If there be a destiny, it is of no avail unless we work with it.
-Calvin Coolidge
Before I made Jesus the Lord of my life, I used to sing and play guitar in nightclubs. Well, maybe nightclub isn’t the right word – they were bars. Bar is really the best word, since most of the people there were in captivity! One evening I heard a man order a martini. He wanted it “shaken, not stirred.”
My curiosity got the best of me, and later I asked the bartender if there was a difference between shaken and stirred or was this guy just showing off. The bartender told me that a drink was shaken instead of stirred to keep from bruising the alcohol. I laughed at the thought that alcohol could be “bruised,” considering all the damage I had seen alcohol do. I could not imagine it ever being fragile. Years later I would see the spiritual parallel to this concept as it related to Christians.
Often we sit in church and hear a missionary speak. We watch their slides of lost humanity in the darkened corners of the globe and we are shaken. We feel the needs and so we give in the offering and quietly thank God that He did not call us to that foreign field.
We are shaken, but not stirred.
“Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands” (2 Tim. 1:6).
Stir yourself up this week, fan the members of your smoldering faith. I think you know how to do that, but just in case you’ve forgotten: get rid of sin and anything that keeps you from God. Stay in church, read the Word, pray without ceasing – you know the drill! When you are fully ablaze you will find all the power, love, and self-discipline you need to fulfill your Mission 3:16.
Excerpt permission granted by Albury Publishing
Carman Domenic Licciardello is an enigma in Christian music, often described as part evangelist, part Vegas Showman. His concerts were more like a rock and roll Billy Graham Crusade than a Christian music event. After all the singing, dancing, clapping, and preaching, crowds of people would stream down to the counseling area to accept Christ-many times as many as 5,000 in an evening.
Admission was usually free; a simple offering was taken, similar to 30,000 churches on Sunday mornings. And he filled the largest stadiums the world over. Carman held the record for the largest Christian concert ever in Dallas, Texas. But it even goes beyond that. Take the Mega Stadium acts that played the famed landmark such as Pink Floyd, U 2, Madonna, The Jackson Five, Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, and even Metallic. As the newspapers noted, you'll see that the one-act that drew the highest attendance in Texas Stadium was Carman, with 71,132.
Carman (1956-2021) was a popular contemporary Christian singer and songwriter.
Born Carman Licciardello, he began recording under his first name and released his debut album in 1980. Carman began charting contemporary Christian hits in 1984 with "Sunday's on the Way," reaching No. 1 with "The Champion" (1986) and "Radically Saved" (1988). His other hit songs include "Lord of All," "Jesus Is the Light," and "Satan, Bite the Dust!" Carman reportedly holds the world record for the largest audience at a Christian concert. His popularity was at its height in the 1980s and early '90s, but he continued releasing albums for years, including his most recent release, 2014's "No Plan B." In 2018, he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.