routine takes over and seems to direct us wherever it wants us to go. Each week is filled with days passing by and each increases in velocity. It can seem quite mundane in the routine busyness of it all. Or worse, it can be a blur of to dos that leave us feeling empty and worn out.

And yet, the fact that December is the final month of the year distinctly sets it apart. Regardless of the type of year we have experienced, it closes that chapter. As we begin turning this page, the ending comes with a new beginning. Something magical happens in us as we realize the passing of time that has occurred; the brevity of this life becomes clearer in our thoughts. We ask ourselves and each other, “Where did all the time go?” as we secretly hope that something meaningful was achieved.

But before we can see the shadow cast completely, December ushers us into in an overwhelming rush of joy, brilliance and awe. We learn again and again… that the world we live in, filled with the beauty and pain of our humanity, has been pierced with the invasion of a supernatural Savior. Rescue has come. Rescue is here. Love becomes real, for Love took on flesh. In the most amazing story in all of human history, God became one of us.

Turning an eye to a new starting line with hope of how we can live out the coming chapter with more vigor, more urgency and yet have greater Peace, we see the opportunity for redemption of time and we can live more contentedly.

So when we see this rightly, December leaves us grateful. Let us write the next year’s chapter well.