It’s been nearly two months since I was down in FL with the family. We had so much fun visiting with old friends and making new ones. I so enjoyed the opportunity to worship and share some of my music with you.

I want to thank you for inviting or coming out to hear us play in August! It was such a blessing to see so many familiar faces and hear such encouraging words.

Here is the update on the CD and future happenings. The CD is in the works, but the pace has slowed a bit. We are hoping to have five songs complete, and as they say radio ready, by the end of the year (likely, before Christmas). My producer tells me I was a bit optimistic about our October release date.

However, we do have something to offer you while you wait for the CD. My husband, Brian, being in the film business, is occasionally able to pull a few strings. What I’m trying to say is that we made a music video of a new song I wrote called, “Christmas Day.” We will be finished with this single in October, and it will be available to purchase as a song and video!

Current Happenings
We are busy preparing for two events. The first is Saturday November 1st. We were invited to play at InterVarsity’s “Nashville Urban Dip” this year! College students from across Tennessee will converge on Nashville for a short mission project/conference. We will be providing a time of worship and entertainment for the students on Saturday evening.

Please pray for these students – that they would have a good time and allow God to move through them and in their midst.

The second event is a Cystic Fibrosis Fundraiser on November 6th. We are simply the background music for this worthy cause. Please pray for their fundraising efforts and that our musical choices would be appropriate for this evening.

Lastly, I ask for your prayers as we continue to push forward with recording, editing (the video) and pursuing God as a family and as artists. I look forward to sharing more with you very soon.

Thank you. I welcome your emails.
In Christ’s Hands,
JP Murie
www.myspace.com/jpmurie

Expectation

The word Expectation has been arising a lot lately. I’ve heard numerous people say they are expectant, waiting in anticipation of what God is about to do. These people are not passively waiting, but passionately praying and listening for God’s voice. There is a sense that something big is around the corner.

Webster’s dictionary defines Expecting in this way: to anticipate or look forward to the coming or occurrence of. It says elsewhere that the word expect implies a high degree of certainty and usually involves the idea of preparing or envisioning.

A few months ago, God put this word in my heart too. I was drawn to the book of Acts, remembering how God told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem.

Acts 1:3-5, 8
“After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit’ …But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."”

Jesus had just died a painful and humiliating death on the cross and then had risen from the dead! Now, here he is with his disciples, and he gives them a command – Wait. He follows up that command with a promise. He promises the disciples that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them. He says they will testify to the things they have seen.

I’m sure the disciples had no idea what this Holy Spirit was, what it would look like or even when it would come. Yet, they wait. They wait because they know Jesus. They have touched him. They have eaten with him. They have witnessed this man’s power over death! They believe in Him.

They wait, with purpose. They wait with expectation – the kind of expectation defined by a high degree of certainty. They continue to pray and wait preparing for what God is about to do.

Likewise, we are here waiting in expectation, preparing for what God is about to do.
So, what is God about to do?

We can catch a glimpse if we examine what God did just days later on the day of Pentecost. God made good on his promise; he poured out his Spirit!

Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

The disciples’ expectation was well-founded. God poured out his Spirit and as a result 3000 people became followers of Christ in one day? Not only did they confess with their mouths, but they began to make serious changes in their lifestyles, selling possessions, giving to others as they had need. I believe God is reminding us today of what he did in the early church because he desires to pour out his Spirit again.

The prophet Joel writes in chapter 2:

28 "And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

God is getting ready to pour out His Spirit again – on all people. But, he says he will do it afterward – after what? The preceding verses answer that question,

12 "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."

13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God
for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.

14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.

He says that he will do this after we have repented. God is calling us as individuals, as a church and as nations to repentance. Repent, because the kingdom of God is near.
If we stop right there, it’s easy to get hung up in the guilt associated with repentance because it involves us dealing with our sin.

But, the whole point of repentance is to get rid of our sin. We give it to Jesus, who already paid for it, and Jesus gives us freedom. “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”

What good news!

In truth, God is calling the church to freedom, so that we might call those in the world to freedom! It’s time.

Bring IT!!!

It pains me to think of how bad I am at disciplining myself. The list of my inadequacies is long. Chiefly, I find it difficult to set boundaries. I’m so afraid of being pigeonholed or caged. I’d compare my fear to that of an animal being backed into a corner. The animal is scared and unsure - desperate to know where there is a route of escape, another possible option.

I like this escape clause; it states, “If I don’t like it here, I can make a run for it. If I feel threatened, there is a way out to safety.” But, a corner leaves no option. At this point, the animal must fight or back down.

The fight often means expending energy in futility which leads to frustration, confusion and sometimes injury. Backing down signifies defeat, giving up and admitting that there is nowhere else to go. This acceptance is a frightening reality, but one with which we must come to terms with.

I find it scary to be confined. Once I submit myself to specific boundaries, it means that I can’t do what I want, when I want. This frightens me.

I’m a big LOST fan, and this analogy will make sense if you follow the best TV show ever written. The hostiles on the island, or The Others, have been making their way back and forth between two islands by way of submarine. Their leader, Ben, insists that the submarine provides a type of “security blanket,” which creates within them a peace of mind concerning living on the island. These people have always exercised their free will to stay on the island with the knowledge that they could leave at anytime by way of submarine (so we’re told). Once the submarine is destroyed things change.

Likewise, once our security blankets are stripped away things change. It’s this change that will bring about something radical in me – something that has little to do with my own efforts, but everything to do with God’s power. I know that kind of change is exactly what I want and what God wants in me. He wants me to let him remove everything that I hold onto – so that I might know that He is enough. This is a daily process which involves discovering who God really is and learning how to trust Him and if He really is trustworthy. What I know right now is I want to know God more. I want him to move in my life and if that requires change then bring it!!!

JP sings @Casablanca

Join the groupies, and bring a friend!
(leave your crayons at home)

Come to Casablanca this Saturday night 6:30-8:30pm (White House, TN)


JP Murie and Jake Cooper will perform some of their originals LIVE!


Have some coffee, sit back and enjoy the music.

In Session

It was one of the best days of my life, and I spent it in a little control room. The monumental day - January 24th. I began recording my first album, "You Wrecked Me"

We recorded 9 songs. I've never been associated with such brilliance and humility in the context of music as I was on this day. It was amazing to see the words and tunes that I had labored over come to life. And they DID!


So, if you didn't know -- I'm recording a CD. Yea!!! All the songs are originals that I have written over the past year. If I had to pick a genre or style I would call it INDIE/ROCK/CHRISTIAN.


We laid all of the instrumental tracking this week, but we haven't started on vocals yet. We're hoping to be able to release it in the Spring and start limited touring after that.

I'm still praying the details through. God has brought us this far and we don't want to run ahead of him. I would appreciate your prayers and support. When I have singles that I'm ready to let you hear I'll post them on MySpaceMusic and PureVolume.com


In general the family is good. I'm a little foggy presently, but God is good and He has a plan.