TobyMac

TobyMac, one of the founders of the Christian rock band, DC Talk, has written and recorded songs that have changed the course of Christian music (think “Jesus Freak,” “Luv is a Verb,” and “Colored People”). He created his own record label (Gotee Records) and produced the albums of such bands as Reliant K and Out of Eden. He has co-written books with Michael Tait and Kevin Max and he has sold out stadium-sized concerts around the world. In his solo career, he has released seven recordings and won three Grammys, an American Music Award, and approximately twenty Dove Awards.

In a category all of its own is an accomplishment for which TobyMac (Toby McKeehan; born Kevin Michael McKeehan) will never win an award. In 2012 through 2015, Toby took care of his father in the last three years of his father’s life and has spoken of the nature of this process in several interviews.[1] Three years of taking care of his father’s every need while his father regressed in physical abilities and progressed in dementia has changed TobyMac in profound ways. He has spoken of the slow-loss of his father, whom he says, “was really not with us for a long time before he passed away.” He credits his father as one who taught him the importance of living out his faith. He also says that his father was a driven man who taught him to push himself to be the best he could be. He went on to say that the three years of caring for his father changed his life as he realized the deeper love that comes from doing things for people that they can’t do for themselves. He calls this a “higher calling.”

He sings of this higher calling, and of the struggle that comes with it, in a song entitled, “What Love Feels Like.” You can hear it on his album, This Is Not A Test, and watch a live performance of the song, recorded at the 2016 Dove Awards, on YouTube. The song features DC Talk and was a brief reunion for the band.

Toby remarks that the song is very much a DC Talk style of song that he wanted the other two members to help him record. It has become a main feature in TobyMac concerts, usually using video and audio recordings of Michael Tait and Kevin Max. The hardest hitting lines in the song’s lyrics speak of the weariness that comes with caring for others and remind us that such things are always “harder than [we] thought” but “empty’s never felt so - - - full.”

Love Feels Like

I am tired, I am drained
But the fight in me remains
I am weary, I am worn
Like I've never been before

This is harder than I thought
Harder than I thought it'd be
Harder than I thought
Takin' every part of me
Harder than I thought
So much harder than I thought it'd be 

But empty's never felt so

full

This is what love (this is what love)
This is what love
Feels like
This is what love (this is what love)
This is what love
Feels like 

Poured out, used up, still givin'
Stretching me out to the end of my limits
This is what love (this is what love)
This is what real love
Feels like
This is what love feels like poured out
Used up still willin' to fight for it
This is what love feels like
Yeah, this is what it feels like

Like floating confetti
The beautiful gets messy
When the fallout finds the floor
But in the depths of the trenches
Is the richest of riches
Love is calling us to more

This is harder than I thought
Harder than I thought it'd be
Harder than I thought
Takin' every part of me
Harder than I thought
So much harder than I thought it'd be

But empty's never felt so

full

This is what love (this is what love)
This is what love
Feels like
This is what love (this is what love)
This is what love
Feels like
Poured out, used up, still givin'
Stretching me out to the end of my limits
This is what love (this is what love)
This is what real love
Feels like

 This is what love feels like poured out
Used up still willin’ to fight for it
This is what love feels like
Yeah, this is what it feels like

And now these three remain
Faith, hope and love
But the greatest of these is love

It's worth everything you put in
Everything you put in
It's worth everything you put in
Everything you put in
Everything you put in
Everything you put in
It's worth everything you put in

Love 

This is what it feels like

Poured out, used up, still givin'
Stretching me out to the end of my limits

This is what love feels like
This is what love (feels like)
This is what love feels like
This is what love (feels like)
This is what love feels like
This is what love (feels like)
This is what love feels like
This is what love (feels like)

This is what love
This is what love (feels like)

Poured out, used up, still givin'
Poured out, used up, still givin'
Poured out, used up, still givin'
Stretching me out to the end of my limits

Songwriters: Benjamin Glover / David Arthur Garcia / Toby Mckeehan

Love Feels Like lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group

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[1] “TobyMac's Fulfillment Comes Through Servitude” Ashley Andrews, CBN, http://www1.cbn.com/tobymacs-fulfillment-comes-through-servitude