Among The Thirsty is a contemporary Christian rock band that is breaking barriers in the music industry. Formed in Clearwater, Florida, in 2008, Among the Thirsty's line-up consists of Ryan Daniel as the lead vocalist, Riley Donnell on guitar and keys, Brian Henderson on guitar, Brock Douglas on bass and John Wall on drums. The band released several independent offerings prior to signing with BEC Recordings. Their major label debut Who You Say I Am released on March 17, 2015, and includes the hit single "Completely."

The band members all have the same purpose in mind: to present the Gospel to the world. "We have songs for the church as well as for the hurting, seeking and lost. Our desire is to eradicate the line between Christian and secular music," says lead singer Ryan Daniel. I had the chance to speak with Ryan about "Completely."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

I wrote this song with a friend of mine, Stephanie Lewis. She's known for writing songs for Plus One and Natalie Grant. I met her when I first moved to Nashville, and we really clicked and had a good vibe when we wrote songs together. 

It's a powerful song for me, because it was written out of my absolute coming to grips with who I was. I was in the middle of a personal crisis, dealing with the things I had done, the people I had hurt and just having to face myself. That was my moment of absolute rock bottom, when my world was collapsing. It was hard to see the good in it. 

I had been journaling on my laptop, and it was part of my recovery process that I was in with a pastor friend back in Tampa. When Stephanie read what I had been writing in my journal, she said "there's lyrics in here." The first verse of the song and the chorus essentially came right out of the pages of my journal. 

I had to end a six year relationship because I had been hiding things for years, and it was slowly killing me. I was causing pain to people around me, and I had a poison that I didn't know was in me. My friends and people closest to me know my story in that first verse of the song, and it puts you in the room with me. The original line was "I'm a grown man standing here weeping." We changed the lyric because we didn't want it to be gender specific. Part of the writing process is taking really personal things and giving them a polish to reach a broader audience. 

It was one of those things where we wrote the song in one day. We knew there was something special about it. I was also inspired by reading about Abraham and Isaac in the A. W. Tozer book, "The Pursuit of God."

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV): "And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Colossians 1:21-23 (MSG): You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message--just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.

Galatians 2:19 (MSG): What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

What is the takeaway message?

I struggled about whether to even include this song on the album because it is so personal. The lesson that I've learned from the process of writing and recording this song is that as Christians, we aren't called to pretend everything is going great all of the time. We live in a rough world. The world is full of beauty, but we are not called to put on a show and pretend life is grand and we have it all together. We are called to really be real with one another. I feel like that is something we miss sometimes. Be real with your struggles, and be real with what is really going on in the hopes that it will connect with people who struggle with the same thing, who have been afraid to say they deal with it as well. 

That's the mission of this album. It's about identity. We've connected this song with the title track, "Who You Say I Am." Our identity isn't about what the world says about us. We have a scale of sin, and we measure ourselves. That's not how God sees us. Sin is sin is sin. 

We want to be real about the topics we're all dealing with. There are ministries and programs for all of those struggles. I like that, and we want to be a part of that. I feel like God is glorified in every step of the journey. Every moment that you experience this life and every day that you're battling whatever you're battling, you're overcoming it. Every day you're doing that, every step, is where God is most glorified.

Lyrics:
I'm feeling so small
Standing here weeping
As I'm coming clean
Of the secrets I'm keeping
I've caused so much pain
To the ones I love the most
And I'm falling apart
As I carry my heart to Your throne

I am completely surrendering
Finally giving You everything
You're my Redeemer, I run to the cross
Because You are more than enough
Lord complete me
Cause I'm Yours completely

I'm letting go
There's nothing I own
The treasures I held
Just weighed down my soul
And there's nothing left
Inside of me
But a longing for You
And a longing to be the man that You need

I am completely surrendering
Finally giving You everything
You're my Redeemer, I run to the cross
Because You are more than enough
Lord complete me
Cause I'm Yours completely

I let Your gifts take the place of You
But You pulled up my selfishness from its roots
I am a broken and fragile me
But I'm where You want me to be

I am completely surrendering
Finally giving You everything
You're my Redeemer, I run to the cross
Because You are more than enough
Lord complete me
Cause I'm Yours completely
Lord complete me
Cause I'm Yours completely

I previously heard this great band when I reviewed their 2009 independent album, Wonder, which included the hit song "I'd Need A Savior." The opening song from that album, "Do Over," is an up-tempo rock song that reminds me of "Great Lengths" by PFR, one of my favorite Christian bands. If you are a fan of the bands PFR, MIKESCHAIR and Sidewalk Prophets, you need to check out Among the Thirsty.

One of the ways this song helps break down the line between Christian and secular music is that it is so honest and transparent, allowing listeners to truly connect with Ryan's testimony of brokenness and relying completely on the Lord to make him whole. 

When I'm watching what's going on around me, I sometimes get caught up in all the hype of the world, or get obsessed or depressed about worldly values. We all need to remember that we're not able to save ourselves. Only Jesus can give us our true identity. I am very convicted by the lyrics "I let Your gifts take the place of You." The songs challenges me to think about what I'm allowing to rule in my heart instead of giving myself completely to God.

This song is all about trusting in God and confessing to Him and others when you fail or have struggles. Lay those at the feet of Jesus, and He'll take them from you and release you from that burden. God wants to hear from you. What I love about this song is that it includes a testimony of submission to the Lord that we can all pray about our personal struggles. Our weaknesses are nothing to hide. In fact, because of our weaknesses God's grace and strength are perfectly revealed. I sing this song at the top of my lungs and proclaim to God: "You're my Redeemer, I run to the cross, because You are more than enough, Lord complete me, 'cause I'm Yours completely." Amen to that!

(Watch the band sing the song here.)