Here’s a great interview from Kevin Davis of newreleasetuesday.com with Mike Donehy of Tenth Avenue North. I shared a little bit about the story behind the song during the NZ Top 10. Check out the interview and DEFINITELY check out the music video, it’s awesome! -Josh

Please tell me the personal story behind writing this song.

Maybe this song won’t be a revolutionary thought for you, but it has been for me. Probably for the last two years or so, this is the thing I have felt that God has been teaching me. Or should I say, the thing that He has been beating me over the head with. Truth is a person. Jesus says in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me.” The Gospel started as Good News. It has been passed on that Martin Luther used to preach the same sermon week after week to his congregation and when they asked him why he preached the Gospel every week, he answered, “because you forget it each week.” The Church needs to believe the Gospel. The “choices we make don’t reflect who we are.” Do you remember the scene in Batman Begins when Batman is standing by a window and Katie Holmes is looking at him and she asks him, “Who are you?” Do you remember what he says? With that icy blue stare he looks at her, and in that absurd gravely voice he bellows, “It’s not who I am, it’s what I do that defines me!” That is so sad…and so wrong.

Please tell me about any Bible verses that you used to write the song?

2 Corinthians 5:17-21
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come…
…For our sake he made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

What do you consider to be the takeaway message for listeners?

Not that the promises of God aren’t true all the time, they are. But the thing is, just because we have promises, it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s answers. At least, not the way we’re looking for. And that’s why God tells me to feel it before I try to fix it. “Weep with those who weep. Rejoice with those who rejoice.” That’s what I’m called to do. Before I try to know everything and have a solution for everything and everyone, first I need to learn to sit down and weep with people. Before I try to put a band aid on their wounds, I need to actually feel the wound myself. I mean, isn’t that what Jesus did for us? He felt before He fixed. He hurt before He healed. He became flesh and dwelt among us. And so, this changes things. This means that it doesn’t matter how much Scripture and philosophy I know, what matters is what I do with it. Ironically, having a lot of information about Jesus can often be the very thing that keeps us from Him. We delude ourselves into thinking that Jesus is nothing more than a fact on a page. An idea to comprehend, a moral to ascribe to. And believe me, He’s much more than that. He is our life, our breath, and the pulse within our veins. He is before, behind, and all around. Over. Underneath. Inside. In between. We need to live big for God. That’s what the song is about.