What's In The Name

Why did I name this blog, "First Allegiance?"

A couple of months ago, I made the decision to improve the music I was listening to; I wanted to find modern music that was Christian. Even more, I wanted to find some music that was Christian and Reformed in its outlook.
When I googled for some "reformed musicians," I came across a few groups mentioned in Tim Challies' web site. Quoting Tim:

• Derek Webb - Just check out the Resources section at his Web site
• Caedmon's Call (though perhaps Webb was the only Reformed member and he is no longer part of the band).
• Precious Death - Their album covers often had Reformed creeds written in them. Their self-titled album had a list of "Fifteen great books in no particular order" that included titles by Packer, Sproul, Calvin, Owens, Hodge (both A.A. and Charles), Boetner, etc.
• Blackball - Christopher Scott who was lead vocalist and songwriter for Blackball was also lead writer and singer for Precious Death (see above).
• Steve Camp - Wrote an album based on Piper's book Desiring God and has often identified himself as Reformed.

Among these, I've become infatuated with Caedmon's Call and Derek Webb. It was Derek's lyrics on his album, Mockingbird, that caught my attention, especially his song, "A King and A Kingdom." The chorus and the second verse says:

so my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
no my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it's to a king & a kingdom (vs. 2) there are two great lies that I’ve heard:
the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him

As a 'white middle-class Republican' (at least for now), I was speechless, but then I realized, "yeah that's right!" And I had to say in my heart, "I repent, Lord." And also during this time, my pastor was preaching messages from 1 Timothy that challenged me to re-examine my sense of calling and commit myself to more regular prayer (among other Spiritual exercises) and rising to the call of manly leadership in the church and my family.
Another important Ligon Duncan's message at the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology (PCRT) in Sacramento, CA moved me to ask what I was really doing for Christ. What talents, what training, what skills have I learned in my years have I and can I use for God's glory?
And so this all dovetailed into the commitment to another kingdom and that kingdom's priorities. God willing, I hope to make those priorities my "first allegiance." And that is what's in the name.