I am a huge fan of the band Needtobreathe and am currently listening to their new album on repeat. At one of their concerts they made the statement: “We are probably the biggest band that most of your friends have never heard of”. I find this to be true. Only a few of my friends have ever heard of Needtobreathe. Everyone else is missing out.

One complete listen from start to finish of this new album and I was hooked. I first discovered Needtobreathe during college. A friend of mine was pretty much obsessed with Needtobreathe and would blast their songs in the car. This was 2008, and I have been listening to their songs ever since. Prior to their new album, Out of Body, my favorite has always been Outsiders. I still love Outsiders equally, but this new album evokes different feelings in me. It was produced during the pandemic, and I think that all art created from this time in life holds a unique meaning. 

Seasons is one of my favorite songs on the Out of Body album. Texas is currently recovering from a winter weather disaster. The snow started to fall last Sunday morning, and it didn’t completely melt until yesterday – 6 days later. It was beautiful. It transformed Fort Worth, in my opinion. I had never seen such a snow-covered Fort Worth that resembled a ski town as much as it did the past few days. With the beauty came consequences. Temperatures were below freezing for days…and by below freezing I mean down to 1 or 2 degrees. I don’t think my body has ever experienced that cold of temps. Today it got up to 75 degrees. That’s Texas for you. Throughout the past week, though, millions of Texans lost power, water, or both. People died. Some died because they froze to death, some died because they tried to heat their house and either caught it on fire or were exposed to carbon monoxide, and some died in car accidents from the icy roads. I read countless tragic stories over the past week and my heart is heavy. People struggled to feed their kids, fought to keep their family warm, suffered damage to or completely lost their property, and lost loved ones.

In all of the sadness and hardship, Texans came together and helped their neighbor. An HEB in the Austin area gave out free groceries after their power went out. Some opened their homes to strangers. Mobile food pantries and water stations popped up all over the state. People donated blankets, coats, money, food, batteries, flashlights, and countless other supplies to homeless shelters and other organizations in their community. So many people demonstrated love and kindness. You can find even more examples here. I am a Texan at heart and incredibly grateful to call Fort Worth home. I have never been more proud of my community than I am now. The past week was extremely tough, but I am encouraged by the way that everyone worked together to help their neighbor – even in the middle of a pandemic. It has been a challenging year to say the least. This season is longer than we hoped, but we will get through it together.