As Christians, we are called to be aliens on this planet. We are so different that the world thinks that we don’t belong here. It is, of course, our job, through our lives, to show the world a righteous way of living.
I want to talk about something that I am nervous to bring up because of my position. You will understand clearly in a moment. A few concerts ago, someone came up to me after a show and told me how Skillet has meant so much to him and how he supports us in every way. He told me that he had all of our CD’s and can’t wait for “Collide”. I was honored by that, and then he asked me to sign all of his Skillet CDs, which were all burned from a friends computer!
I have never been one to talk about this out of fear of people accusing me of being stingy. There are some Christians who believe you shouldn’t have to pay for Christian music because it’s God’s message and God’s message should be free. I want to admit that when I was a kid, I copied loads of tapes from my friends! The truth is, everybody did it, and I had no idea that it was wrong.
Most of our fans know me as a man who wants to be honest about what is right and wrong. This is, truthfully, an issue of stealing. I think that what may happen, is that most people think that if you are in a band and have a record in stores, you must be rich! I need to be honest enough to tell you that Skillet has never made one penny on selling our records in stores because it costs so much to make the albums. I am in no way bellyaching! We have a wonderful career from playing concerts and, more importantly, we are successful at seeing people give their lives to the Lord. This is still what Skillet is about, but I am asking that if you want to own “Collide” this year, that you pay for it instead of copying it.
This, of course, is our challenge: to live for Christ when it doesn’t seem to make sense; when everyone is expecting you to do one thing (even your Christian friends sometimes), but you know that God is telling you to do something else; to love your enemies when they hate you. Also, to obey your parents even when you think they are being ridiculous! I know that this is hard, but Jesus did not say that it would be easy! To quote Petra’s album “Not Of This World” (a cool 80’s album!):
“We know that Jesus died for our justification. We grow in His image by suffering tribulation.”
— Rock on!
