In The Storm

When the Casting Crowns lead singer was stricken with cancer,he thought it was a private battle.

- Mark Hall

MIKE IN HAND, I LOOKED out at the thousands of people standing on their feet, singing at the top of their lungs. I’m the lead singer for Casting Crowns, and the feeling of that many people singing my songs never gets old. That Saturday night, February 28, 2015, we were playing the Carson Center in Paducah, Kentucky, our last show before heading home to Georgia and church the next day.

Almost all of the songs I’ve written over the years have a story behind them, a real-life person or experience, often from leading the youth group at my home church. That night, the opening chords of our song “Voice of Truth” rang out and the crowd responded. I sang, “Oh, what I would do to have the kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I’m in.” The audience sang along. It’s why they were there, to be uplifted by our music, and even more, by the message in it. But I wasn’t feeling it. It was like my own lyrics were taunting me: Dude, you don’t have that kind of faith, not to weather this storm.

Somehow I got through the song. As the crowd cheered, I stood quietly for a moment, thinking about how my life had been turned upside down just a few weeks earlier.

We’d been near the end of our tour, 80 concerts spread over six months, and I hadn’t been myself. It was like my getup-and-go got up and went. My back hurt. I was having stomach pains, acid reflux. I felt worn out. I needed a break.