I Cried When I Read This

After posting last night, I thought I would open up my guilty-pleasure magazine Alternative Press, to see who was in there and to my joy, Bryce Avery (The Rocket Summer) had written a column.

I could barely contain myself while reading.

Here it is.

OP-ED
Speak Out

The Rocket Summer's Bryce Avery already spreads a lot of goodwill through his upbeat music. But after a charitable encounter overseas, he was inspired to bring together art, commerce and giving through his new clothing line, Call It Captivate. Read on to see what you can do to help others while helping your wardrobe.

"For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in. I needed clothes, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you looked after me. I was in prison, and you cane to visit me...I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one o the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."
A guy named Jesus Christ said that. Lately those words have echoed and resounded in my head like the first time I heard the Edge's guitar sustain euphorically reverberating throughout Reunion Arena in Dallas when U2 played in 2001. Whether you follow Christ or not, I think we can all agree these are powerful words, and if we followed them more often, the world really would be a better place.
Several months ago, I was on tour in the U.K. I have a love/hate relationship with the U.K.; we have phenominal shows there and some of our best fans live in the U.K. Other then that, if you are touring across the pond in the luxurious way that the Rockeet Summer does (in a van, staying in the cheepest hotels with no phones or clocks and two random channels on the TV), it can get boring very fast (I'm sorry, U.K.!). Well, this time I had it pretty hard getting on a good sleep schedule. Jet lag at it's finest. I was sleep deprived, quietly cranky, letting the issues I sometimes deal with get to me more then usual. At the end of the day, depsite my exhaustion, I had a hard time just clocking out. A few sleepless nights in, I started asking God to help me. I didn't want to be miserable at these shows in this awesome country just becuaase I was exhausted.
It's interesting how I run to God when I need him most, but when all is fine I tend to forget. I opened the good book and without any searching, I immeditely saw the verse I mentioned above about caring for the sick, visiting those in prison and feeding the homeless. In a moment when I needed help and all I could think of were my issues, my attention was drawn to those in need and how that's where you find God. I started praying for opportunities.
The next night after our show in Nottingham, we hit up a sketchy, late-night kebab shop for dinner, and there were two homeless people hanging around outside in the cold. I instantly felt God tugging my heart and saying, "Here ya go." My immediate reaction was slight discomfort. I quickly realized that it sounds a lot cooler to say you hang out with the homeless than when you're actally about to do it. I decided to buy some pizza for these people, sit with them and talk for a little while. They were rad. We talked about life, the weather, pizza and God. It was a short conversation because we had to get on the road, but before I hopped into what now seemed like an extremely luxurious van, the frail homeless woman ran up to me with tears streaming down her face, saying how much she knew that Christ loved her and how she loved him. It was an epic moment.
While I wasn't doing it for me, somehow I felt like I got far more out of that than those people did. It's awesome how putting people before yourself can cure you of what issues you might be dealing with because real love is healing you and real love is healing the people you are feeding, clothing and taking car of. I am no saint, but I want to encourage you as well as myself to do this, and there are plenty of ways to get involved.
As a reletnless touring artist, over the years I've observed unfortuneate realities throughout the downtown streets that we play. Disease is something that has struck my immediate family more then once. I've seen first-hand the poserful effect of giving and helping: healing. I wanted to take this oppourtunityto talk more about giving, specifically through Call It Captivate, my new clothing line which donates portions of the proceeds to charities that work everyday to help those in need. Never in a million years would I have ever thouht to start a clothing company, but now after aving played roughly a thousand concerts, I have opserved how fashion, art and entertainment engague culture, and I wanted to jump in with an idea. I got some friends together, we started creating great designs and then I got ont he phone with about 12 different charities. Here's how it works: When you purchase an item fro our collection, we give at least 25 percent of the proceeds to a charity that you choose. On out website we have listed the charities that we support, ranging from disease research to poverty aid to apodtion agencies. We strive to make great clothes-we want people wearing our stuff simply becuase they love the designs-but we'd like to make a difference while we're at it.
If you get a second, visit out webstore to check out some cool clothes and what we're about. But to be completely honestly, if you really get a second, try meeting a new friend in need: Pizza is pretty cheep and a great conversation starter.

Call it Captivate supports the following charities: Blood: Water Mission, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Guide Dog Foundation For The Blind, Holt International Adoption, American Cancer Society, World Vision, National Alliance To End Homelessness, Special Olympics, ONE and Doctors Without Borders. For more info or to purchase a shirt and donate to the charity of your choice, head to callitcaptivate.com.

Oh my gosh. I can't tell you how thrilled I am that Alternative Press, a magazine that really doesn't have much to do with the message of Christ, printed this column that points to the goodness and selflessness of Jesus. I praise God for allowing the editor to have an open heart; God was in their office that day as cheesy at it sounds. Bryce is an amazement. I pray that those reading this issue also have an open heart and maybe want to look more into what Jesus teaches. God provides a way for His words to be heard.

Here is the website.
Call It Captivate