Friday Cocktail

This week, for the Friday Cocktail, I am featuring an artist from my past, like before. Only I'm going in a different direction this time. This week I'm going to get a little more personal..

For most of my high school days (along with all elementary) I attended a Christian School. I was raised in Church and Church schools. In my teen years, I began to stray from God. What with my crazy family life and the normal teenage angst, I began to lose my faith. When I decided it was time to stop and turn things around, I planned on getting baptised again. A couple of friends of mine, who I went to church with every Sunday and had a weekly bible study with, told me I wasn't ready to be baptised again. They talked me out of it. After that I noticed little things about them. How after church on Sundays they would take me straight home, instead of going to their parents or grandparents house for lunch like we use to do. Shortly after that they stopped coming over for bible study. Can you see where this is going? Eventually they stopped taking me to church on Sundays as well. When I was at a crossroad in my life, a time of need, they abandoned me. I easily lost my faith after that. Don't get me wrong, I still believe in God. I just don't believe in Christians anymore.I find it hard to trust anyone from a church. I would like to start going back to church someday, I just don't know how. (see told you I was going to get personal..)

Moving on, here is my pick of the week for Friday Cocktail:

Shaded Red

Shaded Red was a popular Christian alternative rock band formed in 1993 by brothers Jamie Roberts (Vocals and Guitar) and Jonathan Roberts (guitars, bass, trumpet, piano). In 1997 they released their debut self-titled album. They quickly became popular and were the featured opening act for Petra's "We Need Jesus" tour in 1997. On January 11, 1998, the band was struck by tragedy when their tour bus hit a patch of black ice in route to a concert. Drummer, Chris Yeomen was killed and Jon Roberts was left with a shattered pelvis. It was at this time the band considered calling it quits but decided to press on instead. In 1999,the band released their second album entitled Red Revolution. The band has since broken up.

I got the chance to see them on the "We Need Jesus" tour when I was in high school. They signed my jeans. I didn't have a CD or anything else for them to sign, so I plopped my leg on the table and asked them to sign it(too bad I don't still have those jeans..). I'm featuring 2 songs by them today.

The first song, from the 1st album, is "Use Me", and is my favorite song by them. It really spoke to me in high school, and still does.

The second song is off their 2nd album , which admittedly, I have not listened to. It's called "When God Ran". It is a beautiful song on its own, but the young man in this video makes it even more so. He is signing the song in ASL (American Sign Language). I love when songs are signed. When I was younger, at church I would have the urge to start signing the worship songs instead of sing them.

I know the sound was a bit hard to hear on that last one so I'm including the words to the song for you all.

Shaded Red - When God Ran lyrics

Almighty God,
The Great I Am,
Immovable Rock,
Omnipotent,
Powerful,
Awesome Lord,
Victorious Warrior,
Commanding Kind Of Kings,
Mighty Conqueror

And the only time,
The only time I ever saw Him run
Was when He ran to me,
Took me in His arms
Held my head to his chest,
Said my son's come home again
Lifted my face,
Wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice
He said son,
Do you know I still love you?
It caught me by surprise,
When God ran

The day I left home,
I knew I had broken His heart
I wondered then
If things could ever be the same

Then one night,
I remembered His love for me
And down that dusty road
Ahead I could see

It's the only time,
The only time I ever saw Him run
When He ran to me,
Took me in his arms
Held my head to his chest,
Said my son's come home again,
Lifted my face,
Wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in his voice,
He said son,
Do you know I still love you?
It caught me by surprise,
It brought me to my knees
When God ran

I saw Him run to me

And then I ran to Him

Holy One
Righteous Judge
He turned my way
Now I know
He's been waiting for this day

And then He ran to me,
Took me in his arms
Held my head to His chest,
Said my son's come home again,
Lifted my face,
Wiped the tears from my eyes,
With forgiveness in his voice,
I felt His love for me again

He ran to me
Took me in His arms
Held my head to His chest,
Said my son's come home again,
Lifted my face,
Wiped the tears from my eyes,
With forgiveness in his voice,
He said son,
He said son,
My son,
Do you know I still love you
Oh!
He ran to me
When God ran

In conclusion to my being all personal today, I sent an email to that said friend the other day. I actually wanted to thank him for what he did. The way I see it, he, in a way helped mold me into the person I am today. Yeah I had to go through a lot, and I mean a lot, of crap to get here, but it was worth it. Had I not gone down the wrong path, I never would have moved to Arkansas. It took 8 years of living in Arkansas and even more crap to find the wonderful man I am married to. My husband is truly the love of my life and my perfect match. He is my one and only, my soul mate. So I thanked said friend for abandoning me in a time of need so I could find my wonderful husband. I haven't gotten a response yet and I really don't expect to..

I hope you enjoyed this weeks artist, and sorry if I babbled on too much. I rarely get this personal, so deal with it!♥