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With only so many hours in the day and lots of demands on those hours, singer/songwriter Jeremy Camp (Ignite Your Faith's Best Male Vocalist of 2006) admits that his time with God has sometimes gotten pushed to the back burner.

"I'm a very passionate person who wants to go out and serve God as much as I can," Jeremy says. "To do that as a musician, you have to put in a lot of work and lots of traveling. Sometimes, the work of serving the Lord gets in the way of spending time with the Lord."

Jeremy's musical career started simply. He toured colleges and churches sharing his testimony of losing his wife Melissa to cancer. When he scored a record deal with BEC Recordings and as he's released four popular CDs, including his 2006's Beyond Measure, the demands on his time increased.

"Instead of enjoying what God was doing in my life, I spent too much time trying to do more for him." he says. "I got too busy and burdened by things that distracted me from spending time with God. By working so hard at my career, I was also not trusting God enough—I was trying to take control by doing it all alone."

In addition to non-stop touring and recording, Jeremy got remarried (to solo artist Adie) and had two children. As life continued to get busier and busier with family and career, Jeremy finally hit a wall and realized he was doing too much.

"I just got to a point where I just called out, 'Help me Lord,'" says Jeremy. "I cried out for forgiveness. I'd let serving God get in the way of just being with him. When I did, I felt like God said, 'Jeremy, you cannot steer this ship alone. Let me give you true peace, joy and rest.' I learned that unless we find our contentment in Christ, we'll just feel empty after awhile."

Now, Jeremy strives to "wake up and smell the coffee" every day. He tries to enjoy

the little things, to relax and to give God control. He's extremely careful when filling his calendar. He commits to a daily quiet time. And he's very conscious of not letting anything—even work for God—keep him from time with God. He says this is also a danger for anyone who loads up their days with youth group, serving at church and outreach projects.

"People think the more they are doing for the Lord, the better and that he'll be more pleased with them," says Jeremy. "But God is more concerned with our relationship with him. If we're spending time with him, those activities should come as a natural outpouring—not the other way around."

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Ignite Your Faith magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Ignite Your Faith.

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