Sidewalk Prophets initially made a name for themselves at Indiana's Anderson University, where front men and main songwriters Dave Frey and Ben McDonald met. They have made an impressive debut on the CCM scene, winning New Artist of the Year in 2010, and garnering multiple Dove Award nominations for Group and Song of the Year. Their debut album These Simple Truths delivered the smash No. 1 singles "You Love Me Anyway" and "The Words I Would Say."

 

Their sophomore album Live Like That released March 27, 2012 and their lead single and title track was already a hit song and plays a strong part in the overall messaging from the band. With the help of their fans, the album cover encompasses the faces and hearts of people all over the country who have inspired someone to "live like that." 

 

Integrating worship with real life… that is one of the simple truths Sidewalk Prophets has learned to live by. 

 

"The name 'Sidewalk Prophets' even means that we are common people speaking the truth about life from our perspective as followers of Christ." I had the great opportunity to interview lead singer Dave Frey about his great new song "Help Me Find It."

 

 

We wrote the song with Jason Ingram, and we originally thought of the song as a prayer. The more we thought about the message of the song, our team all felt that it should be our follow-up song to "Live Like That." When we sat down to write the song, it was a God thing. I was just speaking with a good friend of mine in Nashville, and she was thinking of moving--or maybe not--and she said she was tired of being still, but at the same time she wanted to listen to God's will for her. We started to talk and I thought of Robert Frost's poem "Two roads diverge in the wood and I took the one less traveled and that has made all the difference." I love that poem, but sometimes when you are standing at the divergence of the roads you have no idea which road to take. 

 

My friend said if she needed to be still that was fine, but she didn't want to miss out on God's plans. That was my thought process in writing this song. The idea behind the song is crying out to God and asking Him which road to take. Literally the next day we sat down to write the song with Jason and he said his pastor had just taught on the idea of being still and waiting on the Lord. We were feeling the same thing and that turned into this song.

 

Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

 

...Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path."

...and Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight."

 

 

There's a lot of life where we need to be still and be patient, but we know that's hard to do. Maybe God's cultivating something in us. Timing is so important. If you go out ahead of time, then there's a quote by TD Jakes that's a good reminder. He's a pastor and he says, "People who don't understand God's timing, don't get His rhythm. They birth things prematurely, threatening the very lives of their God given dreams." I thought about that so many times in our band's life. 

 

We've been passed over for so many opportunities, and you get so mad. However, sometimes that's God's plan. The other part of that is going somewhere when God tells you to go. There's the toughness of waiting and then there's the terrifying experience of getting the answer and going. My cousin is serving as a missionary in Papua New Guinea with his wife and child. It's terrifying and dangerous, but that's where God has called him to be. The song starts out, "I don't know where to go," and the other side of that is asking for God to give me the faith to follow His will.

 

 

Matthew Henry's Bible commentary: "Be still, and know that I am God. Let His enemies be still, and threaten no more, but know it, to their terror, that He is God, one infinitely above them, and that will certainly be too hard for them. He will be exalted among the heathen and not merely among His own people, He will be exalted in the earth and not merely in the church. Men will set up themselves, will have their own way and do their own will; but let them know that God will be exalted, He will have His way will do His own will, will glorify His own name, and wherein they deal proudly He will be above them, and make them know that He is so."

 

Just like their debut album These Simple Truths delivered the smash No. 1 singles "You Love Me Anyway" and "The Words I Would Say," I expect a similar result for Sidewalk Prophets' sophomore album Live Like That. 

 

The album is chock full of potential radio singles and every song is completely captivating. The surefire hit songs are "Live Like That," "Save My Life," "Keep Making Me," "It's Good (Love's Not Safe)," "Help Me Find It" and closing ballad "This Is Not Goodbye." 

 

Dave Frey says, "This album is a reflection of our journey in music and our desire to live our lives in such a way that it is rooted in a deep passion and love that knows no bounds." The message of committing to extravagant selflessness and faithful optimism threads its way through every song.

 

This song is a great celebratory anthem about what it means to have hope in Christ, and that if you know Christ, you'll never be alone. Sometimes it is hard to believe that God loves us so much He knows us intimately and wants to fill our hearts with love. I love the lyrics: "I'm giving You fear and You give faith / I'm giving You doubt / You give me grace / For every step I've never been alone."

 

This entire album is super-catchy and also very profound. I find myself thinking more and more about how well I'm living for Christ and showing His love. What I love is how this is yet another in a series of Kingdom-focused songs based on the Truth of the Gospels as we lead up to Easter and this song really challenges us to cry out to Jesus, "'Cause You are all I need." That's something to celebrate and embrace as we all need to let down our guard and let God's love live in us. Amen to that!

 

(You can listen to the song here.)