Dillon Reservoir, aka Lake Dillon, is situated up in the mountains approximately 70 miles west of Denver, Co. In 1961, the city of Denver decided that it needed a water reserve in the high country and they dammed what was the small lake of Dillon and a convergence of a couple of rivers, flooding the original town of Dillon, Co. and the surrounding valley. While visiting the area a while back I was blown away to find out that I was sitting in a café that had been moved from down in the valley and the old town of Dillon to the new location, now at the edge of the reservoir along with many homes in 1960 before the valley was flooded. I couldn’t believe what crazy lengths people went to for this endeavor but with further probing I discovered that the reservoir now provides water to upward of 1.3 million people in the Denver area. That is a lot of need. That is a lot of life. Because of this, the Denver Water company has strict guidelines about people using the lake, boats on the lake and even being near the lake to protect their water source and thus the life source of so many Coloradans.

It was no wonder that I thought about this reservoir the other day when I read Proverbs 11:4. It says,

“A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart,
but a principled life can stand up to the worst.”

Another beautiful valley and trees were not what the city of Denver needed. When the city of Denver is in draught, the people are able to make it due to the fact that they have planned and stored up and protected the water they need. This verse is making the same statement to me, giving me a clue in life that when I am in a state of draught, money will be of no help. Although this is not what the world would tell us, money, with her allure and empty promises, cannot stand up to the worst BUT a principled life can. A reservoir of righteousness delivers every time.

Maybe, you have stockpiled the wrong thing, or even nothing at all, but you are starting to notice that you are in need of a reserve. Life is pulling on you, drawing from you and you are looking around, frantically for a source of deliverance.

Principled- Imbued with or having moral principles.

Righteous- Morally right or justifiable. Acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous.

Begin making a plan. Move stuff around in your life, even if it is hard or seemingly impossible, like moving an entire home up a hill to make way for a valley’s flooding. Don’t let you mind linger on the old things that will be no longer be available, because there is no room for both greed and moderation and generosity. Avarice and righteousness cannot abide together, so don’t grieve for it. Instead dam the valley and store up what can stand up to the worst in life. Stockpile virtue

A little while back I had the awesome opportunity to travel down to Orlando, Florida to the offices of Relevant Magazine. I was going to record 5 live performances in their very cool acoustic sessions studio and I was thrilled. I had seen many of the live acoustic sessions that they had put out with people like Gungor, Paper Route, Daniel Bashta, and John Mark McMillan and was a bit in awe that I would be able to come alongside these super talented musicians and add my music to the air of that studio.

I gathered up my harpist, the greatly talented Timbre Cierpke, and my rad girl drummer Darla Hawn and met up with Relevant Magazine’s founder, Cameron Strang, session producer Chad Michael, my favorite videographer Michael Dalton as well as two other videographers. There were 5 cameras rolling at once and we played, with every fiber of our beings, 5 of my songs off of my new album “Current.” Now with the release of this new album on Tuesday, Relevant has posted 3 of the live videos for any and all to see. I am going to post those 3 here and I hope you enjoy enough to pass them along, because we sure had a blast in their making.

“We Should Run-Acoustic Relevant Session”

“Joy Comes In-Acoustic Relevant Session”

“Galaxy Former-Acoustic Relevant Session”

I feel as if I have been holding my breath. I suppose melodically I have and now, today, with the help of Integrity Music I am pushing out a great exhale. Today my cd “Current” releases. Go check it out. Click the link on “Current” and go look on iTunes right now…

yep,

there it is.
See, I try to not be a liar.

These songs are for you. I hope you enjoy.

****Now I begin holding my breath while wondering what you think…ahhhhhh

I am soooo excited! Some of you may remember that a few months ago I gathered a large group of some very talented musicians and we filmed live versions of 5 of the songs from my upcoming cd “Current.” I have already released one of those live videos for the song “Calling, Calling” and am right this minute releasing the second one, “Galaxy Former.” I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed filming it. Please pass it along to your friends to help spread the word about my new cd and I would love to hear your thoughts as well. So watch the video and then scroll right down below and leave me a comment

Yippee!

“Galaxy Former- Live Performance Video”

Picture via RelevantMagazine.com

I can’t believe I am only one week away from the release of my new CD “Current.” Already today I am sitting in shock that Relevant Magazine has my CD up for anyone to listen to on “The Drop.” Already I am having people listen and contact me about how it is impacting them. Whoa! This is blowing my mind. Thank you to all the tree like branches who are getting word about my new CD out there and to all of you who are newly finding these songs.

I feel like next Tuesday will be spent with all the air making a steady exit from my lungs. The great exhale. That is what these songs on this new cd are, an exhale of the things I have been mulling over, learning, contemplating, wrestling with, running from and running to. These are the words, wrapped in melody that describe a heart that desires to stand alongside her Creator/Savior. These are the words that sing to Him, cry out to Him, whisper to Him and shout praise to Him.

I have blogged before about my nervousness or worry about there being life in these songs in my blog “Penguins…” and there is still a tinge of nervousness but, like a huge wave swelling to a peak, I am rejoicing at the completion of this cd and the thought that they are now your songs, no longer just mine.

Go have a listen at RelevantMagazine.com and then tell your friends your thoughts about the songs and music. Pass it along. Share. This CD is for you after all. Then, go and pre-order the CD here:

Sarah MacIntosh “Current”

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about it!

My daughter thinks she is an extremely fast runner. She is 3 1/2 and yes you are imagining right, the legs she runs on are still a bit wobbly and with barely the strength to push her forward fast enough to flee a determined turtle, BUT, that’s not how she sees it. The other day she was in one of her favorite places in the world, perched on her Daddy’s shoulders, where she was talking and making great progress on the some 20,000 words a day that girls supposedly say per day. Then, right in the middle of her dialogue she stopped and said, “If a fire comes, then we will run away really fast like I run. You know, how I run fast.” Yes, she was referring to how fast she runs verses how fast she thinks that we, her fairly fit parents, run and her conclusion was: she is the faster runner. So, if we were being chased by fire, we would be well advised to run as fast as her instead of the leisurely pace her dad and I would normally flee danger.

I chuckled to myself, thinking of her perception of our family’s running speed. I am a pretty slow runner. I usually focus on running far not fast so I guess I’m not too surprised by her assessment of my speediness, but her dad, I was surprised that she thought she ran faster than him. I began to wonder why it was that she thought she was supremely speedy. Then I imagined myself in her tiny body, pumping arms and legs with a huge grin and the wind blowing through her curly hair, wooshing past her ears and in her face. Yes, I can understand why she would think she was exceptionally fast, because when she runs, she FEELS fast. It feels hard and challenging. It gets her blood and adrenaline pumping. She can’t imagine what it feels like to be faster. Her perception of the reality of her running capabilities is askew.

I wonder how many times I do this as a christian. How many times do I feel the adrenaline of being on stage in front of many excited music listeners or how many times I feel the “wind” of challenge blowing in my face and begin to daydream that I am the one doing all the work. I am the one who is the best. I am the one who can save myself, do what’s right. I am the most capable, etc.

Seeing the silly-ness/immaturity of my daughters line of thinking reminds me of my frequent immaturity/silly-ness and why would I want to settle for that? Why would I want to endanger myself by being left to myself and my capabilities? What is the alternative?

Jesus.

And what can He do?

Ephesians 3:20 says,

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.”

Infinitely more than what I think or ask.

Perception- the act or faculty of grasping the meaning of by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding.

Do I have a good perception of what He is capable of as my Savior? No. Am I bummed about that? Ha! No.

If a fire comes, my finite legs are looking pretty toddler-like compared to His infinite capabilities so you’ll find me sticking with Him.

I had a very strange thing happen to me recently. Maybe the incident wasn’t that strange but the impact it had on me has lingered and burned its impression on me with a sizzle. The story starts like normal, I was singing. My songs flew from my lips and swirled around until catching in the curl of the ears of those nearby. One of those ears belonged to an older woman. I would guess she was in her late 70’s but her smile has me wondering if she were younger. Later I was seated at a table with this same lady and she asked question after question. Not the normal question, only about my music but questions about me. She was digging and looking for Sarah, her shovel a long string of questions passing through a smile laced mouth. Even later, she found me again, a couple more questions and then softly as she turned to walk away, again with a smile, she said, “See you later, Sarah. I love you.”

I love you?

Uhhhhh, is this lady my grandma and I’ve forgotten what she looked like? Who tells a virtual stranger that they love them? Oh those three words rolled around in my chest tumultuously. What was making me so emotional and confused about those three words?

While I still have quite a bit of pondering to do about this verbal encounter I have made myself sit down to write what has been pushing to the forefront of my thoughts.

Doesn’t the bible say to love?

Love your neighbor as yourself- Leviticus 19:18

Do I do this? No. I love myself very much. I dress myself in my favorite clothes (because I know it makes me feel creative), treat myself to an occasional pedicure (because I know that my toes are embarrassing and the pedicure makes me less self-conscious), I buy myself my favorite books (because I know how much I love to read), I give myself a breather when I get stressed out (because I know that quietness is how I get regrouped), I let myself frequently bury my face in my daughters neck where I can inhale her sweet scent (because there is very little better in the world that makes me happier than this), I encourage myself, cheer myself on, and bear the fact that many times I let myself down.

I could go on and on with the ways that I love myself, each act of love is a result of knowing myself and knowing what makes me feel loved. So if I look at this verse and stand it beside the ways I love myself, I see that I fall short. Time and time again I get too busy to really know the people who come into my life. Or I allow myself to curl up behind a shield of shy/introvertedness.

The things around us, media, movies, books, commercials, newspapers, friends, family, and even ourselves show a flawed example of love to each other. We take in, and assess these flawed examples of love and then begin to question it. We hold others up to this standard of loving others as you love yourself but we can’t live up to the standard ourselves.

Reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 sometimes makes me feel like love is impossible. It says,

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

I can’t do this. Sure I can in moments throughout my life but I know I have not born all things. I have not always resisted resentfulness. I have not always relinquished getting my own way. I have not believed, hoped and endured all things. So how can I say that I love at all? Or those that I know, close to me, who have failed at these things, why do I still know that they do love me? Because we know that we are not perfect. No one expects perfection out of another because we know it is impossible. But what is possible is that there is a standard of perfect love. There is a bar set so high we aren’t even able to see it. A perfect love that abolishes indifference.

When we read 1 John 4:16, “God is Love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him,” we know we have hope.

As the creation of our Savior/Creator we are displaying bits of our likeness of Him when we love. We are being who we were created to be, even though we are not yet capable of being constant. Like a dark field with fireflies scattered, their brief flashes of light illuminating the space around them temporarily and sporadically we are showing bursts of love but are yet unable to make it a permanent illumination. But, perhaps the older we get, the longer we have followed after Christ, the more we are like our Creator, the more we are able to keep on this flickering light of love. The more we can endure, the more we can give in, the more we can hope and believe and rejoice and bear, the more we find ourselves being patient and kind, tossing aside our arrogance and rudeness and envy. Perhaps as we follow Him, our quick youthful step grows slower and more shuffle-y but our likeness to our Savior grows more noticeable. Maybe we find ourselves telling someone we just met that we love them, and just maybe, we mean it. But in the meantime, we can depend on that Savior/Creator to fill in the gaps, to love those around us who we hurt, who we neglect. We can depend on Him to love us. Because we are told that this perfect love, the one without any gaps or starts and stops or in between times of neglect, is the love that gave His only Son so that ANY who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. His is a love that follows through into eternity.