Why Not?

Can one man or one woman shake a nation?  Can just one make so much noise for heaven here on earth that an entire nation hears it?

I recently downloaded Jake Hamilton (Jesus Culture)'s new album, Freedom Calling (http://www.jesusculture.com/freedomcalling/).  The first song on the album is titled, "War Drums".  Towards the end on the song he begins to chant, "Someone in this generation is gonna make a noise that's gonna shake a nation", to the sound of militant drums and earth shaking bass.  There was such a glory that enveloped what he was saying and the way he was declaring it.  It ripped right to the core of my heart.

I began to think about the people we have spent time with in the last year that have shook nations.Mel Tari (Indonesia), Heidi & Rolland Baker (Mozambique), Michele Perry (Sudan), Richard Roberts (Nigeria).   I personally spent time with each one of them in the last 5 months and can tell you the one thing they all have in common is that they are all common.  In other words, they are no different than you and I.  They are men and women who decided they were going to leave a mark for His Kingdom. 

Many times the difference between a "nation shaker" and a "pew warmer" is that one decided to believe the simple child like truths of the Word and decided to lay everything down for the sake of the Kingdom.  Not a specific church, but the Kingdom. 

In "War Drums", Jake H. goes on to exhort the people at the end of the track by asking "Why not now?  Why not you?  Why not right now?  Why not, why not?."

So I write to ask you, why not now?  Why not you?  Why not?  Why not make enough noise to shake a nation?  Do you think the people God has used to shake nations in church history were any different or more important to God than you? Why not right here in a church in Sarasota or in your city?  Why not RIGHT NOW?

Pastor Dan Minor
The Harvest
Sarasota, FL