In beginning I would like to thank you for this opportunity; to take a few minutes of your very valuable time to share a bit of my heart with you on this digital canvas.
I love music, but really I love the lyrics. But more than that its the passion behind these lyric, its the drive, the experiences that give the lyrics their power. It is this power that began the 116 life for me.
I guess its been 3 or 4 years ago that I heard a song that really got me thinking about life. Lecrea is a christian hip-hop artist, two genres that don't normally fuse together well. Lecrea has a song titled "Unashamed" and as I began to listen to the song and to hear the words hit my chest, as they whirled around my thoughts I began to think about life. Specifically life as a christian, life as a child of God, life as a sinner who has been showered in a grace that is so powerful that most of the time it does not make sense. Those lyrics and the emotions that developed brought about my view on the 116 life.
...the 116 life (the one, one, six life) This 116 life is not a beginning, its not new, its not something I developed, its not something I determined, it is truly a gift from God alone. "The 116 Life" is a lifestyle based on Romans 1:16, its a battle cry, "I will not be ashamed!!!" Its a lifestyle that can only take a hold of you if you have been completely touched by the overwhelming grace that was purchased for you on the cross. Its a lifestyle that may not come natural to us, but it something that has been lived before me and it will continue after me.
I aspire to live the 116 life, I am driven by a passion for life, a passion for truth, and ultimately humbled by a love that crosses all boundaries, and love that over came fear, pain, death and rose victoriously on the third day. I have no reason to be ashamed of a God who looks at me, at you, and speaks through actions, who does not let his words fall to the ground. His words, his actions, his love moves through this world, he sustains, he uplifts, he humbles, he builds up...and he does it from a platform of love. A love that gives and gives and gives, and expects nothing in return for that love. Its a love that is difficult to understand and more difficult to live out, but we strive for a life that leads from this platform of love.
I could go on and on, but in this nutshell, I have described what the 116 life means to me. I pray that you too strive to live the 116 life; that your passions bleed through into this hurting world, a world that cries out for truth, and for meaning.
