Caffeinated & Elated

FINALLY got my coffee this morning!  Had an early start to my day and an AMAZING service at church this morning (overcomercc.org).  And now that I am caffeinated and refreshed, I feel that i can get my brain working enough to blog a bit.

So whats the purpose of this little excerpt you ask?  Well in fact, it is to simply update you on the happenings of our music project.  My wife, Sarah, and I have set out to record a brand new gospel album.  It has been very slow going thus far, but that’s largely due to everyone’s busy lives picking up even more speed during this time of year.  We are very excited to begin work again after the holiday season AND will be releasing a few acoustic tasties for you to enjoy between now and the official release of the album.  I want to make these simple tunes fun enough to throw on in your car or living room, but also rough enough to make you want just a little more (to get these tracks and others, please visit http://www.reverbnation.com/ZTrandum).

Well anywho, just keep an eye out and you will be sure to snag some goodness as we toss it out there. We also would like to invite you to become part of the project as we move forward!  More info to come!!!  Love you guys!!!!

Scarf Wearing Occult Fanatics

Ok folks, can we be real here for a minute?

Vampires are demonic and Harry Potter is a Sorcerer.

I don’t care if you are a die-hard Twilight fan, or a scarf wearing Harry Potter fanatic.  Vampirism and sorcery are part of the occult and the bible clearly tells us to stay away from it.

“put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:11-12).

Heres what the Israelites were told about the occult.

“When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire [an ancient occult practice], or one who practices witchcraft, or asoothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are anabomination [detestable] to the LORD…”
—Deuteronomy 18:9-12a

Here are some verses concerning the occult in the bible.

(Deuteronomy 18:10-12; 2 Kings 21:6; Micah 5:12; Isaiah 47:12; Ezekiel 13:18, 20; Acts 8:11-24; Leviticus 20:27; Exodus 7:11; Revelation 9:21; 22:15).

 

I just finished watching a great video message from Marc Driscol, who gave a fantastic word on some of todays most popular pre-teen/teen reading materials.  ALL were soaked in everything occult.  The truth is, that no matter how pretty it may be dressed up, no matter how great the story, or how “good” the protagonist is as he battles the antagonist, it’s still occultism and the God has CLEARLY painted a picture for us.  It’s not even a word you have to study very hard to get!  In every single verse concerning the occult, God says that its bad, PERIOD.

So I encourage you to seriously re-evaluate the material which you are ingesting and that you are allowing your kids to ingest.  I know for my family and I, we will serve the Lord.

Let It Die

To say that my God is good, would be the understatement of all eternity.  He has poured out SO much, not to mention salvation.  My desire is to be like Him, to love like Him, to see like Him…  But where does that start?

God has poured out great vision in my life.  There are HUGE things that have been on my heart for years and I’m sure things that I have yet to realize.  But something I am learning, is that as I grow, as I learn how to hear the voice of God, as I pour in to the vision that I think is right in front of me, my vision needs to die and be re-born.

Years ago I was given the opportunity to travel to NYC and perform at the IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) jazz festival.  There I met and listened to some of my favorite jazz singers and players.  I remember listening to Kevin Mohoganey do his thing, and then our group from Bellevue College was set to go up.  My nerves were shot just knowing that it was possible for one of these artists to hear us… to hear me…

Well the performance went amazing, and I was approached by two young ladies who handed me a card.  They proceeded to tell me about a scholarship offered by Berklee College of Music.  This scholarship would have completely paid for my schooling and housing at Berklee.  If you don’t know already, Berklee is probably one of the absolute best schools any musician could hope to attend.  Of course, I about passed out after getting this information.  I was invited to come meet one of their scouts at their booth a little ways down the hall.  I began speaking with more people involved at Berklee, and set up the audition, which would have taken place in LA.  Every person I had talked with had heard samples of my work, and basically had told me that I was going to get the scholarship.  I all but had it in the bag, and was flying high with vision for my musical career as a singer/songwriter.

During this time, I had also been attending The Rock Church in Monroe, WA.  I was approached by some of the leadership there who began telling me about the internship program called The Quarry, which would take a year out of my life.  This program would require me to focus almost 100% of my time in to serving at the church, studying for bible classes, as well as various other challenges.  Logically, with Berklee knocking down my door, I was thinking, “No Way!”

I began praying and moving forward towards Berklee, but something felt disjointed.  something wasnt right at all.

What I was feeling, was my vision dying, and my first reaction was to fight for it and try to revive what was left.  But that’s not what God had in mind.

I remember sitting down one morning at the computer, coffee in hand of course, reading about Berklee again for the umpteenth time, and weeping.  Every word I was getting from the Lord was telling me that Berklee was not His plan for me, and that The Quarry internship program is where He wanted me.  So against all logic, and many family and friends opinions, I turned Berklee down to step into a year of serving and growing.  My vision had officially been pronounced dead at the scene.

But out of that death came a year of my life that would ultimately change me from the inside out.  From the death of one vision, life burst forth and new vision was birthed!  Or rather, there was a rebirth of my old vision.

You see, for life to truly begin, our vision needs to die inside of us.  It’s at that moment that the seed from that vision is buried in the ground ultimately bursts forth in new life!  So be encouraged!

You feel that your vision has died, and you havent seen it come back from the dirt.  Well maybe you need to pray about the rebirth of that vision!  Maybe you need to pray that God would open your eyes to see the vision HE has for your life!  We need to die, in order to live.  So give it up and let it happen!  hat doesn’t mean that its going to be exciting and all warm and fuzzy.  In fact, to be frank, its gong to SUCK!  But the life that God raises out of that ground with that seed will completely overtake you!!!

Killing Apathy, Acting On Love

Curled up on my couch, in the living room of my apartment, trying desperately to keep my feet under the blanket, sipping on my first (of many) cup of coffee, I begin to listen to the heart of God.  I’ve always been a church goer, at times more so than others, but always loved being at and serving in my local church (in this case, Overcomer Covenant Church, overcomercc.org).  But is what I’m doing really enough?

I just got done listening to the final installment of a series by Pastor Jeff Knight, my pastor from The Rock Church in Monroe Washington, called “Serve”.  He spent a large amount of time in the message talking about the visit Jesus had with a pharisee.  During that visit, a young woman, known for her immorality, found out He was there and decided to go see Him, bringing with her an expensive alabaster box full of pricey perfumes.

Now bear in mind that the Pharisee probably didn’t extend a personal invite to this young lady, and she knew that he wouldn’t be very happy with her presence, but she didn’t care because Jesus was there.  She threw herself at Jesus feet, weeping.  Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them with her hair.  The pharisee saw this and mumbled to himself.  Jesus turned to him and gave him a lesson in what it means to love and act out of love because this woman was doing exactly that, pouring out her love for Jesus.

I don’t know that people really realize what the local church does for our communities… What it does for our cities… What it does for our country…

Churches take up the call to feed the hungry and cloth the poor while still pouring in to the people directly connected with them.  It helps shape and mold the youth and children as they grow in to the men and woman God has called them to be.  It pores in to parents as they learn how to raise and love this new little life.  The church has the power to pour into and save marriages!

Now, it’s a given that without God in all of those things, nothing is possible.  that’s a given.  but what I’m getting at is this, and this is also something that is really poking at me too…  Where are you serving?  Because without the servants in the house, nothing gets done!  Your kids don’t have teachers, your services have no worship team, your church grounds don’t stay clean and kept, your canned goods don’t get passed out to those who need it, your drug addicts don’t have the council they need, your failing marriage has nobody to go to for help and wisdom.  Are you serving?  Or sitting on the side lines waiting to be served?  I know I’ve been guilty of this!  I sometimes get in to a state where my time seems to be valued above all else even when I don’t really have anything particularly important going on.

Now let me raise another point, and this was one that Pastor Jeff raised in his message as well (I HIGHLY suggest you subscribe to The Rock Church podcast on iTunes, SO tasty!).  In all of the examples of service given, if love is absent, none of those areas are any help at all.  In fact, these areas arent filled unless people act out of love to fill those holes.  Do you really think that the childcare volunteers sign up to change your childs poopy pants?  Heck no!  But they love your kids, so they act on that love and volunteer.

So I challenge you,

Where is your love?  Where are you serving your local church?  Its time to stop making up excuses as to why you can’t take an hour out of one day during a single week to help pull weeds.  And again, this is something I deal with too!  So my friends, get off your duff and act!  The funny thing is that even if you aren’t “feeling” love at the time, putting it in to action causes a shift to take place, and that love grows bigger.  So take action and let God grow your love as you serve!!!

Infants and Lions

This is a word that struck me pretty hard this morning. I’ve been digging in to a message series called “Prophecy: Make it personal”, brought to you by one of my favorite people and pastors on the planet, Pastor Clint Hatton. In the most recent installment, he challenges us to begin journal-ling as God speaks to our hearts because God often speaks through journal-ling. So I started to journal as I pumped worship music in to the atmosphere and prayed. This is what hit me…

I see the image of a lion, he is the leader of the pride. He stands calm and peaceful, yet terrifying and strong. He is pacing, circling an infant. The baby is crying as he circles, but its not because of the lion that the baby cries. The lion stops pacing and stands with his back to the baby, ready to defend the child. He suddenly releases a mighty roar! As he shouts, I can see the sound cutting through the atmosphere as if the air was water. The blast rockets out from where he stands, towards a great army that is approaching. It strikes like a missile and completely destroys anything or anyone in its wake. The roar carves a clear path straight through the giant wall of enemies.
The baby stopped crying and the lion turned and laid down, snuggling the baby close.

As the lion nuzzles the child, he turns and softly licks the him. Its as if the lion is bathing one of his own cubs, and with each touch of his tongue, the child grows bigger and stronger.

As they are peacefully sitting together, the enemy returns another attack. Its an attempt to flood the area where they lay. But the lion calmly rises to his feet and takes stance in front of the child once again. This time, he needs not even open his mouth. A massive wave thunders towards them and just as it reaches the two, it splits, completely missing them both. The child at this point has grown in to a man and is now sleeping. The lion turns back to the child after the water has passed and this time lays down on top of him. As his body relaxes, he fades from view into the body of the child.
The man awakens and gets to his feet. His eyes are full of fire and he has a main flowing like that of the lion. When he opened his mouth, the same roar that came from the lion earlier erupted from his spirit. It again cut through the atmosphere around him.
The enemy had come back once again at this point and this time was attempting to sneak up on him. But they could not hide, for his eyes were full of the fire of the lion and his spirit ears keen to their footsteps.
The enemies slowly came out of the brush around the area he stood, spears in hand. He turned to each one and let out a mighty roar, but the enemies did not die and were not even blown away… They were changed.
The blast of sound caused them to transform back to an infant state.
The man dropped to one knee and prayed, and the lion emerged, seemingly from his body, and nuzzled each of the infants, bathing them as well, each one growing just as the first child did.
When each of them had become full grown, the stood with the other man, all of them with majestic mains and fiery eyes.

Water Without Rain

I’ve just begun a secular music fast, which is set to last for 40 days. I’m only in the second day and already I am sensing a change… A shift in my paradigm is taking place. But lets face it, fasting with no action is completely void of purpose, so I’ve also amped up my time in God’s word.
Many of you know that I am a songwriter and LOVE creativity of all types. Well I’m finding that as I move forward, digging, soaking, and eating up God’s word, He is pouring out new creativity in me. I’m finding new lyrics and melodies, even my drawing abilities seem to be sharper than usual (I do aspire to be, in some shape or form, a comic book artist).
When i kicked off the fast, I asked God where I should begin reading and got my answer through, once again, the story of Benaiah the lion chaser. I ventured in to 1 Kings and began reading about the amazing (yet still flawed) king that Solomon was. In my endeavors to be a lion chaser in my everyday life, it was SO cool seeing Benaiah move from the mantle of King David, to his son Solomon. Benaiah stayed faithful to Solomon and eventually moved from the king’s body guard to a commander in the army!
I stopped at about 1 Kings 15 and took a breather, and then this morning I picked up 2 Kings and began reading. At this point in the “kings” section of the bible, things are pretty messed up. The royalty that has succeeded Solomon and David have pretty much deserted the ways of God and its led to nothing but… Well… Not goodness. But I did come across something that struck me. Now this is just at first glance for me, and I will be going back to look a little deeper, but I felt I needed to share it because I think this may be a word for someone today. Here’s the verse:
“While the harpist was playing, the hand of the LORD came on Elisha 16 and he said, “This is what the LORD says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. 17 For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. 18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD; he will also deliver Moab into your hands. 19 You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.”
Now the situation is this. The king of Israel teamed up with the king of Judah and the king of Edom in an effort to kick the crud out of Moab. From what I read, they pretty much aimlessly marched around and used up all their supplies, at which point they realized they had no prophet of the Lord in whom to console. Elisha, who now walked with the mantle of Elija all over him, just happened to be in the area and spoke that word of the Lord over them.
Now that verse stirred me up all crazy like because I feel that its a word for someone today.
You are dried up, tired, and facing a slew of enemies and challenges in front of you. But God is pouring out refreshing water even in a season without rain! Your enemy will be cut down and provision poured out on you!
I have no idea who this may be for, but I know its striking the heart of someone… Heck it may be for me and it will hit me later, either way, God is SO good and His desire for us is to be totally, completely and overwhelmingly soaked in everything that He is!!!

Lions and Kings

God’s intent for our lives, is to live as Kings in the kingdom. We were never meant to step back but to charge forward as warriors and I believe that God is calling out the warrior in you. He is calling out his mighty pride of lions!
There’s a book that I picked up back in 2007 when I was still interning at an amazing church called, The Rock Church, in Monroe Washington. There were about 14 of us at the time and during this particular week, we had been preparing for what would be one of the most memorable moments in our lives (well at least mine). All 14 of us piled in to one of the churches huge white passenger vans and took off on a cross country drive to Washington DC. There were all sorts of shenanigans that took place along the way, which made the 2 day straight shot survivable.
When we arrived, we were all exhausted but excited because we were there to take part in the national day of prayer. I had no idea what God was stirring in me at that moment.
we were blessed with the chance to tour some of DC’s historic sites, and then given an opportunity to meet and speak with an amazing author and pastor.
Mark Batterson pastors National Community Church in DC and has been on a writing rampage over the past few years. One of those books was gifted to us during our meeting with him, and would ultimately transform my life and continue to effect change in me as i moved forward.
The book is called “In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day” and it digs in to what it means to be a lion chaser, putting great emphasis on Benaiah the lion chaser/warrior.
2 Samuel 23:20-23 says this about Beniah:
20 Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, performed great exploits. He struck down Moab’s two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. 21 And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. 22 Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty warriors. 23 He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.
So lets pause here a second and think about this….
HE DID WHAT!?
Yeah thats right, Benaiah was one of the most hardcore guys in the bible. He single handedly killed 2 of Moab’s greatest warrios, took out a 7 1/2 ft tall Egyptian with his own spear, and then to ice the cake, chased down a lion, followed it in to a snowy pit, and killed it.
You see, if Benaiah had not believed in who God created him to be and pressed forward to face these challenges, he would not have ended up as one of King David’s personal bodyguards.
Benaiah knew without any doubt that he had been created as a king in the kingdom so when he was faced with challenges, he looked them straight in the eyes and said,
“I’m a king! I have dominion over you!” Then chased it down and took it out!
Well mighty men and woman,
who are you in the kingdom? Ask yourself that question because if you have forgotten that you are royalty, you NEED to be reminded!
You are sons and daughters of the one true King over all, and that means that you are royalty!
You can go anywhere in the world and ask the question,
“Who is king of the jungle?”
And no matter where you are, someone will probably answer,
“The Lion.”
Psalms 103:19-22 Amp
“The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all…”
His kingdom rules over all!!!
Our daddy, King of Kings, the Lion over all of creation, RULES OVER ALL. And he has roared in to your future already!!!
So stand up men and woman of the King and let the lion in you be stirred!!! Raise up your roar against the enemy because He has given you dominion!!!

The problem with remembering.

There’s a peace that comes from visiting home. A peace with remembering some of the greatest moments in my life.
But its not just peace, in fact sometimes its longing. Longing for how things were back then.
A longing for the comrades, the favor, the blessing, the community and probably so many other things that I cant even think of at the moment.

In the past I’ve found myself at places, turning points, forks in the road, whatever you want to call them, where I began thinking about the past and the people, places, events, songs, messages, and what ever else entered my mind about those moments in my history… I began to long for those days and people. At times I mistook that longing for a calling back to that area, church, or relationship… But what it really was, was a call forward.
I believe those feelings can serve as a distraction if we let them. The enemy would have those memories distorted and morphed in to distraction, but Gods true intent is to fuel our forward momentum and refresh us at the same time.

I recently took at trip out to my parents house in Snohomish Washington and my wife and I got to just kick back and enjoy being with them. The next day we took off for Wenatchee to attend a memorial service for my great uncle Jerry. We got to spend time with family that we rarely get to see and talk about life as we spent time celebrating the life of uncle Jerry. How refreshing it is to fellowship with and love on family.
On the drive back home, my memories began drifting back to 2006-07 and my time spent as an intern at The Rock Church in Monroe Washington. I lived with an amazing family out in Sultan at that time and we passed right by their place on the way home. I found myself leaning back in my seat smiling and soaking in the warmth of the memories God had blessed me with. I began longing for those people… For that time… I would never leave where I am now without a clear word from God, but I noticed how easily I could have said,
“wow, I guess I really do miss them. Maybe God is calling us to leave Federal Way…”
When in reality, His desire is to fuel my vision with the people, experience…. the memories, of my days past. He wants to accelerate us!!!

Where am I going with this random note….
Some of us will make hard decisions that will later on open doors to HUGE things. As we step through the doors, we will remember the past and long for the experiences and people we new back then. DO NOT TURN, REMEMBER EVERYTHING AND FUEL YOUR FIRE!!!! He wants to accelerate you forward!!!!!

I’m not sure who this was for. I know this was a word for myself, but there may be someone else out there who needed to hear this as well… I hope I make sense lol.

Top Fav’s

Ok, so I love music as many of you may know. And there are certain artists that have heavily influenced my style and writing. Take a gander at a list of my top favorite artists! Maybe you already have them in your playlist, and if not…. Your just not as cool as i thought you were 😉 ( So git um!!!!)
In no particular order:

John Mayer (John Mayer will forever rank as on of my absolute favorite songwriters. The guy just knows how to craft a perfectly constructed song complete with a side of class. In my opinion, John Mayer’s “Continuum” was his best album ever. Git it!)

Marc Broussard (One of the most amazing soul voices I have ever heard)

Kurt Elling (One of todays most skilled and innovative vocal jazz artists. Kurt Elling manages to stay true to classic jazz and its many colors while still breaking walls and getting creative with sound)

The New York Voices (One of Vocal jazz’s most skilled and amazing vocal ensembles. These guys have been performing together for a very long time, and their sound reflects their history)

Jamie Cullum (Jamie Cullum has taken jazz and blended it in to modern music in a way that grabs even the “non-jazzer’s” attention)

Justin Timberlake (Ok, I’m pretty sure that most of you know this guy, but I just couldnt leave him off the list. JT is truly a gifted and skilled musician and song writer and producer and dancer and actor and yeah. He’s shown himself to be quite the jack of all trades. Love his stuff)

John Legend (You are all probably familiar with Jon Legend as well,, but again, he had to be on my list. He is another amazing example of a great songwriter. John has a unique way of blending old school soul with hip hop and r&b… Its delicious)

Brooke Fraser (A fantastic addition to my list! Brooke Fraser is an incredible songwriter in both secular and gospel genres. She is a large part of Hillsong, and has in recent years come out with a few of her own albums. Such a great sound, and her newest album “Flags” sports a truly unique flavor. Check it out!)
Jimmy Needham (Jimmy not only writes with a fire that can only come from his love of Christ, his voice is soulful and poppy. When I heard this guy for the first time, I was sold from the first note. I had him on repeat for a month straight)

Dave Barnes (Another artist that snuck up on me. Dave Barnes can transition from pure soul, back to pop, and then in to rock as if his sound was a hot knife cutting butter. He ranks as one of my top 5 fav’s. Check out his song “Greyhound”. SO tasty!!!)

Jonny Lang (Jonny Lang started as a long haired, goofy lookin skinny kid who surprised all his listeners with a HUGE voice and ENORMOUS guitar chops. His bluesy sound carries over in to his first gospel album, which happens to be his best album ever, in my opinion. Check him out! Get his album “Turn Around”. Its delicious)

Well these are just a few of my fav’s. I hope you guys enjoy them if you arent already. I’ll pop in from time to time to drop some goodies :-).

Why I’ll Run

Above all else I’ll run because we are called to spread God’s love everywhere! That will always be first before any other reason. I’ll run with Team World Vision to raise funds to spread hope around the world. Will you join with me?

My whole life I have been a “big kid” and the people around me growing up took notice of this fact. Through school they would throw words like “fat”, and “chubby” around as if they meant nothing to me. But those words began to sink in. Those words took hold of me and I became ashamed of my body, sometimes feeling so uncomfortable in my skin that i didnt even want to go outside. Even in highschool, when I was in weight training in the best shape of my life! To be blunt… I’m DONE!

I am SO blessed to now work at World Vision! And I also have to thank the people there for being the scale tipper’s i needed to make this decision. I was sitting in a training class, going over what Team World Vision is all about and that all to familiar knot started forming in my gut. Now folks, I am and have NEVER been a runner. I had asthma when I was a kid so running was not exactly one of my favorite pass times, but this pull on my heart was way to strong to simply ignore and label as gas. Then a member of Team WV came in to speak with us about it. Sheila Schmauch told us her story, and that was it. I couldnt say no any longer. One of the things she said struck me at my very core… “I want to reflect on the outside what God sees on the inside”.

I want to reflect that in my own life! I dont have kids yet, but when i do I want them to see what it means to live healthy and whole. So here I go… jumping in to something that I NEVER thought I would be a part of.
Check out http://support.worldvision.org/goto/ZachTrandum