Praising God in the Storm
ATLANTA (W.) Feb. 29, 2008 -- One of the perks of ministry is hearing stories about how God has used you.
Chris Huffman, bassist with Christian music's top band, Casting Crowns, said band members get a lot of feedback.
"We get e-mails all the time," Huffman said, "about either a moment someone had listening to one of our songs or somebody having a rough time and God used our song to lift them up."
Sometimes, the songs come out of that feedback.
Huffman tells the story of the Edwards family from Raleigh, N.C. One of their daughters, Erin, loved Casting Crowns and had put together a dance routine to Casting Crowns' "Here I Go Again." She danced in front of her church and she danced before her friends at school.
The family sent a videotape of Erin's dance to Casting Crowns and the band immediately connected with the Edwards. But soon after the dance, doctors discovered Erin had cancerous tumors in her lung.
"Some days it was good and other days it couldn’t be worse," Huffman said. "Through all that stuff the mom was obviously going through the emotions any family would go through. But at the same time, you could still sense her worship of God. The song 'Praise You in the Storm' came out of that testimony. Mark told her before she passed a way ... She never got to hear the song before she passed on. She’s obviously got nothing to worry about now."
The song includes the chorus:
I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm
Huffman said that song has connected with people.
"We have a thing on our website where we ask people to send us e-mails of any sort of how God has used [us], especially relating to that song. We’re actually working at compiling a book of all the letters and things we've gotten to give to Erin’s mom. What we think is used for bad, God still uses for good."
