USA (MNN) — When you open the cellophane of a new CD you don’t always know what 
you’re going to get. Sometimes you buy it because you heard the one song you heard on the radio, but when you buy it you’re disappointed by the rest of what you hear. However, a new CD by Josh Wilson has forced the Mission Network News to stop and listen.
MNN caught up with Josh Wilson yesterday to get his take on some of the songs on the CD that encourage you and me to do something more for Christ. Here’s the transcript of that interview:
Greg Yoder: “‘Wake Me Up’ [a song on the CD] has been the premise of theme for Mission Network News this whole month. What was the premise of you writing that song?”
Josh Wilson: “It’s been the cry of my heart lately, to wake me up — for God to do just that — to wake me up. It’s actually kind of a crazy story the way the song came about. I was on an early morning and five minutes into the flight it was dark we heard kind-of a loud explosion sound. We hit some birds and it blew up the right engine. I thought we were having a plane cash. We had to turn around and make an emergency landing. We landed and everything was okay, but it kind of took that moment to remind me why I’m here. Sometimes we get comfortable with our lives. That event was a wake-up call from me. I was basically thanking God for that catalyst to remind me why I’m here and that’s to glorify God and make his name known.”
Yoder: “When you write a song write a song do you do it with the hope that as people listen they’ll grasp the intent of the song, but then use it to apply it to their own lives?”
Wilson: “Music is a very universal language and so I try in the lyrics to not be so specific that someone can’t hear it and say, ‘hey, that’s me, too.’ Asking God to wake us up is a common theme and that’s certainly my prayer for this song is that people will hear it and say, ‘Wow, I need God to wake me up as well.'”
Yoder: “I want to turn to your current single ‘Pushing Back the Dark’, when you first think of the title, I could help but thinking about evil.”
Wilson: “This song took me a few years to write. It came from a conversation I had with a good buddy of mine. We just talked about that way that we’re all called to push back again the effects of the fall — the curse and the dark. We’re called to be children of God and bring the Kingdom of God on earth. We had actually take a trip to India to work with some pastors and churches there and it was neat to see how God was at work in Mumbai, India as He is all over the planet. And, it was really cool to think about that fact that everybody in their own way to push back the dark. It may not feel like we’re doing that in a huge way, but the truth is, you think about a match in a dark room, that’s going to light up a lot of that room. As Christians we’re all called to reflect the light of Christ.”
Yoder: “Cary Me was the first single released from you CD. You said this is a real personal song in your life. All of us go through tough times in our lives. Why did you write this song?”
Wilson: “When I was recording the album I started struggling with a lot of anxiety. At one point I started having panic attacks. They came out of no-where. One I thought was actually a heart attack. I went to the ER. I couldn’t feel my arms or legs. I had trouble breathing. I couldn’t fix it. I didn’t know what was causing it. So many times we try to fix ourselves when we really don’t have the means. So, I cried out to God and say, ‘I don’t know what’s going on. I need you to carry me.’ So, the song is the fact that we all need Jesus to carry us, to forgive us of our sins, we need him to save us…and for practical things. I still deal with it a little bit. Jesus said he’ll never leave us of forsake us, and that’s something that I’ve learned.”
Yoder: “That takes us to ‘Here I Am Anyway.’ This song also reminds me of me. Many times I don’t feel adequate to do what I’m doing. Talk about this song.”
Wilson: “I’ve never felt equipped or adequate to do what I’m doing. God has opened the right doors for me to write songs and to play them for people. I’ve always been nervous about it. I’ve thought I don’t have enough talent or confident enough. I feel a lot like Moses. We don’t have to be equipped to do it. We just have to be there and will and available to use me.”
Yoder: “Let There be Light” is just a capstone for what Mission Network News is here to do, which is to encourage Christians to pray, give and go for Christ. Talk about that song.”
Wilson: “The big theme of this record is light and dark, night and day. And, Let There Be Light is just a cry. It starts with the creation of the world. It the beautiful picture of God speaking the world into existence. He says, ‘let there be light’ and there is. I wish I could have seen that. The song is pray for God to do the same thing in my heart. As Christians we are all called to reflect the light of Christ and I want that light to shine brightly in me and God can do that through us. So, the song says, ‘just as you did in creation, please just let that light shine bright in me.’ Sometimes it’s not very comfortable to come into the light, but when we do we find that we’re better off. We all have difficult things that we go through and secrets we keep. If we bring those into the light, it might hurt to burn them away, but the end result is a stronger person.
Yoder: “When Christians are doing their everyday activities you’re not ALWAYS thinking about sharing your faith. Sometimes we’re asleep at the wheel. Would you encourage Christians who are listening today to ‘wake-up.'”
Wilson: “God gives us opportunities every day, whether we’re looking for them or not. We certainly should be sensitive to what He’s putting in front of us. It’s not that we have to go door-to-door. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there may be someone I talk to at lunch and I may not sit down and tell them the whole story of the Gospel from Genesis to Revelation, but there may be an opportunity to just say something about the Lord, or just to fit something into conversation. We’re called to let our light shine not just with our words, but with our actions…the way we love people so they know where this love is coming from.”
Mission Network News is making available Josh Wilson’s CD Carry Me when you support MNN with your best gift. Be as generous as you can. When you receive your CD, listen to it, or give it to a friend. Click here to donate: https://www.MNNonline.org/donate
